Road Trip Food

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sdirks
sdirks Posts: 223 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just found out I need to take a long road trip, 18 hours of driving over two days.

What do you eat to stay healthy when you have to drive for 9 hours/day? Any good recommendations? (I'm vegetarian btw)

I have some fresh pineapple tomatillos from the farmer's market; I'm going to peel them at home and throw them in a container to eat during the drive. I also have a couple of Quest bars in case I can't find anything healthy when I stop during the day.

Replies

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Can you take a cooler? That will really expand your choices. Make some frittata (it's good cold) or some savoury muffins. String cheese is good for a snack too.
  • ModernRock
    ModernRock Posts: 372 Member
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    Eat proper meals so you'll be less likely to resort to mindless snacking on high calorie gas station foods like chips or nuts. I use Google maps to find interesting places to eat along the way. The thing about fast food, however, is that they nearly all post their nutritional guides online.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    Peanut butter and/or creamm cheese sandwiches on food whole grain bread or corn tortillas; hummus and crudite, almonds, hard boiled eggs (if you eat them); protein shakes, apples, & tangerines
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
    edited October 2015
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    String cheese, or other easy to eat cheese, popcorn, hard boiled eggs, baby carrots, peanut butter and celery.....

    It's easier if you have a cooler. You can make and freeze smoothies that will thaw by the second day, but provide ice the first.
  • ModernRock
    ModernRock Posts: 372 Member
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    cmtigger wrote: »
    It's easier if you have a cooler. You can make and freeze smoothies that will thaw by the second day, but provide ice the first.

    Nice. I'm going to use that for my next camping trip.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    ModernRock wrote: »
    cmtigger wrote: »
    It's easier if you have a cooler. You can make and freeze smoothies that will thaw by the second day, but provide ice the first.

    Nice. I'm going to use that for my next camping trip.

    I make very small ones for my lunches. I use the pouches made to refill with baby food.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
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    sdirks wrote: »
    Just found out I need to take a long road trip, 18 hours of driving over two days.

    What do you eat to stay healthy when you have to drive for 9 hours/day? Any good recommendations? (I'm vegetarian btw)

    I have some fresh pineapple tomatillos from the farmer's market; I'm going to peel them at home and throw them in a container to eat during the drive. I also have a couple of Quest bars in case I can't find anything healthy when I stop during the day.

    Is "road trip food" any different from lunch at work, or any other meal you may have out of the home?
  • cocates
    cocates Posts: 360 Member
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    ModernRock wrote: »
    Eat proper meals so you'll be less likely to resort to mindless snacking on high calorie gas station foods like chips or nuts. I use Google maps to find interesting places to eat along the way. The thing about fast food, however, is that they nearly all post their nutritional guides online.

    ^^This.

  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,394 Member
    edited October 2015
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    The only thing I MUST have on a road trip for snacking is sunflower seeds. Other than that I can get away with just eating meals.
  • MeiannaLee
    MeiannaLee Posts: 338 Member
    edited October 2015
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    I like:
    -Mini Apples (about 80 calories)
    -Peaches (70 calories)
    -Dannon Greek Yogurt (80 calories)
    -Mini Popcorn Bags (110 calories)
    -Carrot Chips (70 calories)
    -Pretzels Thins (110 calories)
    -Pita with ranch (The pitas I buy are 60 calories each so I bring along two cut up into chip sizes and warmed in the microwave, and then in a tupperware I bring a bit of reduced fat ranch and I like to dip the pieces of warm pita into my ranch! It's so fricken yummy. This is about 170 calories)
    -Apple Slices with PB2 (75 calories)
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,267 Member
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    Red Vines
    Cheddar popcorn
    Somersaults
    Jr. Mints
    Skittles
    pb M&Ms
  • Marcel182
    Marcel182 Posts: 143 Member
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    Beef jerky is a must for me. Otherwise, not too big on snacks.
  • br3adman
    br3adman Posts: 284 Member
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    Any fruit,jerky,nuts,seeds just eat anything long as you stay under your goal
  • questionfear
    questionfear Posts: 527 Member
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    Hard boiled eggs should survive fine in a cooler for two days.

    Maybe measure out specific servings of granola, pretzels, other snacks so you don't mindlessly overeat?
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
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    Some items I take need a cooler. I'm including everything I find easy to take along, even though some aren't an options as a vegetarian (including them for any lurkers who may take a look at this thread).

    lunch meat sandwiches (not an option as a vegetarian)
    Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (or just bread, nut butter, and jelly in the cooler then assemble when hungry)
    Fruit (pre-chopped if needed)
    Veggies (pre-chopped if needed)
    Cheeses
    Jerky (again, not an option as a vegetarian)
    Nuts
    100 calorie packs
    Quest bars or other protein bars you find favorable
    Bottles of water and protein powder (or you can buy water if you don't want to take some)
    Popcorn (packaged into Ziploc bags for a serving or 2, whatever fits your cal needs)
    Clif bars
    Hard boiled eggs
    Individual boxes (or Ziploc bags) of cereal
    Individual cups of yogurt (greek or whatever kind you prefer)
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    ModernRock wrote: »
    Eat proper meals so you'll be less likely to resort to mindless snacking on high calorie gas station foods like chips or nuts. I use Google maps to find interesting places to eat along the way. The thing about fast food, however, is that they nearly all post their nutritional guides online.

    This. I pack nuts, fruit, and a couple Kind or Quest bars, but I take the time to stop for a proper meal.
  • BringingSherriBack
    BringingSherriBack Posts: 607 Member
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    I agree with the proper meals comments, but if you are planning to eat out of your cooler to save money on meals you can do chopped up veggies, fruit, boiled eggs, string cheese, yogurt, bottled water, nuts, Clif bars, dry cereal. I'm not vegetarian but we pack a cooler with this kind of stuff plus sandwich fixings for long drives for ourselves and the kids to try to limit meals out to dinner only. We generally try to eat breakfast at our hotel if it's offered.
  • kat_princess12
    kat_princess12 Posts: 109 Member
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    I didn't have a cooler on a recent long (14-hour) road trip so I packed peanut butter crackers, granola bars, and almonds. (Also a lot of Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso drinks, but we don't talk about that *eh-hem*) I prefer driving straight through with only brief stops so didn't really worry about what I was going to eat besides my snack-ish things. If you stop at convenience stores, a lot of them have beef sticks and cheese, or sandwiches. And larger ones (travel centers and truck stops in particular) have increasingly good options like bananas, tuna salad, carrot/celery cups, or yogurt.

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