Pet Transport Behind The Scenes: Food!

Another post in the Pet Transport Behind The Scenes series, as this time we detail the Food that fuels the pet transports!

As the last Pet Transport Behind The Scenes post looked at an activity comparison showing how hard the transports are physically, I thought a look at the food we take with us and consume may provide some continuity. As you will see: prevention being better than a cure is a very very true statement when it comes to keeping the (increasingly) old body fuelled

It took a fair few years to settle on the following but for the last three years for every scheduled pet transport leaving Spain and going to the UK via France, Germany, Holland and Belgium (and regularly picking up in Portugal first) I have taken the same food and drink.

Drink: As a rule I stay away from the ‘Red Bull’ type drinks as I find they provide an unstable experience. Yes they can provide a buzz, but as we drive in two hour shifts it’s equally important to be able to sleep when not driving, so I avoid false stimulants. Same goes for coffee! By way of preparation years ago I cut back on my coffee intake so a normal day will see me only drink a couple of cups – an espresso and a latte as a rule, so on the rare occasion I do have a coffee during a transport I notice the effect of the caffeine. I tend to take the cold pre made coffees in the cool box in the back of the van, and usually have a hot espresso each morning from a service station.

I take a thermos (well Chilly Bottle) of tea with me, another Chilly Bottle with fruit juice, and I take High5 Zero Electrolyte Drink Tablets to add to the copious amounts of water that I consume.

Very (very) occasionally I will have a diet Coke or Fanta (again carry a stock in the powered cold box in rear of the van), but as a rule I stay away from fizzy drinks.

Food: leaving on a Friday and arriving in Stoke on the Monday as a rule I need to cover the following meals – Breakfast (3), Lunch (4), Dinner (3), along with snacks.

I am not a big fan of bread, which is a little bit of a problem as so many convenience based foods are bread based, so I have settled on some ‘normal’ foods that I am happy to eat cold i.e.

Breakfasts – Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Black Pudding & Tomatoes, Aspargus, Cherry Tomatoes & Mushrooms).

Lunch – Salmon, Asparagus & Brocolli, Chorizo, Peppers & Mushrooms, Chicken & Vegetable Curry.

Dinner – Supermarket Salads (Caesar, Mixed Spanish, California)

Snacks – Apples, Dried Prunes & Dates, Dried Mango, Almonds & Raisins, Tuna, Onion & Tomatoe, Cold Meats, Grapes & Cheese, Peanut Butter & Jam Wraps

We have a two powered cool boxes, which are pretty full when we set off as you can take the above and multiply by 2 for my co-driver and myself.

I am more than a tad partial to crisps but I don’t take any with me and do try and avoid buying them, but I fail on most trips! I can live without chocolate but at 2am in a wet and cold France having just fuelled up I often crack and buy a Dime bar!!!

So with respect, and thanks in advance, it’s why I always say no thanks to offers of food and drink. It is very kind, and much appreciated but a) we really don’t have space for it and b) the foods that I have settled on work well both in terms of digestion and energy, and however tempting a dozen donuts may sound, they really are not a great idea as the sugar hit spikes high and then leaves and pretty deep low.

And finally on the subject of food. We carry dry food for the cats and dogs, wet food for the cats, and packets of ham (in cool box) for both cats and dogs.