Gencon food

[SlyFlourish]

My wife and I are coming to Gencon this year by plane. This is our third Gencon so we're still learning the good tricks. One thing that was always hard for us was finding good food to grab and eat while we played. We're booked pretty solid for the entire four days so getting out to get anything good is hard to do.

What tips and tricks have you guys found for food at Gencon?

Any hikers out there have tips for bringing lightweight food that isn't just packs of snicker's bars that we can fly with and eat there? I'm considering hitting our local Whole Foods or REI for some good hiker foods.

Any tips about bringing your own food are appreciated.

 

[kitsune9]

My wife and I are coming to Gencon this year by plane. This is our third Gencon so we're still learning the good tricks. One thing that was always hard for us was finding good food to grab and eat while we played. We're booked pretty solid for the entire four days so getting out to get anything good is hard to do.

What tips and tricks have you guys found for food at Gencon?

Any hikers out there have tips for bringing lightweight food that isn't just packs of snicker's bars that we can fly with and eat there? I'm considering hitting our local Whole Foods or REI for some good hiker foods.

Any tips about bringing your own food are appreciated.

If you're not going to have actual meals or they will be infrequent, avoid sugary stuff and sodas, drink plenty of water, and eat nutrition bars packed with protein.

Have fun at the convention.

 

[Crothian]

When ever I buy food be it take out or sit down I try to go a couple hours earlier then everyone else. It doesn't always work but it mostly avoids the hour long or more waits.

 

[Herschel]

I have a few favorites:

South Beach Diet High Protein Cereal Bars
These are good and are nutrituionally better than most other bars as they offer (as the name says) a decent amount of protein and reasonable sugars (15g carbs, only 7 sugar, 10g protein, 3g fiber so won't go colon blow on you either). I prefer the Cranberry Almond ones (and I generally hate nuts). They're also low-mass and failry filling. Ditch the box.

Any brand beef or turkey Jerkey.
Just a decent, protein snack. A chunk of this and a ceral bar can get you through for quite a while. Another low-mass item.

Frozen bottled water:
Seriously. I love to freeze a case of water before going and have it in a cooler in the hotel room. Have a few bottles with you for the day to suplement other beverages. Just compensate for the bottle sweating in your back if you need to. I don't really care how cold it is so I could go with just warm, but it also works as a mini cooler with:

Individually wrapped cheese sticks.
Eat these relatively early in the day so they don't get actually warm, but they're also a nice snack and go well with the jerkey-type stuff. They're also pretty low mass.

Some like trail mix a lot, or even popcorn, but I'm not a fan of too much "loose" food. Between swag and the dealer room and gaming supplies I'm already carrying enough crap.

Also, two sets of dice are plenty. I like plastic minis because I can safely put them right in the dice bag too. I also prefer mechanical pencils. The more space you conserve, the easier it is to carry everything and not feel like Nodwick.

 

[Herschel]

Oh, and if you haven't tried the Con pizza already, don't. The mixture of drywall, ketchup and lard wreaks havoc on even a hardcore gamer's digestive tract.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I'm going to find the eats at GenCon especially depressing this year, since the food at Origins is top-notch.

One trick -- there is a Subway on the block behind the Westin (further from the convention center) that seems to largely escape notice. I've rarely seen it crowded.

 

[guivre]

I'm going to find the eats at GenCon especially depressing this year, since the food at Origins is top-notch.

One trick -- there is a Subway on the block behind the Westin (further from the convention center) that seems to largely escape notice. I've rarely seen it crowded.

Ah the myth of magical Origins food. Been to both, great food can be had in either city, neither really stands out over the other. As a side note Subway is crap.

You could always roll your own con food, make some Gorp and take it with you: Backpacker Magazine - Reader Gorp Recipes

 

[Crothian]

Ah the myth of magical Origins food. Been to both, great food can be had in either city, neither really stands out over the other.

Gen Con does not have anything like the North Market here in Columbus that I've seen. Show me that then we'll talk

---biased Spikey

 

[guivre]

Gen Con does not have anything like the North Market here in Columbus that I've seen. Show me that then we'll talk

---biased Spikey

Yeah, not so impressive. Maybe for someone living in Ohio, dunno

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Yeah, not so impressive. Maybe for someone living in Ohio, dunno

Oh, snap!