{"id":1028,"date":"2017-06-16T12:01:16","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T18:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/road-trip-food-tips\/"},"modified":"2017-06-17T14:21:28","modified_gmt":"2017-06-17T20:21:28","slug":"road-trip-food-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/articles\/road-trip-food-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Trip Food Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do you get healthier road trip food?\u00a0 The gas station burrito settled it<\/a>, I do not care how inexpensive road stop fare may be, it is just no longer an option.\u00a0 \u00a0I must deliberately menu plan for all future road trips.\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Our family travels a lot. \u00a0We have written about eating from the road before, and you will find an extremely extensive list for packing out food for both car or plane that I had written for holisticsquid<\/a> (so check that out). \u00a0 But along with that list, I wanted to send out just a few reminders when choosing road trip food:<\/p>\n

Water. \u00a0Agua. Eau. \u00a0However you say it, drink water!<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
See why I do not prefer to BUY water…click photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I once gorged myself on soda during a road trip, breaking my own rules in favor of the \u201cit is a vacation\u201d mentality. \u00a0My blood sugar (and mood) was more unpredictable. \u00a0I felt sloshy, and I felt dirtier\/greasier when we got to the destination. \u00a0Since I always drink water on trips, and soda was the big difference that time, I’m convinced it was the factor to ruin the way I felt. \u00a0 Now we stick with water as a beverage, regardless of the particular area code we are in at the moment. \u00a0Okay, and coffee. \u00a0Water and coffee. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you use the excuse that I do<\/strong> about needing something to keep you perked up as you drive, consider a great radio drama or book on cd. \u00a0Consider popping grapes or cherries, or even mints or lemon candies.<\/p>\n

Avoiding bottled water:<\/strong> \u00a0I try really, really hard to bring my own water. \u00a0See why in an article I wrote for Food Renegade.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s really a good idea to have a portable water purification system anyway.<\/strong> \u00a0Water in a waxy cup isn’t awesome, even before you factor in the water quality. \u00a0No matter where you are traveling, the water on the other side of the trip may be gross. \u00a0 Consider a Berkey Water Bottle, and get it from an authorized dealer (such as Pantry Paratus). \u00a0For a lot of trips we take along our Travel Berkey. \u00a0We have used it numerous times instead of drinking bad hotel water–not just on camping trips.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Pack Your Creativity<\/h3>\n

\"zucchini\u00a0<\/span>I was impressed with the variety of suggestions our facebook friends have made for travel food that did not re<\/span>ly heavily upon that smooshy, pre-made pb&j.\u00a0 One person mentioned, \u201ccheese-sticks\u201d and my immediate thought was \u201cI\u2019m too cheap to buy those\u201d\u2026but her very next statement was, \u201cYou can easily make thes<\/span>e yourself!\u201d\u00a0 So yes, I cut the cheese into strips for our own cheese-sticks for picnic food. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember that meals do not have to be traditional to be well-balanced.<\/strong> \u00a0Raw veggies with cheese and crackers, maybe some olives or even canned pineapple on the side work just fine. \u00a0Cottage cheese smeared on naan bread with a boiled egg, or homemade meat jerky and some trail mix will provide all you need to keep going! Does it look like the typical “meat & potato” meal? Of course not, but why should it?<\/p>\n

\"Caprese<\/a>
Caprese Salad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Treat Yourself to an Indulgence<\/h3>\n

Let’s face it; car trips get long, especially if there is any griping from a backseat. \u00a0Plan on a special treat your family does not get often, like this caprese salad<\/a> that packs very well in a cooler and just screams “SUMMERTIME!” \u00a0It gives you something to look forward to at the next stop. \u00a0One of my favorite traveling-only indulgences is making cream cheese-salami rolls.<\/p>\n

Budget an Hour to Food Prep<\/h3>\n

Using a food slicer, <\/a>I can whip out a bunch of fresh veggies (cucumber slices, carrot slices, radishes, and more), I can make those cheese sticks, slice cheese for sandwiches, and slice lunch meat<\/a> too. \u00a0Doing all of this once means that one tool can save you time and only require one rinse at the end.<\/p>\n

Budget Time for Stops<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Stops for gas and food take longer when you are serving lunch off of the tail gate, but the food is nutritionally sound and delicious. \u00a0What good is “saving ten minutes” if you get heartburn, or feel so sluggish when you get there you want a nap? \u00a0Besides, it’s really mentally healthier for you to stop anyway. \u00a0Get up and stretch. \u00a0Sit in the sunshine, let the kids run a bit. \u00a0We use our GPS to find parks right off of the interstate; we get to explore a bit and enjoy the meal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"tailgate<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you do not have to unwrap it to eat it, you really will like it better because the food is closer to its natural state. \u00a0The body knows what it can digest. Sometimes we lie to ourselves that the occasional diversion off the healthy road (okay, bad pun) won’t hurt us. \u00a0Maybe it won’t. \u00a0But there really is a better, healthier, and dare I say yummier way to travel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Leave a comment and let us know about your travel food experiences with kids!<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Road<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you get healthier road trip food?\u00a0 The gas station burrito settled it, I do not care how inexpensive road stop fare may be, it is just no longer an option.\u00a0 \u00a0I must deliberately menu plan for all future road trips.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[229,500,297],"tags":[680,231,705,704],"yst_prominent_words":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Road-Trip-Food-Tips.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fvks-gA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}