Feedbag 101

When some folks decide to start commuting by bike, there is some anxiety over what to do about eating becuase it’s yet another thing you have to do and we know how that can suck. If you are like me, and prefer whole foods over prepared foods, saving the earth to raping it, eating well as opposed to eating pure shite, then you will want to pack your own food.

BREAKFAST
There are two important things you should know about me: I eat almost all of my meals at work, & I’m a food/ food-quality snob. On days I do not work out, I will eat a hard-boiled egg, a piece of cheese, a handful of organic almonds, and either a small glass of juice or piece of organic fruit and about 4 Advil, just in case. Before I leave for work in the morning I’ll grab a hard-boiled egg, a small piece of wax-wrapped cheese, and a piece of salami from the refrigerator and tuck these in one of the smash-free outside pockets of my amazing, shockingly-amazing-For-L.L.Bean backpack. There couldn’t be a simpler or smaller breakfast to have with some boiling hot, strong coffee from a good thermos. The total cost for a mostly-organic breakfast like this for an entire week is under $15. The boiling hot coffee not included. I am not cheap about that stuff. If you really need java on the road, you probably need to get one of these, and maybe a little more sleep.

Oatmeal and cereal people-this one’s for you: If you can’t drive to work a few times per month and stash several containers of milk and a container of oatmeal in a shared fridge, have granola shipped directly to your work and bring in a smaller SIGG bottle of milk each day. I really do not advocate bringing in single servings of oatmeal and breakfast items because, how do i say this nicely? –um, Individual serving packages of oatmeal with flavorings are crap. If you are riding your bike to work you need nutritionally dense food. Of course, you can ignore my advice, but you will feel like your bike gets heavier week after week, instead of lighter. Trust me. If you want maple flavored oatmeal? Add high-quality maple syrup to your oatmeal. Not only is maple syrup and ideal sugar for your body and your brain but when you add high-quality maple syrup to high-quality organic oatmeal it tastes like FOOD = good. For some extra potassium, slice of banana or add-in some dried banana slices.

LUNCH
The Bento box approach to lunch inspires me. Small, perfect, leak-proof containers with colorful foods and diverse flavors inspire me. Small, perfect, leak-proof containers with colorful foods and diverse flavors that you can take to the beach and devour while reading a magazine on a yoga mat inspire me. So if you want to be able to ride to park on lunch and eat under the shade of a tree and read an issue of the New Yorker for 45.7 out of your allotted 60 minutes, I will show you how to make it easy and enjoyable. The two most important things to consider if you are going to carry lunch on your bicycle: leak-proof containers and weight. I’m not kidding about the leak-proof containers. I once opened my courier bag to find a client contract, my calendar, notebooks, my phone, and the outside of an empty Tupperware container saturated in butternut squash soup. Not only did I ruin everything in my bag, but I lost the last bowl of one of the best soups I’ve ever made.

So here is your motto for packing your lunch: make it light weight, make it colorful, make it leak-proof, and most importantly make it the night before. What is an enjoyable thing to do the night before is drudgery in the morning. Making my lunch the night before is actually part of how I relax when I get home. I’ll put on really loud music, have a Manhattan, wash my lunch containers, and cook my food for the next day while practicing my German on the cat. He doesn’t care and I get better food than you can buy for lunch tomorrow. This means I can’t come limping home at 11 o’clock every night and expect to get this done but pal, that’s why someone invented happy hour.

I’ll put up some pictures of lunches I’ve made so you can get some ideas about how I pack my lunches and what kinds of foods I’ve made for them. Things like orange-maple-Sesame seed marinated chicken drumsticks, salad+ sprouted nuts and micro greens, or colorful sautéed vegetables- remember that you need dark, colorful veggies and fruits to help your body offset the demands of riding and whole grains whenever possible. As the main part of my lunch I have to pack some type of protein, a small amount of fats, or i will eat five Twix bars and a small container of yogurt (kid size) to help me get through the afternoon boredom. (Definitely pack something sweet or chocolate and small fruit like grapes and Kiwis stuffed into any gaps in your lunch container so you can quell any sugar cravings because they will happen once you start riding.) With lunch I drink either black tea with milk and sugar or a few tablespoons of frozen concentrated raspberry juice in the bottom of a thermos that I’ll mix with water at work. A lunch like this requires no microwave so I can take my lunch to the park or beach. Most of the time, I just take my lunch out of my bag and eat it at my desk beauce i have this fantasy that i will work through lunch and leave on time. It’s still a big fantasy.

If you need containers stat- try citizenpip.com –I found these on Google- so I can’t say I have done business with them or know if their claims are true but their products are freaking adorable and they have $4.99 flat rate shipping until 9/15/09 and free shipping on orders over $100.00.

I’ll get back to this post and add some more links for Food Goods when i am not more interested in making some espresso and watching The Daily Show.

Tags: Coffee, FOOD, Getting Started