Food on the train: what foods are best not to take on the road. Five metropolitan chefs: “What is the best way to eat on the train?” (tips) What not to eat before the train

An interesting continuation of the topic "Food on the Train", which we discussed very lively here in the winter.
Posted on the eda.ru portal conversation with capital chefs, who recommend what is optimal for you to eat on the train. I assigned all the chefs Roman numerals to make it easier to comment on their advice.
My short review is at the end, but first a word to the chefs.

"Let me eat some railroad food"

[...] In our minds, railway food is piquant boiled eggs, fried chicken or a chop from the dining car. Several generations of fellow citizens have grown up on this road menu, and this tradition will never go anywhere, despite the fact that without a refrigerator, both eggs and chicken quickly become unusable, and the dining car turns out to be a lottery every time. We decided to rectify the situation and found out from good Moscow chefs what they like to eat on the train and what they would cook if they had to spend at least a day on the train.

I. Ivan Shishkin, chef of the Delicatessen restaurant:

“You need to take safe food on the train that can be stored at room temperature for as long as you like. It should either be something very well cooked or completely raw, such as fruits and vegetables. And, of course, bread. It should also be a compact meal that can be handled without unnecessary tools.

The ideal option is canned food and bread. There are a lot of wonderful canned foods, from pates, which keep well thanks to preservatives and sterilization, right up to my favorite sprat in tomato. Both work great with bread. You need to spread the pate on it, and then have fun in any way you like - add fresh or pickled cucumber, for example, or put sauerkraut on top. There are pleasant and funny literary associations with sprat in a tomato (“sprat swims in a tomato, it feels good in a tomato”) - but in general it is an incredibly tasty thing. Not only is it sweet and easy to understand, but it also dangles in a sauce that you can then scoop out with bread. That is, you don’t need any equipment to eat it. Probably, except for the knife you use to cut bread, but even then - you can cut it at home. At least once a month, or even more often, I travel on express trains for 5–6 hours. And I must say that food on the train should not have a strong smell. Both pates and sprat in tomato have a very neat, compact smell, they don’t give themselves away if you sit neatly in your compartment, bending over the jar.

It is also important to take food that does not need to be heated. Stewed meat, for example, needs to be heated, so it won’t work. You need foods that can be scooped completely out of the jar or that are in a sauce that you will eat too. Roughly speaking, saury in oil or cod liver, with all their delights, is not an option for the train - you won’t eat oil! And it can also spill if you go to your place with an open can. You need something like this: they emptied it, wiped it with bread and that’s it, no traces. In addition to the above, you can take very hard cheese and lard. I highly recommend taking lard with you on trips: it is a fantastically compact energy container».

Canned food - Abakan and Ulan-Ude. And horse meat.

II. Bulat Ibragimov, chef of the Yuzhane restaurant:

« I myself try not to eat on trains. But I think that if you are expecting a serious, full meal on the road, then it’s good to prepare meat and vegetables for the road. For example, something like ajapsandali and corned beef. To make ajapsandali, you need to bake tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini and eggplants in coals. You need to bake them hard until they turn black. Then remove the charred top layer from the vegetables, wait until they cool completely, and toss them with olive oil, garlic, cilantro, red onion, salt and pepper. You should not skimp on the oil; there should be a lot of it so that the vegetables are slightly preserved in it. If the smell of red onion scares you, you can scald it first - or not add it at all. The proportions of vegetables are any, add them the way you like, but it is important to maintain a balance: you need to take 150-200 ml of oil per kilogram.

This is how corned beef should be cooked. Take a kilogram of beef - brisket, neck or rump. Place the meat in a cool brine for two days - 80 grams of salt and 10 grams of nitrite salt per liter of water (nitrite salt preserves food better, you can find it in stores that sell everything for sausages). After the meat has been in the brine, it must be carefully cooked without boiling vigorously in slightly salted water until it becomes soft and completely cooked. Then the corned beef should cool in this water, and then we will get practically canned meat. It tastes great cold and can be sliced like boiled pork and eaten with vegetables - or made into a sandwich. Chili sauce or mustard goes well with corned beef. It also goes well with sauerkraut, which can also be taken on the train without any problems and nothing will happen to it there. And then you can make yourself a super sandwich with corned beef, cabbage and mustard on rye bread.

And if you’re too lazy to prepare in advance, you can go to the Vietnamese market in Maryina Roshcha and buy some cool instant noodles there. In Asia, all noodles are good, because there they treat this product differently, there it is a whole culture. To avoid getting bored, you can add the same corned beef or stew from a can to these noodles; I love the stew from the Yoshkar-Ola meat processing plant. And the noodles also need greens - cilantro, parsley or green onions.

I also recommend celery root. We need to take a certain amount of flour, to which we will add salt, 20 percent of the volume of flour, and just a little water: we should get a very tight salt dough, in which we need to hide the celery root like in a shell. In this dough, celery needs to be baked for about an hour at a temperature of 170 degrees, and then you can make a cool snack on the train: celery root, an anchovy from a jar, some greens and olive oil.”

III. Vitaly Istomin, chef of the Tekhnikum restaurant:

« I wouldn't risk it at all and don't prepare food for the trip. I once poisoned myself with chicken on a train; I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone. But if you still want to cook chicken, then I think the high salt content before baking will save it: keep the bird in a saline solution for several hours or inject this salt into the chicken’s body using a culinary syringe. If you really want something meaty, then I would probably buy factory-smoked ham and make sandwiches from it. Because factory meat contains a lot of preservatives, and it will not spoil in a day. But personally, now, after that incident, I don’t take anything but snacks on trips. Railway food, as for me, should have two characteristics: dry and sweet. And these are any cookies.

I love parmesan cheese cookies. Take 100 grams of flour, mix with one egg, add 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of grated Parmesan and 5 grams of thyme. Mix all this, roll into a sausage and put in the refrigerator for a while. Then take it out, cut it into pieces - and put them in the oven to bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees.

You can also prepare kurabye: 100 grams of butter mixed with 150 grams of flour, 50 grams of sugar, one egg and 5 grams of vanilla sugar. You need to make round cookies from the dough and drip any jam on top - for such a volume of cookies you need 50 grams of jam. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 165 degrees.”

IV. Lara Katsova, chef of the Dyuk-Dyuk restaurant:

“The simplest thing you can come up with for a train is sandwiches. They should be made with foods that do not spoil within 24 hours, for example, cheese. You can do it this way: grate the cheese, add a little Dijon mustard and homemade mayonnaise to it, mix it all, put it on a piece of bread, cover it with another piece of bread and bake. It's tasty and satisfying. If you get on the train early in the morning and realize that you will soon want to eat, then you can take sandwiches with red fish or some kind of smoked meats. But this is only for the first three hours of your trip. And if it’s summer, then generally for the first hour.

You can also make my favorite grandma’s cheesecakes, which when cold are also quite tasty and behave well throughout the day. Take 400 grams of cottage cheese with a fat content of at least 9%, one yolk, one and a half tablespoons of granulated sugar, one packet of vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt and one and a half tablespoons of flour to add to the cottage cheese, and another 2-3 tablespoons of flour for molding. The cottage cheese must be rubbed through a sieve. Add granulated sugar and vanilla sugar, yolk and a pinch of salt. Mix it all, make a roll of dough, then cut it into circles, from which we will form cheesecakes. You need to fry the cheesecakes in a mixture of vegetable and butter over medium heat, and then bring them to readiness in the oven - this will take a couple more minutes.

If you travel by train for a day, then in the middle of the journey you will definitely have lunch. For this lunch, you can prepare chicken by marinating it first. By the middle of the trip, 6–10 hours after the start of the journey, it will still be adequate, but not longer. The chicken should be marinated as follows: vegetable oil, soy sauce, garlic, paprika, dry herbs that you like, and chili pepper. The bird must be immersed in this marinade for at least three hours, or even better, put it in the marinade in the morning, and take it out in the evening, then it will be very well soaked and will turn out very tasty. If it's a chicken fillet, then it needs to be grilled, and if it's a whole chicken, then it can just be stupidly baked.

You can add small potatoes to the chicken while baking. Boil the potatoes until half cooked, then pour the marinade over them and bake along with the chicken. It is important to understand: the finished chicken must first be cooled and taken with you on the road already cold, wrapped in parchment and foil.

Towards the end of the trip, you can start eating pies with potatoes and fried onions, prepared with kefir dough. They will survive the night quietly and will be good the next day. The dough is as follows: pour into a saucepan one and a half cups of 3.2% fat kefir, three cups of flour, half a cup of vegetable oil, add half a teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of sugar. Heat and stir well, the mixture should be warm but not hot. While the mixture is preparing, sift three cups of flour and add one packet of dry yeast to it. Add the warm kefir mixture to this and mix well. The dough should become sticky. Cover the bowl with the dough with a towel and put it in a warm place for about 40 minutes. This dough is suitable for various fillings, but the most harmless for the train would be potatoes with fried onions.”

Real lunch on the Vorkuta - Labytnangi train, 2015.

V. Anatoly Kazakov, chef of the Selfie restaurant:

“The main criterion for train food is that the product is completely cooked and does not contain moisture. And also that the dish contains a minimum of mixtures of different products and there is no sauce, because sauces spoil first.

You can bake roast beef really well, you just need to make sure that it is completely cooked. First, you just need to marinate the beef in olive oil with salt, pepper and stuff it with garlic. Then fry it on all sides in a frying pan, then cover it with thyme, unpeeled garlic and put it in the oven, wrapped in foil or parchment paper. Keep in the oven until the meat is completely cooked; this is easy to determine: there should be no red ichor or juice in it. To ensure that the roast beef is not dry, you need to make the temperature lower than usual, say 150 degrees, and increase the baking time to 40 minutes.

I would bake beets to go with the roast beef. The beets should be coated with olive oil and thyme and placed on a baking sheet, the bottom of which is covered with coarse sea salt. Salt is needed to draw out all the moisture from the root crop. Beets should be baked at 140 degrees for an hour. You can also come up with a sauce that is equally suitable for beets and roast beef, for example, this is pesto sauce, but you need to make it without cheese on the road. Take 30 grams of cilantro, 20 grams of pine nuts lightly fried in a frying pan and 100 ml of olive oil. All this needs to be blended in a blender and packed in some container to take with you. You can’t add pesto directly to the beets or roast beef - all the components of the dinner must come together directly on the table of your compartment.”

* * *
Now for my brief summary of the “nutritional” tips.

I. In general, competent advice, but some strongly smack of “metropolitanism”. It can be seen that the respected culinary specialist hardly traveled by real long-distance Trans-Siberian trains. For example, stew is an excellent product on the road, but provided that it meat and jelly. Those. good, not typical post-Soviet shit. It goes great just like that, without warming up, if there are no other options.

II. This one, apparently, did not travel on long-distance trains at all, except perhaps to the South. It's complicated and confusing. And the advice about the noodles is absolutely rubbish, creating a strong smell in the compartment is yes, very Chinese :) He probably flies.

III. This one, too, clearly travels to Europe and doesn’t use long-distance trains. Judging by the sad one-time experience. However, the cheese cookie recipe is a good one. This will go well on the train.

IV. It's complicated and confusing. The sandwiches dry out quickly and become tasteless. And the advice to leave the pies for last is even more dubious.

V. This one thinks much more adequately, although he gives relatively complex advice. Perhaps a good recommendation.

In general, of course, to really clarify this issue, it was necessary to interview the chefs of small provincial establishments: they would give much more realistic and adequate advice. And not metropolitan and steep ones - far from trains and trips on them. They usually fly.

PS. Real assortment at large shopping stations (Ilanskaya station, Krasnoyarsk railway, 2013):

Assortment-1. Salzo, chicken, cutlets, lightly salted cucumbers, boiled potatoes, sausage, chicken...

Assortment-2. Dried fish, pancakes, pies...

Good day, dear readers. Julia Kel speaks. Have you ever traveled on a train and struggled with the choice of food items to take with you? Unfortunately, it is impossible to ensure long-term preservation of food en route. But I'll tell you what to do! Find out what food to take with you on the train to make your trip more enjoyable and avoid embarrassment. My grocery list will last you on the road and provide you with a tasty snack. I will also add my tips for choosing clothes and entertainment on the train.

After reading the information, you will be very serious about packing for the trip, and you will already be confident in the products that you take with you.

When preparing for a trip, there is always a bustle and a lot of thoughts in your head. To avoid forgetting what you need in a hurry, I advise you to start preparing in advance. It is best three days before the trip. I always do this and it makes me feel better. Decide on a list, write down even small things on it; as a rule, they are in the hustle and bustle and fly out of your head. Check your packed suitcase again before leaving.

Many people are stumped by the problem of what to eat on the road. But actually, this is one of the easy questions. However, it should be approached with responsibility.

Remember that the train is a public place. This means you should not cause inconvenience to others. But we must also remember about ourselves, especially with regard to hygiene, because it is impossible to imagine how many people traveled in your carriage and how clean it is.

What food should you take on the train:

which preserves the taste when cold;
non-perishable;
nutritious;
no pungent odor;
convenient for use.

When you travel with a baby, you need to approach packing for the trip with double responsibility.

Don't forget to take disinfectants with you on the road. Let's say an excellent solution would be to take with you a clean cloth and hydrogen peroxide with which you moisten it. For what? Firstly, not all trains are sparkling clean. From my own experience, I can say that I have often encountered terribly dirty seats and windows covered in a thick layer of dust. The problem is especially acute in the summer, when the windows in the carriage are open. Secondly, no one has canceled the rules of hygiene. Public transport is a huge accumulation of bacteria from which you should protect yourself. Wipe the table, your seat and what you will touch in the future.

It is better to keep visiting the toilet on the train to a minimum; this is the hotbed of bacteria. To do this, try to drink less water, compotes and tea while traveling.

Before eating, it is best to wipe your hands with napkins.

The best food on the train is one that will not spoil under the temperature conditions in the carriage. I already know very well that while in the summer the carriage is simply stuffy, in the winter on some trips there is a real freezer. And some have incredible heat, especially at night. At this temperature, the risk of food spoilage increases.

It is also important to remember that you are not traveling alone. Your food should not cause discomfort to other passengers due to its smell. And behave civilly. We ate, cleared the table after ourselves and packed the leftover food back into the bag. It’s very nice to travel with a person who respects you and cares not only about your comfort.

So what is the best product to take with you? Now let's talk about this.

What Can take on the train for a day from food: list

When choosing food for this list, follow the rules we talked about above.

I advice:

Chicken fillet. It will be great to fry it in pieces and wrap it in pita bread.
Jacket potatoes. A timeless product that many take with them on trips, and rightly so, as it will last your entire journey without issue.
Boiled eggs. The same popular product as from the previous paragraph.
Hard cheese. You can make nutritious and healthy sandwiches from it.
Buns, pies with jam and raisins.
For vegetables, carrots, cucumbers, and bell peppers are perfect. They need to be washed in advance.
From fruits: bananas, apples. You can also take pears with you, but then you should choose varieties that are not too juicy.
Bread. Slice it ahead of time and wrap it in foil to extend shelf life.
Smoked products in vacuum packaging. Suitable if you want to pamper yourself with tasty and satisfying food. Smoked wings, brisket and the like - all this can be taken with you on the road. Their shelf life will be approximately a day.
Dried fruits and nuts will serve as a filling snack.
Sweets for tea: cookies, waffles, gingerbread.
Fast food. Packaged porridge and noodles will help you out on the road and allow you to have a hot meal.

In addition to the above products, I strongly recommend taking a bottle of water with you on your trip. It will definitely be useful to you, the main thing is not to abuse it, as I said earlier. It is better not to take juices, as they are too sweet and you will be thirsty again.

Dairy products. You yourself understand perfectly well that it is impossible to store such a product without a refrigerator. Of course, you can safely take it if you consume fermented milk food immediately after boarding the train. However, we are talking about longer storage.
Tomatoes. Everything is clear here. Not the best option for the road.
Boiled sausage. It will definitely not withstand your long journey, and there will be a risk of poisoning.
Chocolate and chocolate candies. They will melt too quickly and stain your clothes and hands.
Salads dressed with mayonnaise. Perishable food. The danger is that you may not even notice how unfit for food it is.
Fish. Of course, there are those who like to take it with them on the road, but it’s not worth it. At a minimum, the smell will cause inconvenience to many passengers.
Cream cakes.

Friends, now you know what you should take to eat on the train and what not. Now let's talk about something else.

How to prepare food for a trip

Dear friends, I recommend you a high-quality and really inexpensive fashionable denim thermal bag “Thermo-Lunch Box” for lunches from AliExpress. It is suitable for both women and men. Compact - 13.5 x 22.5 x 20 cm, which means it's perfect for travel. Price - up to $8.

Besides food, friends, I recommend that you take disposable forks and spoons with you. You may find plastic containers or disposable plates useful. It is also advisable to pack a mug with you, but this is not always necessary. You can also get it from the train conductor.

Don't forget to bring wet wipes and paper towels with you on the road. Be sure to bring your medications. But here everything is individual, take the medications you need, most importantly, do not forget about painkillers and indigestion pills.

What clothes and entertainment to take

It is not always convenient to wear your casual clothes on the train that you wore when you boarded. It is difficult to withstand a whole day, for example, in jeans.

So think about what you will take with you to change into. A great option is a tracksuit and a T-shirt. If it’s summer outside and it’s stuffy on the train, then you can stick to shorts and a T-shirt. Bring a change of shoes - rubber slippers.

Entertaining yourself on the road is not so easy, but it is possible. During the day, it would be nice to read something that you didn’t have time for ahead of time or look out the window at nature. For the evening, plan to watch movies; to do this, take your laptop with you and download the movie in advance. Listen to music, play games on your tablet, chat with your compartment neighbors, make new acquaintances. Make your trip more enjoyable and useful.

Conclusion

Dear friends, traveling by train is quite a pleasant pastime. You not only admire the beauty of nature, looking at the flickering landscapes, but also meet new people. A great opportunity to get acquainted and start pleasant communication.

Everyone wants to travel in comfort. Therefore, take care of your comfort and the convenience of others. Nutrition plays an important role in this. You already know what exactly you can take to eat on the train. Choose non-perishable products (following a pre-prepared list), without a strong odor. After eating, clear the table and throw away trash in a designated place.

Travel with pleasure!

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Friends, my article is over. Let me know you found it helpful by clicking on the social media button below. And tell us in the comments how you prepare for long trips.

Since childhood, many of us have loved long train rides - it’s like you’re plunging into a completely different world. The landscapes outside the window change one after another, and the slight rocking of the carriage and the sound of the wheels make you forget about many problems...

This is the place where you can get a good night's sleep, enjoy your favorite book, listen to good music, and if you come across an interesting fellow traveler, find a new friend. Some people know how to sleep peacefully on a train, and the journey flies by unnoticed for them, but some people like to eat in the carriage, so you should think in advance about what kind of food to take on the train so as not to harm your health and not disturb other passengers with foreign odors.

Preparing for the trip

It doesn’t matter what time of year you have planned your trip; the same law applies on trains: there are no refrigerators for storing food and microwaves to warm it up, so you need to approach the choice of food responsibly.

What to take on the train to eat? Take with you exactly those products that were specially prepared for this trip. Some people run into the nearest station store and take what they see, and then begin to think whether all this is necessary. Of course, if you are transferring from train to train, this situation is quite possible, but if the trip is planned a day or two in advance, do not be lazy and prepare the necessary products. Let's take a closer look at what food to take on the train.

Fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are the best foods to snack on while traveling. They are nutritious and healthy, do not spoil for a long time, and are convenient to transport. This is good food for the train, what fruit to take is up to you, based on your own preferences. Wash them and wipe them dry - this prevents the food from spoiling quickly. Instead of bags for transportation, it is better to use plastic containers - in them vegetables and fruits will retain their appearance, shape and taste well. If you are planning to make a salad and do not want to get your hands dirty again, cut the vegetables into medium pieces in advance and put them in separate trays. If you are traveling in a compartment with strangers, you should remember that you cannot take radishes, onions, or garlic on the train, as the pungent smells of these vegetables irritate some.

homemade baking

Various buns, pies and other homemade baked goods are in great demand among both children and adults. By preparing something from this list the night before your trip, you won't have to worry about what to eat on the train. Remember that pies, homemade pizza and other baked goods containing meat filling should be consumed no later than 6-8 hours after the start of the journey.

It is worth giving up the usual loaf of bread, since cutting it on the train will be inconvenient, and after cutting the crumbs may end up not only on the table, but also on the floor and bed linen. You can buy sliced loaves, small unleavened buns, pita bread or bread. If you plan to make sandwiches, take a sliced loaf. Just don't cook them the day before, as the bread will soak into the spread or vegetables and become soggy and gross.

Home cooked food

Many people rack their brains about what to take their children on the train to eat. In addition to fruits, vegetables and baked goods, home-cooked food will not hurt on the road. Boiled or baked potatoes are guaranteed to last several days on the road. You can boil chicken breast - it is healthy, there is practically no smell from it, and besides, you and your child will not get your hands dirty like other fatty meats. You can stock up on boiled eggs, which for convenience are better to immediately peel and place in a plastic tray.

Buckwheat porridge is quite easy to prepare on the train. You can ask the conductor for boiling water at any time. Place the cereal in a thermos or tightly closed plastic container and pour boiling water over it. The water level should be two fingers above the buckwheat. Close tightly and set container aside. In an hour and a half you will be able to enjoy delicious, crumbly buckwheat porridge. You can add dried apricots or other dried fruits - it will turn out very tasty.

Water, juices, dairy products

Mineral water, compote, juices are what is best to take on the train. Sweet carbonated drinks and concentrated juices contain a lot of sugar and do not quench your thirst, so it is better to avoid them. In summer, it would be best to opt for regular water without gas. Unlimited quantities of tea and coffee can be ordered from the conductor, and for tea, stock up on cookies, chocolate or candies.

Yogurt, cheese curds and other dairy products are filling, tasty and healthy food, but remember that you need to take a cooler bag on the train so that they do not spoil prematurely. These bags keep cold for 6-8 hours, which will help significantly increase the shelf life of these products. If there is none, you will have to eat them on the first day of the journey.

Cheeses, sausages, canned food

What food to take on the train? Take raw smoked sausage on the road after cutting it at home. Boiled, liver or blood sausage tend to spoil quickly, so it is better to discard them.

If you take balyk or smoked meat, try to eat them as soon as possible.

Take sausages in airtight packaging, just make sure they are not past their expiration date.

Opt for hard cheeses or sliced processed cheese, each piece of which is individually packaged - this is very convenient on the road. Buy canned meat and liver pate in small packages so you can eat it all at once.

What should you not take on the train?

We talked above about what products are taken on the train, but there is food that cannot be taken on the road. It is not recommended to take perishable products that require storage at low temperatures. Avoid cakes, custard or buttercream cakes. Meat or fish salads with various dressings are also unsuitable for the road table. It is worth giving up hot smoked fish, herring, shrimp and other boiled seafood.

At temperatures above eight degrees, a favorable environment is created for the development of various bacteria and microorganisms, and this contributes to the rapid spoilage of products. Regardless of what you decide to take on the train, stick to a simple rule. If your food causes the slightest suspicion, you should not eat it in order to avoid stomach problems.

On the eve of your trip, think about what household items to take on the train. Stock up on wet and dry wipes, disposable tableware, and take several garbage bags. Remember that food spoils much faster in summer than in the cold season. To store food, choose the coldest place in the compartment, away from the radiator (as a rule, it is located under the window).

Fallback option

Even if you forgot something or simply didn’t have enough food, there is a way out. You can go to the dining car, where you will be offered freshly prepared first and second courses at reasonable prices. All-inclusive compartment tickets are now on sale. The price includes slippers, toothpaste, brush, soap and fresh newspapers. The conductors will bring you breakfast, lunch and dinner directly from the dining car and change your bed linen daily. So, it’s up to you to choose: take a ticket in a luxury compartment or think about what food to take on the train and prepare it yourself. Bon Voyage!

Rail travel has long become an integral part of human life. Such a journey takes from several hours to several days. All this time the passenger must eat something.

Catering on the train

In the 21st century, tourists are not often able or willing to take prepared food from home with them on the road. The realities of modern life are such that there is not always time to think through the diet or prepare food in advance. In addition to the main service - transportation of passengers and movement of goods, the railway will help organize meals on the train.

You can use the following options:

visiting the dining car;
off-site trading services;
purchasing goods from a conductor;
guaranteed food (cold and hot rations).

When planning a trip, it is important to find out what is served on the train.

Sale of food products on the train

Guide services in catering

If the passenger spends only a few hours on the road, he may be satisfied with the sale of food goods by the conductor. A member of the service team always offers hot tea or coffee bags on the train. For tea, you can buy sugar, cookies, waffles, sweets, chocolate, mineral water or juices. Hot drinks are provided to passengers in disposable tea containers.

Sometimes the guide offers instant porridge or mashed potatoes; there is also the option of buying beer and a snack (dried packaged fish) to go with it.

Note! In the service area of the carriage you can get free cold or hot water, wash dishes and heat up food. There is a coffee maker in the compartment car (on some trains this service is provided for a fee).

Purchasing a ticket with Standard meals

When purchasing a ticket through the online order form or through the ticket office of the Russian Railways for long-distance routes, the passenger has the right to choose a category of carriage with or without guaranteed meals.

Important! The “My Orders” personal account on the Russian Railways website provides the opportunity to select food options or change them. This can be done even more than once, the main thing is that there are at least 72 hours left before the trip. Three days before departure, the link to change meals becomes inactive.

Algorithm for changing nutrition on the Russian Railways website:

log into your personal account through the Russian Railways website;
find your e-ticket there;
under the place number, mark the link “Meal: Breakfast-Standard” or “Meal: Dinner-Standard”;
click the link.

Guaranteed food

Depending on the time of day spent on the trip, the passenger is provided with breakfast or dinner in the compartment; if the travel time takes a day or more, lunch (lunch) is also provided.

What is included in meals in compartments on Russian Railways trains? There are three categories that the passenger chooses between: “Standard” food, vegetarian, and children’s. If, when ordering a ticket, you do not specify a specific type of food from the proposed menu, then the default option is “Standard”.

One of the food options

What does “Standard” food mean on a train?

Important!“Standard” is an identical set of dishes for all passengers with minimal variability.

Breakfast

“Standard breakfast” exists in two versions: the basis of the first is porridge, the second is scrambled eggs. When choosing the first option, the passenger will be offered a menu of oatmeal (rice) milk porridge and sandwiches (with sausage or cheese and butter), rye and wheat bread, tea, coffee, butter and cream. The next version of the “Standard” breakfast is distinguishable from the first only by replacing the porridge with fried eggs with tomatoes and ham.

What do they serve for lunch in a train compartment?

The standard business lunch also comes in two versions. The first one is formed from salad, beef borscht, escalope and rice side dish, in addition - white and rye bread. Hot drinks are a choice between tea and coffee with cream. Another lunch option, “Standard,” consists of salad, noodle soup, cutlets and mashed potatoes, in addition to white and rye bread. Hot drinks are traditional: tea or coffee with cream.

Dinner

The “standard dinner” in the first version will be presented with salad, steak and boiled potatoes, rye and wheat bread, tea or coffee. In the second version of the evening meal, you can enjoy chicken fillet and boiled pasta. Dinner is complemented by a piece of rye and wheat bread, tea or coffee.

Meals in SV

Meals in the NE carriage differ in that the standard set includes dessert and some non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. The dishes are earthenware or porcelain (not disposable lunch boxes, as in the compartment), and instead of a paper napkin, there is a fabric one.

In the prepaid menu, breakfast costs from 210 to 430 rubles, lunch costs from 300 to 610 rubles, dinner from 270 to 500 rubles, depending on the category of carriage for the trip.

Important! The weight of the finished dish or its ingredients is not indicated anywhere, so you should be prepared for the fact that the served portion of food may differ from the usual one, up or down.

If desired, another type of meal can be ordered online. To do this, follow these simple steps:

In front of the selected dish, put a tick on the left;
Click on the checkbox (flag) on the right here;
in the message that opens, look at the proposed diet;
agree by clicking the “Select” button;
If you disagree with the proposed type of food, continue the search by repeating the steps specified in points 1 - 4.

Meals in SV and compartment carriages

If the passenger has prepaid breakfast, it will be served from 7 to 10 am, lunch - from 11 am to 3 pm, dinner - from 4 pm to 9 pm.

Attention! A passenger purchasing a ticket pays for only one meal. On the train you can also order additional food: porridge, soup, salad.

Dining car

As a rule, long-distance trains cannot do without a dining car with 48 seats.

Sometimes two are attached to the composition. This is possible for transporting children to the Kremlin New Year trees, when the entire train is filled with children and the teachers accompanying them. In this way, sanitary standards for the transportation of children, who are fed in three shifts, are observed.

The new dining cars have a bar counter, so seats are reduced to 32.

Meals in the dining car

The restaurant car on the train is a catering establishment that provides the passenger with a varied assortment of dishes - from simple to the most complex (including branded and custom-made), fresh pastries, cakes, sweets, chocolate, alcohol.

Each restaurant car offers visitors one or two of its own specialties. Solyanka, fried salmon, beefsteaks, and trout are popular in dining cars. For appetizers, you can enjoy vegetable salads, cheese desserts, and “Cocktail Salad.”

Note! Train dining cars usually operate around the clock, interrupting their work for half an hour for cleaning and receiving food at stations twice a day.

What will they feed you in the restaurant?

The menu in the dining car depends on the train route. In the Siberian Train restaurant, for example, pine nuts are widely represented in the recipes of signature dishes. On trains in Western Siberia they offer meat breaded in pine nuts. Various fish dishes (baked fish in an omelet with white sauce is popular) are used on routes in the East Siberian region. On northern trains, desserts are prepared with local berries: cloudberries, cranberries, lingonberries. On trains heading to the Caucasus, trout, tobacco chicken, and various barbecue products are offered.

Dining car

To actively attract entire groups of passengers to the dining car, the current menu is constantly updated with new interesting dishes, and before the New Year or other holidays - with special diets and offers. Passengers observing fasting will be able to taste proper Lenten dishes in the dining car.

Not all branded trains operating in Russia have dining cars. For example, the Eurasia train, which until recently connected St. Petersburg and Astana (formation of KTZ - Kazakhstan Railway), offered passengers only black or green tea and coffee for two and a half days on the road.

Features of food on branded trains

The Allegro electric train has a dining car with a bar. Total capacity 50 people. Positions itself as the best restaurant between Helsinki and St. Petersburg and offers delicacies of Finnish and international cuisine. Wide range of hot and cold drinks. Alcoholic drinks are not only sold by the glass, but are also allowed to be taken into your car. A cold meal is included in the price of a first class carriage ticket. One of the features of the dining car on this train is the possibility of holding any celebration, including a family or a fun bachelor party.

The high-speed train "Strizh" Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod will take travelers to the final stop in 3.5 hours. All carriages on the train are almost two times shorter than Russian standards, so not only the restaurant-bar, but also the cafe-bar invites passengers to have a tasty meal here.

The Vyatka train is a night railway service between Kirov and Moscow. If a tourist decides to have a snack, then in addition to guaranteed food, he can visit the dining car with a wide range of dishes or order dinner in a compartment.

Train "Allegro"

The Lastochka train currently connects 34 different routes. Travel time varies from 1 to 5 hours. There is no dining car or organized catering here. This means that a hungry tourist must be content with only the hawker service.

Dining car on a double-decker train

The double-decker trains “Northern Palmyra” (St. Petersburg - Adler) and “Adler-Moscow” have been on the road for more than a day. In addition to guaranteed paid meals, travelers can visit the dining cars of these trains, where the dining room of each dining car simultaneously accommodates 44 people on the first floor and 48 on the second. These trains also have vending machines for coffee and snacks, which is also very convenient and popular with passengers.

Audio and video programs are broadcast here, and a waiter is invited using a call button near the table. In the dining car of a two-story train there is a special lift-lift from two shafts for serving food and drinks from the kitchen to the second floor salon and for returning tableware.

What and how much does it cost

In the restaurant car of the Adler-Moscow train, among cold snacks you can eat a sandwich with raw smoked sausage for 230 rubles, with salmon for 250 rubles, and with red caviar for 280 rubles. The cost of salads will be: 300 rubles - for a “Spicy” or “Greek” cocktail salad, 350 rubles - for a “Caesar”. For cold cuts (150 g) you need to pay 530 rubles, and for a “Cheese plate” (200 g) - 480 rubles. Borscht costs 350 rubles, solyanka - 400 rubles, noodle soup with chicken - 300 rubles.

Power standard

Main courses include salmon fillet for 820 rubles, chicken fillet for 700 rubles, shish kebab for 370 rubles, and escalope for 400 rubles. Side dish - boiled potatoes (150 g) - 200 rubles, fried potatoes - 250 rubles. The simplest tea from a bag will add another 100 rubles to the bill; brewed tea will add up to 300 rubles. Coffee - 250 rubles, a bun - 20 rubles, a slice of bread - 15 rubles.

Important! The bill includes not only the cost of meals, but also 10% of the cost for service in the dining car. The waiters do not warn you about this when taking your order.

Food: quality and freshness of food

Guaranteed meals are prepared for the carrier by kitchen factories working with Russian Railways on outsourcing. This means that food preparation is given to catering establishments according to the menu approved by the carrier.

All meals are delivered to trains packed in protective containers. The food consists of a cold and a hot part. The freshness and safety of food is achieved with the help of special lunch boxes; on the train, dishes are only heated up and served to passengers.

Many passengers speak with delight about the organization of guaranteed meals, while others leave negative reviews about the taste of the dishes and the composition of the diet, because there are so many opinions. What type of food is suitable for a tourist on a rolling stock can only be decided by the passenger himself, using the information from this article.

* Prices are current as of August 2018.

What do people do when they travel by rail? Right! Eating is one of the main activities on the train. The train and food are things that have long been inseparable in our minds.

If you do not plan to eat in the dining car along the way, then you will need to pack provisions with you. This issue needs to be given special attention, since food products will have to be transported without refrigeration, which can lead to rapid spoilage and the risk of food poisoning. So what food should you take on the train?

It is important that your grocery basket meets the following parameters:

Resistance to heat and transportation in a warm room.
Ease of use.
There are no strong odors, and there is little chance of getting dirty when consumed.
Nutritional value.
Acceptable taste when cold.

LIST OF PRODUCTS YOU CAN TAKE ON THE ROAD

Chicken. It is necessary not only to fry the meat well (I use a small amount of oil), but, if possible, add as much salt and pepper as possible - this will slightly extend the life of the dish in the heat.
Potato. This product can last a day on a train, or maybe even two, if you boil the potatoes in their jackets or bake them in the oven with the skins on.
Boiled eggs. Of course, they have a specific smell, but they are nutritious and have a long shelf life, especially if they were cooked for more than 30 minutes.
Smoked sausage. Raw smoked sausage can be stored for as long as possible. It is optimal to take sliced sausages in vacuum packaging on the road.
Cheese. You can take hard cheese on the train, wrapped in foil, but processed cheese is better (it lasts longer).
Bread. It is better to take sliced bread, preferably without yeast, which does not go stale for a long time. Just remember to wrap it in paper or foil and not in a bag, so it won't mold. An excellent option is thin pita bread. You can wrap meat in it so as not to get dirty when eating.
Baby food. Vegetable purees and meat pates for children last longer than regular vegetables and meat, and the taste will satisfy the needs of an adult.
Fruits. Apples, pears, bananas, oranges, tangerines must be washed in advance and placed in a separate clean bag.
Vegetables. Cucumbers, carrots.
Nuts and dried fruits. Before traveling, be sure to wash your dried fruits thoroughly.
Sweet grocery. Cookies, gingerbread, candies (not chocolate), lollipops, crackers, waffles.
Tea and coffee in bags.
Salt and sugar.
Water. It is necessary to take one and a half liters of water per person per day. Do not take sweet and carbonated water, as well as juices and nectars. They are aggressive drinks and can increase thirst and cause stomach upset. It is better to take regular drinking or not very salty mineral water.

As a tip, we recommend that you prepare sandwiches at home in advance. If you have a long journey ahead, you most likely cannot do without a supply of instant cereals, various cereals and soups from a package. When packaging food, choose foil and wrapping paper over plastic bags. This will prevent food from suffocating on the train.

LIST OF PRODUCTS YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE ON A TRAIN TRAVEL

Boiled sausages and deli meats. This group of products can only be taken if they are eaten in the first hours of the road, otherwise you risk getting poisoned.
Dairy products. Kefir, yoghurts, glazed cheeses, and curds are also perishable products.
Smoked fish and herring– perishable products with a strong odor. After eating them, you will have to wash your hands long and diligently.
Salads and other dishes that contain sour cream or mayonnaise, which in turn contribute to rapid spoilage of the product.
Tomatoes. If you accidentally crush them, it’s easy to get dirty.
Chocolate and candy. If it’s hot in the carriage, they can melt and then stain everything around when consumed. But there are exceptions - chocolate dragees with colored glaze that melt in your mouth, not in your hands.
"Doshiraki" and "Rolton". Easy to prepare, but questionable in composition. Therefore, if you want to maintain your health, it is better not to feed your stomach with chemicals.

DISHES AND OTHER ITEMS

It is better to take disposable tableware on the train - paper or plastic plates, forks, spoons. Plastic cups are not very convenient for the train - there is a risk of falling off the table when braking, and it is difficult to hold hot liquid in it for a long time. Therefore, it is better to take a mug made of food-grade plastic or a metal thermal mug. Plastic containers in which food was packaged can be used as plates. You can serve lunch in them, and use the lid as a cutting board.

Also don't forget: a folding knife, wet wipes, activated charcoal, and, just in case, medicine for poisoning and stomach upset.

If it is hot on the train and there is little fresh air, food there will spoil much faster than just in a kitchen without a refrigerator. Therefore, to increase the shelf life of products, put them in a regular thermal bag. Don't forget to put a cold accumulator (plastic container with blue liquid inside) inside the thermal bag. A frozen cold accumulator can extend the shelf life of products placed in a thermal bag or cooler bag by 7-10 hours.