Best foods for bicycle touring – a dummies guide

Feeding yourself when travelling by bike is not easy. After hours of pedalling, your body needs plenty of calories. But the more you eat, the more food you need to carry in the panniers, especially when you travel through remote places with few shops and limited options. 

I have been struggling a lot with eating well on bicycle tours. Sometimes I forget to eat during the ride. On other days I feel like cooking dinner is just too much. I eat a lot of simple, processed carbs but not enough protein or veggies. All those things combined make me feel weak and unenergised. 

How to avoid these problems and make eating on a bicycle tour simple? I have written this article to create a list of go-to products and nutrition lifehacks for my bike tours. I asked other bicycle tourists and hikers for their tricks to eat well on longer trips. I hope reading about mine and their experience will make your life easier and allow you to eat better with less effort.

Problem 1: Not eating enough during the ride

After 90-120 minutes of every endurance activity, our glycogen levels drastically drop, causing fatigue and a feeling of hitting the wall. That’s why it’s crucial to snack regularly.

When I cycle, I sometimes get into a state of flow, a kind of hypnosis when nothing seems to matter except for moving forward. The constantly changing landscape and new places absorb me so much that I forget to eat and drink.

Set reminders

I set reminders on my phone to drink and eat every 90 minutes (I also have alarms for putting on a new layer of sunscreen). 

Get a cycling snack bag

Another reason I don’t eat enough when I cycle is I find it bothersome to stop and get the food out of my panniers. Some other cycle travellers recommended putting a snack bag on my handlebar and filling it with cookies, gummi bears, nuts or candies. 

It will allow me to have the snacks handy, so I can grab them without stopping to cycle. The snack bag should be easy to open and close with one hand. I bought a hand-crafted bag from Baby Legs Bags for about 33 euros. 

Problem 2: I feel dehydrated

Setting reminders to drink water is one thing, but water is not enough when you cycle in the heat. You also need to provide your body with electrolytes. 

I am usually using dissolvable electrolyte tablets. They also add some taste to the water (if you have to drink 4-5 litres of liquids, you stop hating the taste of water). 

You can buy them in pharmacies and sometimes in the supermarkets. 

Problem 3: I don’t feel like cooking after the whole day of cycling

Some people love preparing their meals when they set up a camp. They love the slow cooking on the camping stove and take it as a moment to relax after the long day in the saddle.

I am usually the opposite, especially when I camp alone. Cooking for myself only feels like so much hassle, so I try to make it as simple as possible. 

Read also my guide to camping solo.

Camping alone as a woman – are you gonna die?

Give yourself some slack

I often feel guilty when I see pictures of people’s camping food on Instagram. Full of fresh, finely cut veggies, colourful and healthy. On some days, boiling the water for instant noodles is the most I can do. I decided to accept that and just not let it happen too often.

I am usually budget-conscious, but now I allow myself to eat in restaurants more often, especially in cheaper countries. For instance, in Albania, a delicious meal full of veggies (like red peppers baked with rice and cheese) cost me about 6-7 euros. It also allows me to explore the cuisine of the places I visit.

Sometimes you can find super cheap and delicious food in small local diners or street food booths.

When I stay in hostels, I try to find offers that include breakfast. Sometimes for only 2-3 euros, you can get a delicious breakfast which saves you some hustle with shopping and preparing the food.

Make cooking easier

Make camping cooking as easy as possible. Luckily some of the best foods for bicycle touring can be prepared within 10-15 minutes. Have a list of ingredients accessible in most places and uncomplicated to cook. 

Pro tip from @jstblg: Cook in one pot. Fry veggies in oil, add spices (I usually carry 2-3), add rice/pasta and boil together.

Pro tip from @jolienvliegmachien: Canned beans or chickpeas go well with rice/couscous + veggies and some spice mix.

What vegetables and fruits travel well on a bike?

Travelling by bike, you don’t have access to a fridge. This limits your food options quite a lot. 

Make sure to always choose fruits and vegetables that last long even in warmer temperatures.

The safe options are:

• carrots
• tomatoes (make sure to put them on the top of your bags to not squeeze them)
• courgette
• cucumber
• apple
• orange

Pro tip from @ipulledthepin: you can buy a bag of frozen veggies in the morning. It will save you the chopping of the vegetables, and the nice byproduct is that they keep your drinks cool while thawing.

How to store your food in the panniers?

1. Have a plastic container for leftovers or stuff that needs to be protected from squeezing, like bananas and tomatoes.
2. Buy veggies that are not fully ripe unless you want to eat them on the same day.
3. Protect your food from the heat and the sun.
4. Use zip-lock bags.