How do I carry and store food on the Camino?

Carrying (some) food on the Camino de Santiago gives you a bit more options, and makes it so that you are not completely depended on restaurants. Lets go over my tips for bringing food with you, and what food to take.

All along the Camino Frances you will a tough time trying to starve, there are plenty of local restaurants, food trucks, bars, cafés, bakeries, and vending machines all over the place to get yourself a nice meal for usually fair prices. Locals know that the pilgrims are hungry and looking for a nice cup of tea or coffee with something salty, sweet, or fruity. Carrying cash is handy btw for these sorts of opportunities.

If you do this every day, and multiple times a day, these little purchases can add up.

Budget, Diet, and Flexibility

When your trying to stick to a certain budget, diet, or food types than this can be a good reason to carry some of your own food on the Camino. There are also certain stretches along the Camino where it takes a few kilometers more to find a place to eat, and you can also struck out on a Sunday or holiday.

Grocery stores make an excellent source of picking up some off your favorite foods to take along the way, and grabbing a bag of nuts, trail mix, bananas, etc, can keep the hunger away and return some energy in needed situations.

Storing and carrying food on the Camino is easily done, and I recommend to carry a tight closing and lightweight foldable lunchbox with you. That way you can store items in there that can otherwise easily crush. And you can keep some lunch and snack items in there with no risk of spilling all over your backpack and items within. A ZipLoc bag or two and the packaging from the store will take care of the rest.

Simple oats and fruits

Roadside lunch with overnight oats, fruits, cucumber, bread, and a soft drink.

My wife’s favorite breakfast or lunch on the Camino was to make overnight oats, and she carried just a normal bag of oats with her to make overnight oats. Which can be easily mixed together the night before and cold soaked with water, and eaten in the morning. With adding fresh fruit like bananas, nuts, or chocolate to it to make it a bit more exciting. Honey was used as a sweetener. And all she needed for that was a foldable silicone box with a tight fitting lid. And a Spork of course.

What I enjoyed to eat when we had lunch or breakfast ourselves on the Camino was bread with some butter and cured meats. Butter will last a long time when not to hot, since my Camino’s where in April and September / October this was not a big issue. If your hiking the Camino in summer a little bottle of olive oil would be a better idea.

Going Dutch, with a “boterham” or bread lunch

Cured meats like Fuet Sausage or similar can be kept outside the fridge for a few days at the very least. And are easily cut up when carrying a pocket knife. My trusty Opinel was with me on both Camino’s, and that made preparing lunch a lot easier. Cream cheese and paté as pictured can safely be stored outside the fridge, with the condition that you finish the little tubs in one go. But that is not a realistic problem for pilgrims.

With a bit off improvisation you can have yourself a great lunch on the Camino for cheap, and not have to rely every single day on different establishments along the way. Which gives you a bit more flexibility also. Since you don’t need to eat for example when you want to make a few more kilometers before stopping.

What was your favorite lunch on the Camino? Let everybody know down in the Comments!

If you liked this article also take a look at my full guide on what to take on the Camino.

Happy Hiking and Hike for Purpose

Buen Camino