21 foods to pack when you are on the road for shows

There is not much worse than being starving, a long way from anywhere that serves decent food and having to compete on something dodgy you picked up on the way. Some competitions I've been to, before I was organised, I ended up eating the most inglorious food, and feeling rotten as a result. My racing did not really benefit from the pack of chips that the tuck shop sold, or the curling ham sandwiches!

A lovely picnic with the kids and Weather Man on the side of the road - breaking up an EPIC road trip. They walked, I cooked. I did miss the cutlery and crockery in this instance!

An easy way to prevent this (I also once did a freezing cold surf lifesaving swim race in 6 foot waves on a burger... it was not lovely!) is to prepare in advance... so here are a few food suggestions

1. Fruit – super easy, pre wrapped and ready to eat.

2. Vegetables, either cut up and in a Ziploc bag or plastic container. I include Avocado as a vegetable, and it can be a whole meal at a pinch!

3. Dips – aioli (I love it made with one egg yolk, whizzed with 1tbsp cider vinegar and 1c olive oil added slowly, with garlic, parsley and basil added, then lemon juice to taste (add the oil super slowly and it goes nice and thick), hummus, salsa – anything that takes your fancy and makes you want to eat more vegetables.4. Bliss balls, or other healthy snacks.

5. Dried fruit – remember that this is fruit, so if you eat a handful of raisins, you are eating a bunch of grapes, so if you are keeping an eye on your carbohydrate and natural sugar intake, you need to monitor your intake here.

6. Roast kumara/potato/carrot/pumpkin/beetroot – you can snack on this, or use it to make a salad for dinner.

7. Green veges – a bag of salad, add roast veges and aioli and mmmm, dinner.

8. Cooked sliced cold mutton.

9. Lamb chops (remember the cooker and fry pan).

10. Steak (remember the cooker and fry pan).

11. Cooked chicken (in the chilly bin of course).

12. Boiled eggs.

13. Nuts and seeds. 14. Fresh eggs and bacon for breakfast, or dinner, or a snack (again, cooker and fry pan pretty important here!) 15. Leftover cooked green vegetables. 16. Water – I would recommend using a non-plastic drink bottle as the plastic can leach in to your water, which is less than ideal for your body. 17. If your body tolerates grains, some cold cooked quinoa, rice, amaranth etc. 18. A loaf of bread of your choice – we make this one

19. Cheese and a knife.

20. Yoghurt.

21. Almond butter, butter.

22. Salads - made with anything you can think of.

23. Bacon and egg pie.

24. Lasagne.

The list could be almost endless …

Just make sure you have it in containers in a pile with everything else to pack (how many times has something been packed but left behind because it wasn't where it could be remembered?), and that you have