One of my favorite parts of traveling is eating. Experiencing the cuisine in a different locale is nearly always exciting and you have an excuse to do it multiple times a day on your trip. The bummer is when you have to get on the plane and give it all up. But this year I got some new insight on how to minimize the end-of-vacation blues by bringing home some of my favorite foods from abroad.
I’ve been deeply scarred by how movie theaters have treated me when they caught me smuggling in Taco Bell, because shockingly, the TSA doesn't really care if you bring outside food onto a plane. (Customs is another story, but I’ll let you handle that how you like.) As long as you can meet the liquid restrictions, you won’t get a lot of hassle from them. (You can check the TSA website for fun details, like how they will gladly do a live lobster inspection.) So the question isn’t if you can, but how to do it without spoilage or breakage.
Freeze butter and cheese
I took a trip to Paris this year, and while there is a wealth of incredible food, French butter is exquisite. While I set out to cram as much butter as I could into my mouth over the course of five days, a friend I was traveling with casually mentioned vacuum sealing it in plastic and freezing it. This was a double-take moment.
While vacuum sealing is helpful to keep food aromas in check, it’s the freezing part that's crucial. Freezing keeps the food item firm and durable, and delays the need for refrigeration, thus buying you time before any spoilage can occur. I froze four blocks of butter and they were still chilly when I unpacked. That’s about 13 hours total from European freezer to Brooklyn fridge in late May. (That is probably the maximum amount of travel time most frozen foods will hang on, so jump to the next section if your travels will keep you on the plane for longer.)
You can freeze many of your favorite food souvenirs to give them a fighting chance in your luggage. Anything you’d normally freeze can work: butters, hard cheeses, sausages, cured meats, breads, biscuits, cookies, or nut butters. Things that are larger or solid will stay cold longer, versus breads that have air pockets, or smaller cookies. If you know you’ll be collecting food souvenirs on your trip, bring a small insulated bag to help prolong the cold temperature of your food. While you can use ice packs or gel packs, I don’t recommend it. They must be completely frozen solid during TSA screening, which you can’t really rely on, and it’s added weight.
While La Grande Epicerie vacuum sealed my bevy of butter in a plastic bag, you don’t need to bring a vacuum sealer on vacation. Maybe you could argue that the suctioned plastic supports the shape of the item, but I don’t think it’s doing much in that regard. The plastic really just prevents any gross spillage, meltage, and odor from getting out into your luggage. You can just squeeze the air out of zip-top bags, or use one of these no-vacuum-necessary compression travel bags.
Just to be clear, traveling with food, even in your car, is a bit of a gamble unless you can monitor the temperature. The USDA says perishable food can only be left in the danger zone (40°F to 140°F) for up to two hours. If you unpack the once-frozen food and it feels like it's reached room temperature, you might opt to chuck it. That said, my family has always stored butter on the kitchen table. Freezing foods keeps their temperature safe for longer, but always be smart, and use your nose.
Swaddle glass
If perishable goods won't work for the length of your travels, you can still bring home a taste your travels with jarred items. Dry goods are easy to pack if the packaging is plastic, but glass can be tricky. If you’re bringing back 10 jars of Italian peperoncino powder, or three small bottles of Limoncello from Amalfi, make sure you pad them. Luckily, your luggage is essentially full of padding material.
Unlike in the picture, your luggage shouldn't look like you have any food in it. It should all be swaddled up. Put any liquid souvenirs, like liquors, sauces, jams, oils, or vinegars, in sealable small plastic bags, then wrap the items in clothes you don’t love so much. I usually put jars in socks, roll bottles up in several underpants, or pajamas. The cloth will prevent aggressive collisions from happening, but in the rare case of breakage, at least you were ready to retire that One Direction t-shirt anyway.
Finally, stuff any especially fragile padded jars or bottles into your packed shoes or sneakers. This shoe fortress will protect your precious food once you close the lid of your carry-on, and as a bonus they’ll keep your shoes in shape, too. I once brought home a six-piece set of Venetian wine glasses this way in checked luggage and they returned to me in pristine condition.