what foods would you take for a long road trip?

[caedmyn]

We take at least one long road trip a year (2 12+ hour days on the road each way) and I'm having trouble coming up with reasonably healthy foods to take. I need GFCF egg, nut, and coconut free ideas for DD, and regular ideas for myself.

[happyhippiemama]

I've always just taken a cooler with things like:

avocado
apples
grapes
roma tomotoes
hunk of mozzarella cheese
celery
peanut butter
dried fruit
nuts
sprouted bread

yum. that's my favorite style of lunch, anyway.

[cristeen]

I always pack plenty of water, dried fruit, nuts, cheese, maybe some crackers, a couple pieces each of fresh fruit, carrots and celery with dip. Then we plan on stopping approx halfway for a real meal.

[Attached Mama]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

We take at least one long road trip a year (2 12+ hour days on the road each way) and I'm having trouble coming up with reasonably healthy foods to take. I need GFCF egg, nut, and coconut free ideas for DD, and regular ideas for myself.

a cooler (you can get more ice anywhere) with:

tuna salad
bread
cheese
chicken salad if you like (I'd bring hardboiled eggs instead)
fruit
dried fruit
a 1/2 gallon of raw milk
yogurt
favorite snack foods/finger foods

Hope those ideas help!

[heket]

:

I'm taking a much shorter road trip next month, so this is very timely! Thanks!

[littlehawksmom]

We travel a lot (heck, even a day trip requires I bring my own food).
I usually bring

hummus and crackers
tuna/salmon salad
fruit, dried fruit (or fruit from a can which has the added bonus of being a novelty)
veggie sticks and dip
my homemade bread sandwiches

We usually eat these things almost daily, so it is just a matter of packing.
I do find that with a pending trip, I will "save up" hummus, or fish salad, etc. I mean that I make sure not to serve it for many days ahead of time to ensure that it will be wanted, KWIM?

Have a nice trip.

PS. When my littles are needing entertainment, sometimes I will "draw" them a story I make up.

I just returned yesterday from a trip involving a 15 hour travel (with monorails, trains, planes, cars, etc) by myself with a 2 yr and a 4yr, so I hear you.
Also, we don't really 'do' sweets, but, let me tell you that the 15 minutes of quiet that happened when they ate their organic, GFCG, no refined sugar lollipops was VERY nice.

[Feb2003]

how about jerky??

if you have a reputable source for ground beef or you can get a piece ground (I'm not comfortable with the cleanliness of "regular" ground beef enough to eat it essentially raw), you can season it and make jerky in strips (I hear a jerky gun works wonders, but I don't have one)

my boys are able to chew it because it's ground instead of strips

you could also use strips and make pemmican, but I don't have any advice for that since I've never done it

HTH

[spiderdust]

What sorts of foods have you taken before? That will give me an idea of how you like to eat on the road.

[Skrimpy]

We are moving 1000 miles and I have our meals for our 2 day trip planned out. We made the same trip (and back) this summer to visit the new town. I took meals in a big cooler for that trip and it worked well.

I pack everything in the cooler. Some things I freeze so they thaw gradually - especially things for the second day. I pack things in ziplocs and label meal and day. Use plastic silverware so it can all be pretty much tossed. It's just easier for me. I take enough milk in quart mason jars.

I'll share my meals, hope it helps

Day 1

Breakfast: Pate, rice crackers, bananas. CLO tsps.
Snack: Potato skins, homemade cream cheese, milk.
Lunch: Sesame chicken (it's good cold), fried rice, broccoli w/ hollandaise (I steam and toss the broccoli in the sauce in a ziploc, works well)
Snack: Hardboiled eggs, milk. (normally don't do milk n eggs together, but this is an exception).
Supper: Roast Beef rolled in corn tortillas (slice beef very thin, make a mayo/spicy mustard blend sauce, spread on tortilla and roll. freeze. soooo yummy thawed). salad (again toss dressing in beforehand), tomato wedges.

Day 2

Breakfast: Cold ham, cheese slices, rice crackers, pear slices, CLO tsps.
Snack: Ambrosia (made with unsweetend coconut), milk.
Lunch: Meatloaf slices, corn tortilla chips, salad.
Snack: Crispy nut mix - yuuuuumy! milk.
Supper: Chicken with sweet + sour rice, carrot sticks, cheese slices.

This summer I had more summer stuff in there like cucumber slices, avacado, etc. I'll probably take a bag of apples and extra nuts and cheese for anyone who feels like they're still hungry after the "meal." Doing a 1000 mile drive we stop every 2 hours and either have a meal or snack at the rest stop/gas station we stop at. Potty breaks all around. I feel like this is pretty good eating for being on the road

HTH!

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by spiderdust

What sorts of foods have you taken before? That will give me an idea of how you like to eat on the road.

For this last trip I took red lentils pureed with butter, GF bread, butter, sunbutter, tortilla chips, chicken salad, salmon salad, country fried potatoes, and apple slices. Oh, and cooked whole beans and crackers for snacks for DD. I'd like to come up with alternatives for the tortilla chips and the sunbutter.

[tboroson]

If you take a cooler, you could take anything. I've packed up little lunch boxes for my girls for long road trips: beef cubes, cut up sausages,or shreds of roasted chicken, steamed carrots, cut fruit. Maybe apple slices with hempseed or sunflower seed butter? If the weather will be cold and you're making playground stops (we do on long rides), fill a couple thermos food jars with soups or chili. I'll take whole avocados, a lime, a bit of salt and a small knife and spoons; I cut the avos in half, use the spoon to score them, squirt in some lime and sprinkle with salt, then the girls and I eat them right out of the shells.

I find it trickier to pack car snackies than food for when we stop. Things that aren't too difficult to manage in the car, not too nasty if they're dropped and forgotten, and *not* high-carb, since sugar rushes (even from fruit or bread) will make the girls that much extra miserable. Beef jerkey or nitrate-free turkey sticks from Shelton's are good for this, cheese (obviously that's out for you), freeze dried berries in limited amounts. Maybe you could make some sprouted and dehydrated grain crackers (quinoa, g/f oats, flax, etc., salt, perhaps some other flavors) and spread it with hemp or sunflower seed butter? Or if the kids are old enough to trust back there with food that would stink if it falls under the seats... spread them with pate.