Practical & Effective Food Shopping Packing Tips.

When you become a frequent traveler, souvenirs from each trip end up becoming a pile of unnecessary stuff in your home. But, when you travel you still want to take home mementos as gifts and as to continue enjoying the trip even after you arrive back home. The solution: food gifts. Food can be trickier to take home than a hokey magnet or shot glass. So here are practical and effective food shopping packing tips:

 

Know Your Home Country’s Customs Regulations

Firstly, know your home country’s customs regulations. Can you bring home meat and vegetables? If not, the surest bet is food purchases that are baked goods and sweet treats.
 

Pack a Foldable Duffel

Whether you plan to bring things home or not, always pack a foldable duffel bag. At the very least you can use this bag to bring separate your dirty clothes from the rest of your luggage. A good foldable duffel bag can fold into a small pouch to easily pack into your luggage. Better foldable duffel bags are durable. And best foldable duffel bags have a luggage sleeve for ease of carrying and transporting.
 
16” to 22” size duffel bags that can hold up to 20L to 50L
24” to 36” size duffel bags that can hold up to 60L to 120L

 
 

Airtight Containers

There are some cities in the world that have amazing bakeries and pastry shops. For these destinations, pack an airtight container so that you can take home bread, croissants, and more without the worry of it getting crushed or stale on the journey home. Tip: Purchase these the morning of or the night before to ensure the most freshness possible.
 

Food Shopping Packing Tips
Bringing home two loaves of bread from Japan. These airtight containers are perfect for sliced bread. Aside from ensuring freshness and not getting crushed in your luggage, you can simply put these containers straight to the freezer as soon as you get home.

 
Lock & Lock Containers

 
 

Insulated Bags

For countries that allow you to bring in meat, vegetables, and more, bring insulated bags in your luggage. Shop for vegetables the morning of your departure. If there is not enough time, only buy enough vegetables that can fit into your hotel room fridge.

For meats and seafood, have a separate insulated bag that can be placed into the freezer. If your hotel does not have one that is large enough, then ask the front desk to freeze that bag for you until the morning of your departure. Tip: Keep all frozen goods together in the bag so they keep each other frozen and cold until your arrival home. You can also ask the grocer for cold packs.
 

Food Shopping Packing Tips
Frozen French Quail ready to be packed. When you pack frozen meats, be sure to pack them all together in one bag. The meats keep frozen during airplane ride home because of the cold cargo storage of the aircraft.

 
NZ Home Insulated Grocery Bag

 
 

Extra Packing Tips

1. How to Pack Wine Bottles and Breakables
For packing breakables and wine bottles, use your thicker used clothes – like pants, jackets, and dresses which really wrap well around the bottle multiple times to ensure cushioning around the glass.
 
2. Luggage Scale
Before you arrive at the airport to fly home, be aware of your checked-in luggage weight limit so you do not panic and re-pack at the airport. The easiest way to do that is with a handheld luggage scale which is so portable to pack into your luggage or carry on.
 
Etekcity Digital Hanging Luggage Scale

 
 
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