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<\/a><\/p>\nFood being one of our biggest expense (and an important one!) we actually do not really try to save money there. Being stinky or pretty is not going to affect your next day\u2019s ride much, but not enough or the wrong food definitely will!<\/p>\n
Our life has been rhythmed by almost daily visits at Countdown, New World (large supermarkets) or Four Square (small ones) in NZ, and Woolworth and Coles (large supermarket), IGA (smaller ones) or Aldi (European products!) in Australia.<\/p>\n
Main difference between NZ and Australia? Australia is half the price of NZ for pretty much anything (we thought it would be the exact opposite last year). From meat to vegetables, drinks or basically anything, it\u2019s always a lot cheaper in Australia (which does not mean that Australia is cheap though!). The reason is simple, like for lots of things there is no competition in NZ \u2013 most of the shops, no matter their name, are owned by the same group. Prices are fairly similar to western Europe in Australia.<\/p>\n
Our \u201cclever\u201d tachometer tells us that we burn on average between 2000 and 3000kCal daily while cycling, added to the standard 2000kCal, it means we need to get 5000kCal daily to not turn into cycling zombies. We effectively never count calories, we just eat whenever we need to!<\/p>\n
Our day starts usually around 6:30\/7:00am (when the sun warms up the tent) \u2013 with the usual milk powder mixed with oatmeal and honey. A pack of \u00be kg of oatmeal lasts 3 days.<\/p>\n
We start riding at about 9am, and we usually get between one and two snacks before lunch (mostly depending on our lunch time, and about every 1h30). That\u2019s usually simply a granola bar.<\/p>\n
Lunch \u2013 we try to have ridden more than half of the day \u2013 at best 2\/3 of the day as we tend to get less fresh muscles when restarting after the 30min to 1h (and up to 3h) lunch break. Lunch is usually cold, and most of the time a hummus sandwich. Hummus in NZ and Australia has a wider meaning than the middle-east hummus \u2013 it\u2019s found in every supermarket and simply means a vegetable-based spread. You can get guacamole hummus, beets hummus, etc. If feeling inventive, the hummus sandwich will get some tomatoes, cucumber, cheese\u2026 or vegemite! The lunch is supplemented by nuts, M&Ms or similar, fresh fruits or whatever is quickly reachable in the panniers. We have eaten tons of avocadoes since we are in Australia, we now get 10 avocadoes for 4\u20ac when we could hardly get one in NZ for that price. We have been getting some take-away food times for some lunches \u2013 either to get an extra fat burger\/fries meal or for some variety in some slightly larger towns (Asian restaurants are very good for that). The afternoon ride is usually difficult the first kilometers (hard cold legs), and hardcore when directly attacking steep hills in Tasmania \u2013 and the stomach does not seem to enjoy being full of fries when going uphill, we have tested and failed!<\/p>\n
Depending on the difficulty of the day, the outside temperature, the number of kilometers, etc. we sometimes get a magic energy booster called Coca-Cola (or any other brand as usually cheaper and after some blind-tests \u2013 undetectable). A 1,5l bottle translates into a sugar\/caffeine\/water boost of 20km. Perfect to push until the end of the day. To all shinny-lycra-road-cyclists, stop getting your weird supplement with electrolyte-stuff-blablabla and try that instead, it\u2019s amazing! (yes, we are making fun of the very special road-biker human-specie when they pass us \u2013 we could write a separate blog post about them).<\/p>\n A lightweight alternative to Coke is to get some powder juice – different flavors and self intensity adjustment. It for sure does not taste like fresh juice (or does not taste like there is any fruit whatsoever in it), but it tastes pretty good after a day riding, and makes us re-hydrate quickly (with sugar in bonus!).<\/p>\n Another good technique to get quickly altogether water, sugar, a snack – and if needed warmth – is to make a hot chocolate! Powder milk, chocolate powder and hot water: it takes 2min to prepare and it’s awesome.<\/p>\n The sunset is at about 5:30pm, which means we try to not cycle after 5pm \u2013 and it gets completely dark after 6pm since March. Evening dinner is always warm, no matter what! Cedric almost exclusively cooks dinner, while Cassie prepares the nest. The base of the dinner has to be some type of carbohydrates \u2013 we have tried a few different sorts, but the very best is definitely pasta (whatever color or shape, but Italian pasta, the Asian noodles are quickly filling, but Cedric gets hungry 1h later again). Rice is not energetic enough (we haven\u2019t tried cooking fancy fried-rice meals) \u2013 it would be fine in the evening, but we feel a lack of energy the next day. Potatoes and sweet potatoes would also work, but it\u2019s just more complicated to buy, carry, clean, cook, etc. The pasta then usually gets a can of soup, stew, dry sauce\/soup mix, and usually something grilled: frequently onions, but also zucchinis, eggplants, mushrooms, and for feast days an addition of eggs, or for very special days salmon, lamb, or anything that can cook well enough (i.e. it needs to be thin and can be cooked without having to play much with utensils) with olive oil or coconut oil on a super-hot multifuel stove and a very bad pan! That\u2019s then all mixed together and served in our indestructible metal bowls that look like dog bowls.<\/p>\n Yes, I also have neither shaved in 4 months, nor seen a hairdresser in 7 months… and have not used a comb in decades! I’ll soon start to look like Moises (or Santa for Christmas 2018), and probably start a style trend for the 2020s!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n