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So what do you take to eat on a road trip?
See, I just don’t want to be at the mercy of fast food joints. I’d rather make a picnic out of cheese and crackers and fresh fruit than eat fast food any day. So I always fill the cooler with goodies.
This, of course, means we can now take our time and find restaurants where we want to eat, not restaurants where we have to eat because we haven’t eaten all day.
Besides, a road trip, if you’ll forgive the pun, is a serious crappy time to get food poisoning.
So you want to know what I stuff into the cooler? Okay . . .
Here is what I pack for a road trip
- Fresh fruit. Nothing messy, such as a peach, or tricky to eat, such as watermelon. Apples and pears are always good. Grapes are great (the husband can pop them into his mouth as he drives). Ditto bananas. Of course, depending on timing, we try and pick these up at fruit stands on our travels.
- Drinks. Especially water. Lots of water. I have ice packs I keep in the freezer at all times. When we go on a trip, I throw these in the cooler, throw the cooler onto the back seat, and fill it with all the drinks it will hold. Certainly water is the big one. But I’ll also add a bottle or two of juice (which we will drink the first day out) and a single bottle of soda as a treat for the husband (It took us years to get over our soda addiction. I’m over it, but my husband still yearns, so this is a special treat for him.)
- A sweet munchie. Not chocolate, of course, which, alas, will melt in no time and become a sticky mess. But a few cookies are good or individual size Greek yogurts (to be eaten on the first day). Someone once gave me some snack tins from Dean and Deluca which worked really well. For this trip, I baked toasted almond biscotti the night before and that was great.
- A salty munchie. My first choice is always nuts, cashews, say, or a mix. But I’ve gotten sourdough pretzels before and they were good.
- Cheeses. I get an assortment and cut them to finger-food size. Of course, you can only bring enough for your first meal from home.
- Crackers. To have with the cheese. Of course! Or bread. Say a nice baguette or rolls. I’ve also been known to pack a handful of olives in the cooler to have with our cheese and crackers.
- Peanut butter. I don’t bother for a short trip, but for a longer one, I like to have peanut butter and apples on hand as a healthy snack.
- Whatever we can pick up on the road. We’ve gotten everything from cider and peanuts to fudge and berries.
So, what do you take on your road trips? I’m always looking for good tips.
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9 Responses to “So what do you take to eat on a road trip?”
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cooking Student, Mary Beall Adler. Mary Beall Adler said: RT @cookingstudent: What do you eat on a road trip? Here's the healthy food I pack: http://bit.ly/2oHIFK #bagels… [...]
Ours is nearly identical to yours, though we also bring carrots, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, English pickled onions, and hardboiled eggs. Chocolate is our sweet of choice. I’m hungry reading this, we used to do that often, has been awhile
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by cookingstudent: What do you eat on a road trip? Here’s the healthy food I pack: http://bit.ly/2oHIFK...
Um.. where do you travel that you can buy grapes or bananas along the roadside? Or where apples or pears are in season most of the time? Silly hipster garbage – why not just say that you buy the vast majority of your fruits at the grocery store?
Also – you can’t bring chocolate on your trips? I’ll give you a hint – chocolate won’t melt in a cooler full of ice.
I’ll give you points for good intentions, though. Wholesome food packed in a cooler is always better than fast food, that’s for sure. I agree with Marcia, I love cherry tomatoes for a road trip snack!
I love taking sunflower seeds! These are a must. Water is also a staple. The last time I drove out, I also made spinach tortilla wraps with sundried tomato and olive tapenade with cheddar cheese and alfalfa sprouts inside. These stayed good in the cooler during the drive and then I popped the leftovers in the fridge at our destination (but I don’t know how long they’ll last because they were gone in a couple days. hehe)
Ooh I miss a good road trip! Here in Saudi Arabia we don’t get to take them too often, but in university I was living in Texas and just to go anywhere in that gigantic state is a roadtrip! I like to take tons of fresh fruit, like bananas, apples, clementines, peaches, etc. Also salty, roasted nuts and a few bars of dark chocolate. Got to have my chocolate!
Um.. where do you travel that you can buy grapes or bananas along the roadside? Or where apples or pears are in season most of the time? Silly hipster garbage – why not just say that you buy the vast majority of your fruits at the grocery store?
Also – you can't bring chocolate on your trips? I'll give you a hint – chocolate won't melt in a cooler full of ice.
I'll give you points for good intentions, though. Wholesome food packed in a cooler is always better than fast food, that's for sure. I agree with Marcia, I love cherry tomatoes for a road trip snack!
We bring everything you bring (except for soda, husband prefers beer:)), plus tomatoes and cucumber. Bread, olives and cheese are a must, water and fruit too. Peanut butter is fantastic for hungry families.
i love both peanut butter and cheeze as the filling of my morning sandwhich..’*