Green Holidays

Why not try some new recipes to save money on the road?

There are plenty of new dishes you can try when you travel overseas – but when you are on a budget – or living in a remote location – you might need to try some new things!

There are a lot of new foods available in the countries that you are probably travelling through – so why not take advantage of them when you are working you way through a continent or working on a volunteer project.

Forget your normal ways of eating – and embrace the new!  Maybe this will involve taking a cooking book with you or just taking a few classes on cooking times and sauces!

The Standards:
Now, there are many combinations of foods that you could come across when cooking overseas – although to be honest most of them will be focused on rice!

However you might not have a fridge for most of it – so you need to be aware of how best to store fresh food – and how to limit what you buy in the first place!

Depending on how far away from stores you are – your menus will vary immensely.  I mean if you can get you hands on fresh veg almost every day, then buy as little as possible each day – but when you only get fresh supplies every so often – then you need to get creative!

Storage Skills:
Something in the kitchen almost as important as the cooking is the storing!

If you don’t look after your ingredients or use them in the right order – then you are wasting them.  So you need to think ahead as soon as you get raw materials.

Thinking of basic recipes can really help you – but learning how to create new recipes and to store things to get the best shelf-life out of them is key to making you food go further and saving on waste.

Food doesn’t normally come with more than a few days freshness when picked and left on the kitchen table – especially in tropical climates.  And even in the fridge, dairy products and watery vegetables don’t pass the week really.

So you need to work out which things can be used fresh, which need cooking before storing and those which can be treated in some way to preserve them for many months – and many of these things you will find already in use by the local people.

photo credit: andrewrennie

Local Skills:
There are many ‘specialist’ foods that have evolved not due to their great taste – but because they are locally found foods and this is the way they need to be cooked or stored to best serve the communities they are found in – and learning a bit about them won’t do you any harm!

For example ‘stir-fried’ food was used in China where they didn’t have a lot of fuel for cooking over a long period of time – so they invented a food that took just minutes to heat up. 

Many colder European countries needed to grow all the root vegetables they needed for the year in their short growing season – so they learned to pickle a huge amount of them to last them through the cold winters when nothing would grow – like sauerkraut!

And if you didn’t have a car or supermarket – or a lot of money – wouldn’t you eat things that was found close to home and that you could make last a long time!

Stores where you visit might sell brands from back home – but you don’t need to buy them….

Think how much more you could achieve overseas if you were learning as you travelled?

Many of us seem to have a real passion for something – but have no certified proof of our skills in that area.  Take for example those of us who spend hours trying to get the best view of that elusive woodcock, or days collecting hazel nuts to find out if there are dormice close by.

There are many more examples of people who follow a passion without a thought for the amount of time and money it takes up – people like you.

Yes, we all have qualifications in this or that for our work, or have been sent a various courses over the years – but this is a means to pay the bills.  I mean who would have thought you could earn a living counting trees, weighing turtles or promoting bee-keeping!

But these days with the right experience – you can!

Why Study?
Well, you may well be taking some previous experience with you on your green volunteering adventure, but how much more could you offer your team if you were learning more along the way.

Imagine knowing bushcraft skills already before you start your volunteering in the Amazon – but then studying ecology or statistics in the evenings so to make better use of the data you collect.

photo credit: Speculum Mundi

Or you have listening skills that you put to good use working with disadvantaged families in Bangladesh – but then study teaching or life coaching skills in the evenings to further enhance the support you can offer.

Not only would you be offering them your existing skills – you would be increasing your worth 10-fold with these new skills along the way.

And many course and projects need you to write reports and complete projects – now what better way to get results than to actually be participating in active projects overseas – actually working hands on with an exciting and unusual project.  You won’t be writing about a new supermarket in your coursework will you?

Your Future:
As you can imagine when you add together the experience you will have gained volunteering in the first place with a certified course, diploma or foundation degree – you will have made very good use of your time.

Returning home could open up a whole new vocation window – and that’s if you even come home in the first place.  Why return to that office job in the city when you could be working in a jungle office, or returning to that tower block when you could be surveying under the ocean instead.

Working with people and animals really can pay the bills if you just turn your passion into a skill by quantifying it.

And then you could become the worker instead of the volunteer!

There are hundreds of winter walks organised across the country – why don’t you sign up?

It’s always nice to get out in the open on a crisp, sunny winters morning – so why not go on an organised adventure walk with a local expert and a handful of other people – rather than around your normal walk on your own!

You could learn plenty of new skills, plant or wildlife information and maybe make a few new friends along the way!

No-one wants to leave the warmth of their house sometimes – but if you have something arranged – it will give you that extra encouragement to get wrapped up warm and out the door!

And, when you are out there in the frost or snow – you will see some beautiful sites that you never would have otherwise seen – so don’t forget your camera as many organised walks will take you onto private land, off the main footpaths, and through farmland too.

What an opportunity to see some great landscapes, historic buildings, farmland scenes and wild animal tracks.  And you will have an expert with you at all times to answer any questions along the way.

photo credit: rick forgo

And, you could get some great inspiration for art or literature if they are your skills or interests.  Taking a notepad and recording device with you as you experience these scenes could really inspire you.

Local Walks:
There are plenty of charities and local councils etc, that offer these walks – you just need to find their schedules.

Whether they offer information online, at the town hall, library, local tourist information centres or in local publications – you need to get looking.  Some you will need to book and may have limited numbers – others will be free for everyone who shows up in the right place at the right time!

I know that the National Trust offer seasonal walks on their land with knowledgeable guides, but also rambling groups and other charities plan free walks on common or private land.

And – I know you might want to start off at the warmest part of the day – but the earlier your walk starts the better the walk will be as you will witness weather patterns that you might not otherwise see.  I mean you don’t normally get a beautiful low-lying mist over a frosty riverbank after 3 hours of sunshine!

And if you are the first ones there in the morning, you will see the landscape as it should be – empty of other humans.  Wildlife wouldn’t have been scared off by dog-walkers yet – and their tracks will still be clear to see in mud or snow when you arrive.  

So, why not start looking for places you would like to visit close to home and see what events they have in place.  Or contact an establishment, charity or society and ask them what they have on offer.

Don’t be shy about asking as they all need your support – and they all have great landscapes and buildings to show off – especially to the younger generation.

Don’t forget your warm hat and gloves!