Ferry Fodder

Brittany Ferries offer an excellent service from Plymouth to Santander and it is our quickest and easiest route to Europe, Plymouth only being one hours drive from home.  What they don't do well on Brittany Ferries is vegan food, but then the French, although renowned for their food in general are not so familiar with the concept of not eating meat, let alone veganism.

You might be lucky to be able to have some form of breakfast on board, such as hash browns (which are generally okay but worth a check), baked beans, tomatoes and toast as well as a selection of fresh fruit, but beyond this we have never been that lucky with the food that was offered.  You also have to put up with the stunned surprise of the French chef when you say that you really don't want the meat or the eggs, and you tend to get charged the full price despite this.  So it is with this in mind that we always carry a good stash of our own food on board.  

The biggest tip we can offer is to take a thermos on board.  They used to have a separate area where you could get hot water from but in recent years they seem to have got rid of this. However, you can still go to the bar and ask for your thermos to be filled or you can do it yourself by going into the less posh cafeteria area and using the hot water option on the tea/coffee machine.  It takes a while to do this cup by cup but nobody has ever complained!  

So with a thermos full of hot water you can take on various instant soups or pot meals such as Food Doctor pots or even cous cous sachets, miso soups, as well as your own tea.  Just remember to take mugs and spoons too.  We have also noticed that Brittany Ferries have microwaves for general use.  If you don't mind using microwaves (we are not too keen), then that opens up many more culinary options for the journey ahead.

Mezze style food is always welcome too.  Things like jars of aubergine imam or giant beans in tomato sauce go down well scooped up with tortilla chips or bread.  We also make vegan sausage rolls or pizza because if we don't polish them off on the ferry journey they go down well on our drive south once we get across.

Either way, trust us, it's worth preparing ahead for the journey if you don't want to be a hungry vegan!!