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Avoiding the breakfast trap?


Since I can't function well on an empty stomach, I carried packets of Nescafe, and usually shopped in the afternoon for next morning - got eggs to boil, &/or a slice of tortilla, &/or some kind of pastry, or &/or a cerealish something, and a small carton of milk. Nearly every albergue/hostel has a microwave if nothing else. Or, if there was a cafe near and open, fresh OJ, and real coffee and one of the above.
 
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"Visit rest room visit with a small bit of thievery [paper] .....like us all " Surely you are joking---there is never any toilet paper left when I visit--or maybe you were there before me.
 
I practise intermittent fasting so I start eating every day at 12 noon and try to have my last meal around 8pm so I put 20kms under the belt before eating...maybe a black coffee para llevar!!!

Keeps it nice and easy in the morning and allows me to shed that 'winter coat' a bit quicker ;-)
 
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I buy fruit the day before and put it in a Pocket in my pack I can reach while I am walking. I would rather eat breakfast while walking in the cool morning air rather than waste time finding, ordering, and eating Breakfast. One less hour in the afternoon heat. I also buy a Diet Coke the night before and put it in my pack, to take care of the caffeine in the morning,

be
 
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I am a vegetarian and also need gluten-free, so I carry chia seeds. I soak 2 spoonfuls in my mug at night in a little water with some dried fruit. By morning it has thickened and I add some fresh fruit and/or yoghurt and it will carry me through for a couple of hours until 'second breakfast' of tortilla or eggs.
Chia seeds are a source of protein and you can buy them in small amounts in a supermarket.
 
Hi H Richards
I normally only make my own coffee, walk for a couple of hours then stop for a cruson orange juice and a coffee. That normally make my day off for a good start.
I do bring from home a few packets of nut and honey bars. Buen Camino
 
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T0M said:
Why would you provide a link to your blog, when your blog is readable by invitation only?
Click to expand...

The blog is back up.
I had closed it to take down some personal things I wrote in a fit of depression after caring for my elderly unreasonable mother and being worn to the bone. I forgot to turn the blog back to public after working on it. Sorry for the inconvenience.
 
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Hi sugar gypsy. On a training week in North Wales IN UK. Your oar cakes have been invaluable. We just have 2 portions each and a flask of coffee and lunch is sorted. Thanks Bruce and Margaret.
 
If the albergue has a kitchen, buy your breakfast ingredients the night before and cook your own. Example: 4 of us went in together and bought food for dinner. We also bought a dozen eggs for the next morning. In the morning we scrambled 8 eggs along with the left over vegetables from the night before, and hard boiled the last 4 eggs to take with us as a snack later in the day.
 
Rarely did I do the Alburge breakfast as for the most part either it was ot part of the stay or worth the wait. , the day previous I would buy an orange and have that as a starter then walks couple of k's to a nearby bakery.
 
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I would have a coffee and maybe an orange juice on the way out of the village at a market or a bar, and then walk to the next village. Whatever they had for protein (which was usually tortilla) was my breakfast. I rarely at the wonderful pastries because I knew those were not going to give me the fuel I needed.
 
I tend not to bother with breakfast and just wait until I get to suitable coffee stop. Unfortunately, sometimes that means at the end of the stage after 30 or 40 kms!!
 
trecile said:
I have had at least one good albergue breakfast. At Albergue Estrella Guía the owner/hospitalera makes a delicious cake for breakfast every day.
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Ohhh, yes! It is the Brazilian woman, isn’t it? I am gluten intolerant but my friends loved the cake. We stayed at her apartment before she moved and opened up the Alburgue.
sugargypsy said:
Yes, I've done a smaller and fast version of the recipe in a mug . Takes only about 2 or 3 minutes in the microwave, so that should also work out for the whole recipe.
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Can you svaret he receipt?

I am also walking door an hour or so if it is some villages ahead. I always bring som nut bars and maybe fruit or similar if I need something to eat
 
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Ideally I walk for a while and then stop some place where they have napolitanas de chocolate and cafe con leche. Albergue breakfasts tend to be expensive and crap.
 
Cafe stops can be a delightful social time but are zero necessary otherwise .. just carry food with you - if you buy the ingredients at a tienda - so cheap - and make a couple of ham and cheese rolls the afternoon before, well, they are hardly going to go off overnight, so do that and you will never be hungry .... as for coffee - a delight for social intercourse but not needed - almost no one will do this I know, but - give up all coffee from a month before you go, get over the caffeine withdrawal at home ... once it is gone you will find there is absolutely no desire (or need) for that caffeine hit - there - I have saved you hundreds and hundreds of Euros!!!

De nada
 
Made some oatmeal and a cup of tea when there was a kitchen. Had nuts and a couple of pieces from a bar of chocolate for the times when there was nothing and had a frappe basically Nescafe in a bottle of water good to go. Water and fruit during the walk. In Portugal at lunchtime a cup with sugar of their fabulous coffee. Just enough not to get lightheaded during the walk would eat after walking. Eating would slow me down.
 
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I would often have a yogurt in my pack I could eat. I would stop at the first cafe and get the tortilla and a cafe con lèche.
 
Actually, most pilgrim's at the donativo albergues where I have worked were happy to fill up on whatever we served, usually toast and jam with coffee or tea. I always tried to have some hummus or some cheese and some fruit. We always had box juice or milk as well. I can see where many might not want to pay extra, but almost no one left without out eating something.

When I am a pilgrim I like to head out early and love a cafe con leche at the first available stop. Also love a tortilla, but I never had the know how or resources to make that at 5:30 am in an albergue. Guess I'll have to work on that. When I made it here at home it required an oven and I have never had a regular sized one at an albergue.
 
Get a Spanish mobil number + data while on the Camino
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Hi Will thank you! I never complain about a dish that is prepared by another person having myself prepared and served thousands of meals in my time I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
 
Oh how I used to love my pilgrim toast and coffee.... I totally agree that sometimes it can be pretty bad but sometimes oooh it was wonderful... But regardless it was my pilgrim breakfast of choice.

However, I was diagnosed with celiac disease in June (I'm totally fine so not a sob story) and this year was the first time I was walking the camino without my beloved pilgrim breakfast. Crikey I cannot tell you how much I missed my morning toast... I've not found a replacement for it yet... I'll have to walk a few more camino to see if I can find a replacement

p.s. I did carry a small amount of gluten free porridge which was ok... not as great as the toast though
 
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J Willhaus said:
Also love a tortilla, but I never had the know how or resources to make that at 5:30 am in an albergue. Guess I'll have to work on that. When I made it here at home it required an oven and I have never had a regular sized one at an albergue.
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You definitely don’t need an oven to make a tortilla de patatas but.... it takes for ever! Well, not strictly for ever but (imo) it’s a labour of love and not something you hard-working hospitaleros should ever have to do early morning! No way!
 
J Willhaus said:
When I am a pilgrim I like to head out early and love a cafe con leche at the first available stop. Also love a tortilla, but I never had the know how or resources to make that at 5:30 am in an albergue. Guess I'll have to work on that.
Click to expand...
Leave early and support the local shops is the go,
And you won't have to consider a visit to the kitchen @ 5.30 am if i'm staying in the place and neither will anyone else
 
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Your absolutely right about the money thing . Buy your breakfast the day before. I carry a small, plastic jar of coffee. Today, after arriving in the village, the bar sold me milk and bread. After realising... I'd lost my sweetener, I went back in and the young lady gave me a handful of the wee sugar packets. She refused payment. Albergue microwave did the rest, as it will do, in the morning!
 
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Is it easy to buy milk on the camino? A small carton, from a shop? And does anyone know if you can buy Weetabix in Spain? As my plan was to just buy milk and eat 2 Weetabix for breakfast every morning. Will have a tin mug and spork with me, instead of a luxurious bowl and spoon lol
I will bring Weetabix with me if I can't buy it in Spain, but if milk isn't easily available, I guess I'll just have to revise my plans and settle for a banana and yoghurt instead.......
 
Of course you can buy milk but Weetabix, do you know, I never looked for it! I don’t know!
I’d settle for a banana and yoghurt instead
 
First breakfast (the one at the albergue if you take it) is a waste but the second breakfast, the one you get 6-8k down the way is a gift from the Gods. Coffee or juice, full breakfast or a croissant, whatever it is, I always feel like I’ve earned it. And, if you left early enough to miss first breakfast, you’re also often greeted with a glorious sunrise...no charge.
 
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Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
domigee said:
Of course you can buy milk but Weetabix, do you know, I never looked for it! I don’t know!
I’d settle for a banana and yoghurt instead
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Apologies, I meant is milk easily available to buy. Like, I know there will be supermarkets in the towns, but will there be shops in the small villages to buy milk and food to prepare for lunch/evening meal etc?
Its just that I'm going to be on a tight budget, and won't really be able to afford cafes/bars for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. Hoping to get by with a pilgrims meal in the evening/ share communal meals with others by buying from supermarkets (I'll try my best not to poison anyone with my cookinglol), and then make breakfast/lunch with food bought in a shop (bread/cheese/cereal bars/fruit/yoghurt etc)
 
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Yes, you will be fine buying stuff to eat even in small shops in villages. It may not be exactly what you are used to but you’ll be ok. Really.
 
It's maybe worth noting, for those on their first Camino, that it's often not very obvious what is available in a cafe. There may not be much on display. A few stale looking cakes, a coffee machine and an orange juice machine.......

Learn a few basic Spanish words so that you can politely ask......

Do you have this?

My World opened up when I learnt to ask if they had bacon and eggs on toast!
Most places did............

I'm sure others will better explain as my Spanish is very limited, but it's really not hard to be understood.

Tienes huevos fritos (do you have fried eggs)

I found just using "Tienes" and adding what I was looking for worked fine for everything...........
Just learn the words for whatever you are looking for........
 
Get a Spanish mobil number + data while on the Camino
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
I would like to share the "BEST" breakfast I have ever had thru my 2 caminos.

The buffet breakfast for €4 at Cuatro Cantones Albergue in Belorado:
many selections, fruits, yogurt, homemade cakes, juice, milk, coffee,
and most important--good quality of food!


I felt walking in the heaven after breakfast that day!

 
LesBrass said:
p.s. I did carry a small amount of gluten free porridge which was ok... not as great as the toast though
Click to expand...
Yes, I will bring small bags with gluten free porridge next time. The weight of one bag is 65 g. Hot water should be possible to get/buy.
 
oats.... then add any dried fruit/nuts/seeds if you have any and water. Can do it in the most basic kitchen or outside!
 
Get a Spanish mobil number + data while on the Camino
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Tortilla was my fuel for the Camino, sometimes bought an extra piece and had it wrapped to take with me as a snack. Croissants were a good alternative. I always keep a bag of nuts in the top of my rucksack in case I felt my energy levels dipping at any time, if you can find the bags of honey coated almonds they are the best!
 
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