Top 10 Tips for Cooking in an AirBNB

How to plan, what to expect, and how to adapt

As a full-time traveling family (at least currently), we do a lot of our own cooking, both for convenience and economics. But not all AirBNBs or accommodations are equipped well for cooking. So how to navigate? Well, come prepared! Or as prepared as you can be. And when that’s not enough, get creative. Here’s what we’ve learned based on our travels.

Top 10 Tips for Cooking in an AirBNB:

1. Bring your own spices and seasonings: Sometimes you will find kitchens with spices and you will do the dance of joy. But often you won’t. And sometimes they won’t even have salt or pepper. To save yourself from having to restock your spices (because this is bulky and expensive), travel with the ones you most often cook with. We tend to have the following on hand: Salt, pepper, oregano, (smoked) paprika, cumin, chili powder, taco seasoning, and cinnamon. But if you cook a lot of Asian food, for example, you’ll want a different set of spices. And if you bake (even pancakes), you’ll want to travel with baking powder and baking soda. Just put everything in small, labeled ziplock bags. When we start to run low, we replenish. Sometimes we can’t find something (like baking powder when we were in Argentina) and we have to make do until we arrive somewhere new. It is what it is; stay flexible!

   1. Bonus tip: Collect packets of soy sauce, ketchup, etc. as you eat out and bring them back to your AirBNB. (Kind of like you probably do back home, LOL.) Unless you’re going to use large quantities of these condiments, it’ll get expensive to purchase them each time you move to a new location and they don’t transport well if you’re flying. And, yes, if you already have a stash of these at home, consider packing some in your kitchen bag before you head out on your travels! That’ll at least help you get started and then you can replenish as you go.

2. Pack a good kitchen towel that doubles as a potholder: One of my friends in California gifted me the most amazing kitchen towel before we headed out on our travels and it has served us so well. You'd be surprised at how many AirBNBs don’t provide kitchen towels; in our experience this has been about 50/50. And few provide pot holders, at least ones that will actually protect your hands. So our kitchen towel does double duty, as it’s thick and lined and, when folded over, makes a great potholder. So get yourself a good one and pack it in your kitchen bag.

3. Pack measuring cups and spoons: Few AirBNBs have had any kind of measuring cups or measuring spoons. I wing a lot of my measurements, but for baking (and I’m talking simple stuff like pancakes and muffins), I need to measure. I’m so glad I invested in a set of collapsible measuring cups and spoons. These have served me well all over the world.

4. If you’re a coffee drinker, travel with a way to make coffee: Some AirBNBs have Nespresso machines or similar, a few have drip coffee makers, and some have Moka pots (Italy and Argentina in particular). But some have nothing other than a hot water kettle. If you want to be able to consistently make yourself a cup of Joe in the morning, bring your own mechanism with you. I started off with a simple pourover topper but graduated to an Aeropress that I highly recommend. I thought it was just a trendy thing, but it makes consistently good coffee and is compact enough to travel with. Also, note that some parts of the world sell predominantly instant coffee or cheaply roasted coffee, so I’d recommend buying some of your favorite ground coffee and traveling with it. Hold off on using it until you need to, so you’ll have it when you can’t find anything good to buy locally. My favorite is Ozo Coffee, especially the Mexico El Triunfo blend. Sadly, I can’t get any more for a while.

5. Consider packing a spatula and/or sharp knife: I’ve been surprised at how many places we’ve stayed in don’t have spatulas — the kind you use to flip burgers, eggs, etc. At this point we’ve bought several and, while we’ve meant to pack them and travel onward with them, we somehow keep leaving them behind. Sigh. Consider bringing a good non-stick one with you. You may also want to bring a sharp knife with you, properly sheathed. (Yes, this means you’ll need to check a bag when flying.) Knives are pretty hit and miss in AirBNBs. Sometimes there’s only one and it’s not very sharp. Other times there are several with varying quality. And very occasionally you’ll get an amazing and sharp set. We just make do with what’s on hand, but some families really like to have their own sharp knife/s with them.

6. Recognize that pots and pans will be hit and miss, so be flexible: We’ve stayed in a few AirBNBs with fantastic non-stick pans, but most leave a lot to be desired. The worst was probably in Penang, Malaysia, as the apartment had a bazillion pots and pans, but they mostly weren’t non-stick anymore and many were warped on the bottom so they didn’t sit flat on the stove; I didn’t even know that could be a thing. (Despite this, we did a LOT of cooking in Penang.) One place in Tirana, Albania, only had stainless steel pans and everything we cooked stuck to them (no amount of olive oil or butter helped); scrubbing them out each time was a pain. Many AirBNBs will provide a basic four-pot set that they likely purchased at Ikea; if the set has lids, you’ll be fine, but often there are no lids, which is challenging. We’ve used plates, bowls, and pieces of foil in lieu of lids. Get creative; it’s part of the experience! You may even need to buy a cheap non-stick pan and “donate” it or take it with you. Some families buy a nice pan in their home country and just travel with it. I kind of wish we had done this, but I didn’t want to sacrifice the luggage space.

   

   Our last AirBNB in Buenos Aires had terrible non-stick saute pans, so we were going to buy a cheap one, but this is all we could find—it was over USD$45! What the what?! We passed on this and kept using the bad pans.

7. Prepare to not have an oven: Obviously, this will depend on which part of the world you’ll be traveling in, but if you’re going to Asia, chances are you won’t have an oven, so take this into account when you think about the meals you can make. In other parts of the world you may have an oven, but you may or may not know how to work it (ahem, us in Argentina). Plan stovetop meals and then you can be pleasantly surprised when you have a working oven to expand your repertoire.

8. Prepare to wash dishes often: You likely will not have a big supply of dishes, silverware, or cooking pans (as noted), so you’ll be washing what you use after pretty much every meal or two so you can reuse it for the subsequent meal. Also, kitchen sinks can be quite small, so the dishes you use will quickly fill the sink and you’ll have to wash them just so you can use the sink. If you’re lucky, you’ll have an automatic dishwasher you can run every night, but we’ve stayed in many places without one. Roll up your sleeves and get sudsy! Many AirBNBs give you some dish detergent and a new sponge, but not all do, so check your supply before you head off the market, as you may need to purchase some (garbage bags and paper towels, too).

   

   Kitchen in Rome on the left; kitchen in Venice on the right. Both tied with our Madrid apartment for tiniest kitchen sinks.

9. Curate a list of easy-to-make recipes: Things like one-pot meals and meals with few ingredients are fantastic when you first arrive in a new location and you don’t even know where the nearest market is or how you’ll get there and back, let alone navigate any language challenges. (Yes, Google translate is great, but it adds a lot of time to your food shopping.) You might pick some recipes that fit the culture and season of where you’ll be so you’re likely to find those ingredients. And if you’re going to be in multiple parts of the world, then create multiple lists! Once you get the hang of changing locations or you’ve settled into one for a bit, you can branch out and cook more elaborate things. We also recommend taking a local cooking class!

10. Get creative with the kitchen tools you do have: No tongs? Use chopsticks or forks. No ladle? Your travel measuring cup is a great substitute; so is a small bowl or an Asian soup spoon. No whisk? A fork gets the job done pretty well. No strainer for the pasta you just made? Use a crooked lid or a slotted spoon. No blender for a smoothie? Mash berries with whatever tool looks up for the job. (I think we’ve only stayed in one AirBNB with a blender and we couldn’t figure out how to use it.) Cooking in an AirBNB kitchen is all about creative substitution and solutioning.

    

    When all the silverware is dirty, you can turn knives into chopsticks and eat with them! (Okay, maybe only if you're Shelby, LOL.)

If you have food intolerances or allergies:

• Research stores and markets ahead of time as best you can to get a sense for what’s available. Message your AirBNB host and join local expat groups and/or travel groups specific to your intolerance/allergy and search their archives for ideas and suggestions. It’s definitely worth doing this research ahead of time.

• Consider traveling with a couple days’ worth of foods you know you can eat (perhaps in a travel cooler) until you’ve been able to explore stores and markets to see what you can buy that will meet your dietary needs. Follow Courtney at @simple.adventurous.life for tips on how to travel and cook with Celiac disease. (Yes, it’s possible!) You may find her tips helpful for other dietary needs, as well.

Items we rarely find in our accommodations:

• Blenders

• Potholders

• Baking pans/muffin tins

• Whisk

• Rubber/silicon spatula (for mixing/baking)

• Citrus juicer

• Rolling pin

• Electric mixer

Items we sometimes find in our accommodations:

• More than one skillet/sauté pan

• More than one cutting board

• Olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, flour, other seasonings

• Mixing bowl

• Spatula (for flipping burgers, etc.)

• Vegetable peeler

• Grater

• Coffee makers (of any kind) and sometimes coffee filters

• Kitchen towel

• Rice cooker (fairly common in Asia but not anywhere else)

• Food storage containers/Tupperware, foil, and/or plastic wrap

• Paper towels, extra garbage bags, and automatic dishwasher detergent (where applicable)

Items most accommodations provide:

• At least one skillet/sauté pan (sometimes with a lid, but often without)

• One larger soup pot (sometimes with a lid)

• 1-2 smaller pots (sometimes with a lid)

• Some sort of cooking spoon

• Strainer/collander

• Electric kettle

• Large and small kitchen knife

• Cutting board

• Can opener

• Tongs, but often they look more like oversized pincers/eyebrow tweezers (seriously) and are only semi-useful

• A set of dishes (plates, bowls, silverware) for at least four people; if you’re a larger family, you may want to double check that there will be enough dishes for you

• Coffee mugs, although some are on the smaller side and mean that your two cups of coffee become four, LOL!

• Glasses, including wine glasses

I’m sure I’m forgetting things; after awhile the details blur together. Traveling families and nomads, what else would you add based on your experience? And just for fun: What’s the one kitchen item you wish every place you stayed at had?