8 Gizmos for Bringing Food and Wine Back from Your Holidays Unharmed

If you’re a foodie there’s nothing better than going on holiday and sampling not only all the restaurants of note in the region but also visiting the local delis and markets. Imagine your joy to discover fresh wild mushrooms, amazing cheeses and vintage wines that you just have to try – and more importantly, bring home so everyone else can have some too! Now, the only problem is how to transport them…

A Vacuum Sealer

 

This vacuum sealer is super slim so it won’t take up much room in your luggage but it is excellent for sealing up meat and cheeses so that they stay fresh and don’t transfer their delicious aromas to your clothes in transit. It’s also good for products in bulky packaging, you can take them out of the box and vacuum pack it to reduce the size. Plus, using it is strangely satisfying.

An Electric Cool box

 

This cool box plugs in to your car cigarette lighter to keep things frosty if you’re travelling by road. It’s perfect for longer trips as you can leave it plugged in, and keep things cool for days just like your fridge at home. You can also get an adaptor to plug it in at your destination, but don’t forget a travel adaptor for your adaptor to plug it in abroad!

Or, use a lightweight cool box to transport your goodies–this one is the opposite to the fancy electric cool box above – no electricity, no colourful designs, just polystyrene. And it works perfectly.

A Collapsible Cool bag

 

This cool bag folds flat so you can stuff it in your luggage, and only get it out when you need it. Add:

A Freezer Board

 

Or two for extra coldness. Pop them in the freezer the night before you depart. They work like adding a bag of ice cubes to the cool bag, only they’re not going to melt everywhere and cause a mess. (Or just freeze a plastic bottle of your favourite drink, it will keep things sufficiently preserved and be lovely and cold, yet drinkable by the time you arrive!)

Click here for more information.

A Food Flask

 

A flask is helpful if you want to do just the opposite, and keep things warm while you travel.

 

A Vacuum Wine Cork

 

Is handy if you couldn’t help sampling the wine before you travelled. The set contains a small vacuum pump which sucks the air out of the bottle, sealing it with the “cork” provided. Especially good for keeping the bubbles in fizz so it doesn’t go flat, but will retain the freshness of any wine.

 

Wine cooler bag

 

And look, here’s a bag that’s just for cooling wine – and drinking it too!

 

Before you set out, do make sure that you’ve checked government guidelines for bringing your chosen edible goodies back into the UK. There’s nothing worse than seeing your expensive foodstuffs tossed aside by thorough customs officials. As a rule of thumb, if you’re travelling within the EU, you can bring most things in, including meat, dairy, fish and  honey. For other countries, be careful and check the list.