3 Days of Food?

[neroden]

Most municipal supplies are much better protected than those in Flint. By contrast, there's no oversight over bottled water *at all*... and most of it comes from municipal supplies.

I would like to know exactly where the water refill points on the trains are, though. I hope that isn't considered top-secret information. Obviously water filled in New York City is going to be great quality, and I can also vouch for the LA system. Other cities might have different quality water.

Do any of the insiders happen to know this? I mean, I realize policy could change at any time so this wouldn't necessarily be accurate, but I do wonder, do they refill in Toledo? In Cleveland? In Buffalo?

 

[CCC1007]

Havre, my can and does occasionally refill the tanks on the builder.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Most municipal supplies are much better protected than those in Flint.

Protected from what, precisely? Shrinking budgets? Sloppy management? Shoddy testing methods? Subversive administrations?

By contrast, there's no oversight over bottled water *at all*... and most of it comes from municipal supplies.

What in my post makes you think I'm promoting bottled water? I'm simply promoting awareness that our testing methods and regulatory infrastructure have become scientifically unsound and untrustworthy. Brita sells a reusable tap filtering bottle that should help with the taste, although it wouldn't be nearly enough to filter out Flint-levels of poisonous contamination.

I would like to know exactly where the water refill points on the trains are, though. I hope that isn't considered top-secret information. I realize policy could change at any time so this wouldn't necessarily be accurate...

Submit a FOIA request. The refill connections are often right out in the open where anyone can see them or mess with them, in many cases with nobody being the wiser, so if they were to claim this is protected information they're delusional. If they refused to provide this information it would be easy to crowd source among the membership.

 

[FormerOBS]

My understanding is that tanks are filled or topped off at maintenance points (i.e., servicing/turnaround points) and designated enroute locations. The stanchions are specifically designed for potable water; and training in sanitary filling practices is mandated for all OBS, operating, and mechanical dept. personnel who may be required to do it.

I don't know the watering locations for all trains. The Auto Train normally is watered at the end points, LOR and SFA, plus an intermediate top-off at Florence, SC for the sleeper diner only. Now that service levels in the sleeper diner have changed, the Florence top-off may no longer be needed.

It is true that some municipalities may have some aging infrastructure, but the Flint situation has made big-time news specifically because it is such an unusually serious condition, far beyond anything found anywhere else.

Changing the watering locations would be a very costly endeavor because it would almost inevitably involve installing a couple hundred yards of new plumbing at several points along a platform, plus the line to the platform from the city water source, at some intermediate city.

Tom

 

[neroden]

Most municipal supplies are much better protected than those in Flint.

Protected from what, precisely?

"Emergency Financial Managers" or "Emergerncy Managers", who are the root of the problem in Michigan.

Shrinking budgets? Sloppy management? Shoddy testing methods? Subversive administrations?

So yes, subversive administrations, I guess! The locals are usually *very* protective of their water, and they were in Flint. The state not necessarily, and in this case the criminal hack appointed by Rick Snyder deliberately overrode the local government.

 

[keelhauled]

We will need to pack food for 73 hours!!!

Here's what I do... visit the cafe car for breakfast (hotdog and soda) and lunch (hotdog, chips, and noodle soup), then dining car for dinner (roast chicken and cheesecake). Works out fine every time.

For a family of four, that's $150+ daily.

 

[HenryK]

Soylent Green would solve SO many problems, wouldn't it?

 

[Trailrider1951]

I usually travel in coach and bring my food with me. This is a typical lunch, cost is under $2:



And a typical dinner, cost is under $4, except for the $7 bottle of whiskey I purchased on the train:

 

[MARC Rider]

You probably should figure to eat a couple meals in the dining car, both for the experience and to cover at least a couple of meals. Breakfast is the most reasonable.

The train doesn't leave DC until 4:05, eat something before you board and just bring snacks that evening.

From the 23 hours the original poster said, they are probably booked on the Cardinal which leaves earlier.

Here's the Capitol Limited dining car menu and prices: https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/160/906/Capitol-Limted-Dining-Car-Menu-1115.pdf

I believe the Empire Builder is probably the same but the Cardinal is slightly different.

You probably should figure to eat a couple meals in the dining car, both for the experience and to cover at least a couple of meals. Breakfast is the most reasonable.

You also have a lot of time in Chicago to eat lunch. There are a lot of great food options really close to Union Station (me, I'm a fan of Al's Italian Beef, a block west of the station). An option I just thought of is to get a big pizza from Giordanos have some for lunch and take the rest on the train to eat cold and take care of lunch/dinner that day (I like cold pizza myself).

I second the recommendation of Giordano's!

So just bring what you, and more importantly, your kids, like. Fruit, cheeses, snack crackers maybe some lunch meat.

I'd be worried about the meat and cheese after a day or two.

From my experience backpacking, I would say that hard cheeses will keep OK (they'll get a bit soft, but actually have more flavor. Dried salami, pepperoni, etc. should also be fine, not to mention beef jerky.

 

[NW cannonball]

You probably should figure to eat a couple meals in the dining car, both for the experience and to cover at least a couple of meals. Breakfast is the most reasonable.

The train doesn't leave DC until 4:05, eat something before you board and just bring snacks that evening.

From the 23 hours the original poster said, they are probably booked on the Cardinal which leaves earlier.

Here's the Capitol Limited dining car menu and prices: https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/160/906/Capitol-Limted-Dining-Car-Menu-1115.pdf

I believe the Empire Builder is probably the same but the Cardinal is slightly different.

You probably should figure to eat a couple meals in the dining car, both for the experience and to cover at least a couple of meals. Breakfast is the most reasonable.

You also have a lot of time in Chicago to eat lunch. There are a lot of great food options really close to Union Station (me, I'm a fan of Al's Italian Beef, a block west of the station). An option I just thought of is to get a big pizza from Giordanos have some for lunch and take the rest on the train to eat cold and take care of lunch/dinner that day (I like cold pizza myself).

I second the recommendation of Giordano's!

So just bring what you, and more importantly, your kids, like. Fruit, cheeses, snack crackers maybe some lunch meat.

I'd be worried about the meat and cheese after a day or two.

From my experience backpacking, I would say that hard cheeses will keep OK (they'll get a bit soft, but actually have more flavor. Dried salami, pepperoni, etc. should also be fine, not to mention beef jerky.

Chees`e? Cheese, Gromit? Cheese is it ? Cheese, Ben Gunn? AHAAA yes - "THIS cheese keeps for many moons "

Maybe so. Our elders learned to preserve protein with salt

Works for most of us who have unlimited water to drink

 

[Sis]

Whoa! This sounds pretty political. I don't even drink local water from the tap. I find bottled water a necessity for myself. It's not that I think I'd get sick or anything.

 

[Sis]

To be clear, I'm wanting to avoid BUYING food - train, station, in the cities. It's not just the 24 hours on the Cardinal but the rest of the way to Seattle so 3 days worth. I'm not saying we won't buy ANYthing but I'd like it to be a treat and not a hunger issue.

 

[KmH]

I'm wanting to avoid BUYING food

Nice trick if you can pull it off.

 

[oregon pioneer]

I would like to know exactly where the water refill points on the trains are, though. I hope that isn't considered top-secret information. Obviously water filled in New York City is going to be great quality, and I can also vouch for the LA system. Other cities might have different quality water.

Do any of the insiders happen to know this? I mean, I realize policy could change at any time so this wouldn't necessarily be accurate, but I do wonder, do they refill in Toledo? In Cleveland? In Buffalo?

Whenever I am walking the train for fresh air at daytime "service stops" (usually the same as crew-change stops), they are taking off the trash and filling the water. Places like Havre, El Paso, Albuquerque, Denver, etc. I can't give you a list, but that's the general idea. It's possible the LSL and other one-night trains do not have to refill water, because I never noticed if they did it (maybe at Albany, when they take the train away? I did not stay on). So maybe it's just once each trip for the two-day trains.

 

[benale]

As all the above posters stated bring as much of your own food as you want. When I travel Coach I'll usually get a bagel and coffee for breakfast and a cup of noodles for lunch from the cafe car. On a three day trip, it is worth having dinner in the dining car at least once. The steak is $25.00. Very good,but way overpriced. There are other options that cost between $12 and $18 for dinner. To cut down on expenses, a glass of water instead of soda and skipping dessert. The food in the cafe car is decent,but pricey. Bring your own sodas. Buy one from Amtrak. I think they are now $2.25,keep the cup and refill them. Ice is free from the cafe car. At some longer stops there are food vendors. I know in Orlando there is a hot dog cart Grand Junction has a neat store, Albuquerque used to have a burrito cart. Not sure if it is still there. Breakfast used to be a good value. Coffee and juice were included. Now they are not.

At any rate, there are ways to cut down on costs when it comes to food. Alcohol is expensive. A domestic beer is $6. Wine is even more. I've done this, and it is illegal in Coach on Amtrak,but I've brought a few bottles of wine with me and poured the wine, very discreetly into the cups Amtrak gives you after buying a soda. Never had a problem. Just can't see paying that much for wine. At Walmart stores in Florida a decent bottle of wine costs $3.00. Bring a corkscrew. Enjoy the journey! I've taken many trips in Coach and Sleeper for almost thirty years and I still love it. When I started taking Amtrak trips a domestic can of beer was $1.75.. That was back in 1988.

 

[p&sr]

To be clear, I'm wanting to avoid BUYING food...

Then there's only one honest solution... Grow your Own!

 

[p&sr]

We will need to pack food for 73 hours!!!

Here's what I do... visit the cafe car for breakfast (hotdog and soda) and lunch (hotdog, chips, and noodle soup), then dining car for dinner (roast chicken and cheesecake). Works out fine every time.

For a family of four, that's $150+ daily.

Right. I pay for that with the savings of riding in Coach instead of Sleeper, and have enough change left over to fly home if I want... or to fund another entire vacation!

 

[tomfuller]

In the days when I had a limited budget and was traveling in coach I used to carry a small bag of string cheese and a couple of frozen water bottles with water from home. Another thing that works is a summer sausage and a box of Ritz crackers.

Breakfast is the least expensive meal to eat in the dining car.

 

[Bob Dylan]

That $3 Florida Wine definitely is not from Trump Winery!

 

[oregon pioneer]

Breakfast is the least expensive meal to eat in the dining car.

Yes, Tom, but it's also one of the easiest to do for yourself. I was in coach on the Cardinal this past fall. For that day, I brought home-made granola and put water on it (you could also bring powdered milk, but I didn't bother). Then I went to the cafe later in the morning, and bought a cup of tea for the privilege of sitting at a table by the big windows to watch the New River scenery roll by. :wub: They will refill your tea cup without complaint. For that matter, they will give you hot water without complaint. They just have to mark it down on their tally as "free hot water" and they also have to put it in their cup (yes, even if you bring your own mug -- sigh -- and then they'll throw the cup away. It's an inventory control thing). For lunch, I did the aforementioned tuna packet (much easier to deal with than a can), with crackers, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate. Sort of like hiking food, in that it all keeps perfectly, but very self-indulgent and delicious. Had more of the same for the NE Regional next day. I made sure I had a plastic fork and spoon with me, as well as a cleaned out cottage-cheese container to eat the granola (and then discard). As I said "napkins" (paper towels) are easily obtainable on the train.

 

[p&sr]

In the days when I had a limited budget and was traveling in coach I used to carry a small bag of string cheese and a couple of frozen water bottles with water from home. Another thing that works is a summer sausage and a box of Ritz crackers.

Breakfast is the least expensive meal to eat in the dining car.

Breakfast is also the most overpriced meal in the dining car, considering what little you get for the price.

Those are very good ideas you shared about good food to carry along. Cheese, sausage, and crackers to eat, and fresh cool water to drink. Add an occasional Noodle Soup from the Snack Car and you're good to go!

 

[SarahZ]

My train food: beef jerky, summer sausage, cheese, nuts, peanut butter crackers, tuna pouches, protein bars, and fruit.

I go for foods that are high in protein (you'll feel full much longer). The fruit is there to balance out all the heavy protein; plus, it's good for "sweet" cravings. I particularly like grapes and peaches.

 

[BoulderCO]

High quality salted mixed nuts are my favorite food to take on the train. Light weight, tasty, actually good for you, keep for days and are useful during "happy hour" as well as at meal time ;>)

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Speaking of which why doesn't Amtrak have a happy hour?

 

[KmH]

I usually travel in coach and bring my food with me. This is a typical lunch, cost is under $2:



And a typical dinner, cost is under $4, except for the $7 bottle of whiskey I purchased on the train:

The knife in the 2nd photo could cause you problems if you aren't discrete when using it.
https://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1251621565025&WT.z_va_evt=click&WT.z_va_topic=Policies&WT.z_va_unit=Traveling%20with%20Sharp%20Items&WT.z_va_group=Baggage

Any item that is similar to the prohibited items below, even if not specifically mentioned, is also prohibited. [/size]