Perhaps it was age, but I was definitely eating less. At a restaurant, one dish was enough to fill us both. Sometimes I felt awkward about ordering so little and ordered two portions, but then we simply took one away to eat later. As a result, food costs were hardly a worry on our travels.
My wife and I never skipped our three meals a day. Breakfast was an egg, boiled or fried, a steamed potato, half an apple and a cup of coffee. If we grew hungry on the road, a little cucumber, raw sweet potato or a few nuts kept us going until lunch. For lunch, we bought or made a hamburger or sandwich and shared it. Before entering a campground in the evening, we would stop at a grocery store for a $10–$12 steak and grill it with onions, carrots and other vegetables over charcoal or a gas burner. Neither of us was fussy about food, and we were quite comfortable going ten days or so without a Korean meal.
We always carried an electric rice cooker and a camping cookset. One batch in a four-person rice cooker gave us three or four meals. Sometimes, for lunch, my wife wrapped rice in seaweed to make simple rice balls, which we ate in the car. At other times, we cooked kimchi jjigae or doenjang jjigae to go with the rice.
When we set off, our basic provisions were rice, ramen—including cup noodles—kimchi, jangajji, pickles and dried seaweed. We had also prepared salt, doenjang, red pepper powder, gochujang, sesame oil, ketchup, Tabasco and mustard. For snacks, we brought beef jerky, peanuts, walnuts and pine nuts from Costco, as well as wasabi-coated beans from a Korean market to nibble on when I felt drowsy. Ramen was just the thing whenever it rained or the weather turned gloomy and we wanted a hot bowl of soup.
Coffee, however, was a complete failure. Before leaving, I had ground a large quantity of beans and put the grounds in a container, brewing them as we went. After about a month, the aroma had gone, and all that remained was a bitter taste. I should have ground the beans fresh whenever I wanted a cup, but I had been too lazy and ground the whole lot at once. Trying to save a little money and time, I ended up throwing away a precious month and a half’s supply. After that, I made do with Maxwell coffee mixed into hot water and McDonald’s senior coffee.
Tip
Our rule was to buy fresh fruit, meat and vegetables locally as we traveled. We stopped at neighborhood grocery stores to shop, taking the opportunity to use the restroom or rest for a while in the air-conditioning. One advantage I found was that being in a tourist destination did not mean paying higher prices.
