Food for the Road

Hi,
I recommend bringing an icechest in the car. Make sandwiches with lunch meat and bread. Enjoy some cut up carrot sticks, celery sticks, chips and maybe some cookies. You can have a picnic in the car and save time and money by eating in the car as you drive.

We stayed in a cabin last yr and did the same thing. We took all the staples with us, stopped at a store once in town and get the bare essentials. It was great and we saved lots of money donig it that way! Good Luck & Have fun!!

I have taken too many road trips to count with my family when I was a child!.
Take a crock pot. You can pack dried beans, rice, onions, spices....there are millions of crock pot recipes on-line and you'll be able to cook anywhere there is an outlet without getting the room hot! And you can prepare in the am and not mess with it for the rest of the day. This will only work for the times you are in on e place all day. As far as I know, they dont make one that plug into the car charger, although they may?? That would be cool!
Also, my mom would pack a cooler with drinks and lunch meat for sandwiches for quick afternoon meals. These trips were the only time we were allowed unlimited soda! (No a/c in the car, so she'd let us drink soda to keep us hydrated)
Our meals came from necessity since we'd be driving across country and there was literally no place to stop for hundreds of miles. No days, there seems to be a grocery store, restaurant ever few miles. And if you plan ahead, you can do some internet research to determine where the grocery stores in-town are vs. the ones right on the highway that will be a little more expensive.
My mom actually made roast in foil paper on the engine somehow?? After driving a few hundred miles, we'd pull over and have a roast and potatoes picnic. These are some of my best memories!
Have fun!

you are already way more creative than I ever was. On our road trips we ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey, cheese, rice cakes, fruits. I say make it easy and enjoy your vacation.

One of my kid's favorite meals is what we usually do the first night we arrive: foil packs! Take two pieces of heavy duty foil and place one boneless, skinless chicken breast (or hamburger patty, but we prefer chicken), sliced sausage (like kielbasa), sliced potato, mini carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. Add any vegetables that your family likes - mushrooms, onions, etc. Add your favorite spices, we like garlic salt, pepper and a big glob of butter. One per person and can be customized to individual tastes. Wrap up and place in the ice chest (could be frozen to be served at a later time.) When you arrive at your destination, place in a 350 degree oven for at least one and 1/2 hours. Open and serve - no plate or clean up needed!

We learned to make these on cub scout campouts and my kids loved them so much that I started making them at home (in the oven, instead of an open campfire) and then discovered they were also great for on the road.

Not taking into account for allergies since I don't know your kids...a few ideas:
1.) cheese and peanut butter crackers
2.) individual appleasuce, fruit, and pudding cups
3.) with an ice chest you can store drinks-including milk (albeit for short periods of time)
4.) raisins or fresh fruit like apples or bananas
5.) lunch meat sandwiches (Again, store lunch meat in the ice chest)
6.) if you have a camp stove and some pans, you can do canned spaghetti and mac-n-cheese
lol Take plenty of napkins paper plates, and plastic flatware
Just a few ideas....

K.,

My favorite "camp" meal is something we call Garbage. Take 1lb hamburger fry in pan breaking it apart as it cooks. Drain the grease add one 26oz can of your favorite pork and beans. Stir while simmering for aout 15 minutes. YUMMY!!!

Good Luck with your trip and enjoy!

J.

We did the same thing on a ski trip a few years ago. Santa Fe Stew is easy! 1 can corn (drained), 1 can pinto beans, 1 can kidney beans, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can rotel (tomatoes & green chilies), 1 package ranch dressing mix, 1/2 package taco seasoning mix, 1 pound cooked hamburger meat. Heat everything for about 30 minutes for the flavors to meld and serve with tortillas and grated cheese, if you like. Easy!!

tacos and hamburgers came to mind!

Here's what I got. It might not be a lot, but here goes. Hot Dogs, Chili Dogs, Mac & cheese with hotdogs mixed in, taco salad (you can buy the meat already crumbled and seasoned or unseasoned if you want), fried spam (batter with milk and egg then fry), cheese quesadillas or add stuff to them, sloppy joes, chicken faquita salad with corn (you can buy the chicken already cooked and ready to heat), turkey (or whatever kind of meat) subs with cheese and all the fixins....

My son will be 2 in July and loves all these things. We always have at least one vegetable with these, like corn or green beans or black eyed peas, and a fruit. The fruit can be apricot halves, peaches, fruit cocktail, watermelon, grapes, etc. Hope this helps and have a wonderful trip!

We're doing the same thing soon with my 18 month old and 4 year old. I'm taking ideas from your other posts, too. We've got allergies though, so here are some of my ideas.

Baked sweet potato + 1/4 cup canned beans (black or white)
top with your favorite cheese.
Green veggies on the side.
This is a super healthy no meat meal. My kids eat this up and my son begs for me to make it often.

I'm also taking this salad idea for one of the first days(precooked):
1lb ground beef
onion diced
mushrooms sliced (opt)
garlic and ginger to taste
Cook these together in one pan.

Then cook 2 cups brown rice with 1 T of dill.

Mix the meat and rice.

Serve warm over salad with your favorite toppings and dressing.

Plus you can't ever go wrong with sandwich fixin's.

How about packing tortillas, canned beans and salsa? Then you could have burritos one night. If you don't like the canned refried beans, you could pack whole beans, then cook and mash them yourselves. Have a great trip!

Take a cooler and a crockpot. One of my favorite "recipes" is chicken breasts (4-6), red potatoes (sliced into chunks) then pour a bottle of fat free Italian dressing over them and cook for 4-6 hours or so. SOOOO yummy and incredibly easy. The FIx It and Forget It cookbooks for the crockpot are awesome too...

We did a road trip many years ago when the hotel rooms were just having a microwave and little refrigerator as standard equipment. My husband was actually on a business trip for the week. We hadn't had a vacation that year and school was about to start, so we tagged along and drove our own car. He has several stops to make all over Mississippi, so we were in a new place every night and sometimes we'd hit two towns in one day.

We played it all by ear from the hotel to the food. One thing we made sure of though was that the place we stayed had a swimming pool. After a day in the car, the kids loved nothing better than to spent the evening in the pool. No place was fancy, but they weren't dives either. We started out on a Saturday and stayed at an old fashioned roadside motel at the start of the Natchez Trail south of Nashville. They had a home-cooking, mom-and-pop restaurant on-site that was very reasonable and served the basics all homemade including pies and cobblers.

When we hit the next stop and found out lodging for the night, we'd scout out dinner. One night we went to Kroger's and got food we could cook in the microwave for dinner like frozen vegetables and hot dogs and stuff we could chill in the frig like potato salad and watermelon. During the days, we had healthy snacks including fruit in the car with us. It also helps to have a small cooler for drinks and cold snacks. For a treat, we'd stop for ice cream or an historical site or a playground.

Another night we ordered pizza from Domino's. Be the end of the week, my husband had his work accomplished, so we headed off to find a beach and ended up on Dauphin Island south of Mobile Bay in Alabama. There is an old fort there that was open for tours and a ferry that went across the bay to Gulf Shores. We were headed to Gulf Shores, we thought, until we got to the ferry. We had just missed the ferry, so we toured the fort. By the time, we got back to the ferry we had missed the last crossing of the day, so we went looking for a place to stay. We found a very small motel run by a couple who probably had the six or eight rooms to provide income so they could live on the island. The bedding and towels were from the local K-mart or Walmart. They had a little refrigerator and microwave. We got a six pack for the adults and commenced to relaxing.
We only planned to stay one night, but it was so peaceful and everyone loved it so that we stayed the two days until we had to head home to Kentucky. There was a local seafood restaurant that sound freshly caught local seafood at very reasonable prices and we ate dinner there both nights.

My husband and the girls got up early and went to the Gulf side every morning and walked the beach, played in the surf, and watched dolphins jumping over the water. I slept late and missed the dolphins, but I saw the biggest horseshoe crab of my life. I was used to the Jersey or Maryland shore, so the gulf was a new experience for me. I missed the surf, but the water was wonderful.

We hit some local farmer's markets, too, for some very fresh produce along the way.

It didn't end up costing us a lot since the rooms during the week were paid by my husband's company and he got mileage for driving his own car. We paid for the weekend accommodations and food.

I love trips like that and we haven't had one in quite a while. We used to camp a lot, but we stayed at the same site for several days on those trips. Then it made sense to plan and pack food. On our Mississippi trip, it was an adventure to see what kinds of food the region had to offer and to eat the local cuisine. Of course, we did hit McDonald's a time or two for lunch, but a loaf of fresh bread and some cheese and cold cuts picked up at the grocery and eaten at a roadside table did just as well if not better.

We sure had fun on that trip! We created a lot of memories, too.

Don't forget snack ramen (or whatever brand you end up with!) If you take canned chicken, you can dump it in while the noodles cook and the chicken will warm up. The noodles only take 3 minutes or so to cook and it tastes better than canned chicken noodle soup. don't over cook the noodles!

Pita bread? you can fill them with anything!

Tortillas - quesadillas, soft tacos, burritos

Rice can be cooked in bulk and it will travel well in the cooler. It keeps several days if kept cool. Can be eaten with almost any kind of food. Leftovers store well and can be heated up in a microwave, or used in Cajun dishes, or as stir-fried rice (Chinese style), or added to soups.

A bit of advice: take soluble bran (the kind that doesn't get thick when it sits) that can be stirred into water or drinks to keep constipation at bay. Drink water instead of sodas while traveling in the car - hydrates better.

Be sure to look into shelf-stable milk. It comes in one-quart cartons and doesn't need refrigeration until it is opened. Of course, you'd want to refrigerate it just before you want to drink it or use it on cereal.

DH, DD and I did a similar roadtrip last summer. We brought a big cooler, packed plastic dishes and utensils, and ate out as little as we could. Before we left, we made some different kinds of salads (beans, taboleh, hummus, etc) that could be eaten cold. We're vegetarian, which actually worked out great, since we didn't have to worry about keeping meat fresh--3-day-old bean salad is fine, but I'd start to worry abt chicken! You can also stop at the store and buy ingredients and make more salads on the way, even when you don't have a stove. For times when you will have simple cooking arrangements (or bring a camping stove), you can either buy prepared beans-and-rice mixes at the store, or make your own (i.e., use a ziplock with the beans, spices, etc, and another with the rice). For salad ideas, you could check out the newest Cooking Light magazine--lots of interesting suggestions, including things like quinoa and wheatberries that will give you protein when you're sick of beans. GL!

Pancake mixes are great or packages of oatmeal/grits for breakfasts. PB&J work great for lunches- you might want to buy the bread as you go to prevent it from getting too squished, as for dinners get some bisquick or make your own so you can make biscuits or do a couple cans of chunky soup(chicken or beef) put in a casserole dish(you can buy a bunch of cheap throw away ones or take a metal pan- glass will break) and have a biscuit topping for a chicken/beef pot pie. My kids also enjoy weenies and beans- just get some baked beans or pork and beans then add the hot dogs which you can puchace along the way.
Tuna casserole is another easy one- my MIL makes one with tuna, noodles, velveeta and a little milk and chopped onion. My kids also love my moms version of tuna curry- 1can canned milk, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 can tuna-drained and curry powder to taste(you can add salt and pepper and chopped onion) cook over med. heat until hot, serve over rice.
There are some really good muffin mixes and bread mixes out there that are easy to pack and easy to make. Good luck and have fun!
~C.

www.marthastewart.com

www.lhj.com

try surfing the net: road trip meals

have fun!:)

this one was mine and my sisters favorite on our road trips:

veg noodles (brocolli and carrots)
can of chichen
creamy itialian salad dressing

We recently went on vacation to a place that had a kitchen, and here's what I brought. 2 packages of frozen ground turkey/meat, Sloppy Joe sauce in a can & buns, spaghetti sauce in a jar, a can of corn, and noodles. We also brought cereal, pop tarts, chips, granola bars, gold fish and other snack items. Think about meals that don't need much extras, like the spaghetti sauce, you don't even have to add the meat, and you don't need bell peppers, etc. Oh, while on vacation another time, we had chili (from a package add tomato sauce, meat, etc.) and fritos for frito pie, then used the left over chili for hot dogs (keep your ketchup, mayo, mustard packages from the fast food restaurants so you don't have to bring a whole thing of ketchup on vacation). Hot dogs are usually pretty easy b/c you don't have to have lettuce, tomato, etc. like you do for hamburgers.

Non-perishable items you can serve include canned chili that you warm up and put over fritos for frito pie or serve itself with crackers on the side. You can also do canned soup or stew. Sandwiches are always easy and delicious. Things that you'd either have to buy the day of use or keep in a cooler include breaded chicken patties that you can get in the freezer section to make chicken sandwiches or maybe fish sticks. Hamburgers always work, or hot dogs. You can prepare taco meat ahead of time and put that with cheese on tortillas as long as it's one of your first meals on the road. The meat could just be stored in a cooler along with some cheese. You could then use the leftover cheese and tortillas to make quesadillas the next day or something. You could even add canned chicken and make chicken quesadillas. I'm not super creative so those are about the only ideas I can come up with at the moment. Good luck and have fun!!:)