Food/snacks for a long road trip.

karinefournel

I have a question out of curiosity.

I will be leaving on a two week vacation in a few weeks. We are driving from home to our destination which will take us 2 days each way. What I would like to know is how do you prepare (food wise) for long car drive. Do you prepare your meals and snacks for those two days in advance or just go with the flow? If you do prepare in advance what are your favourite snack/meals that you bring?

Thank you!

littleblackcar

Finger-friendly: Vegetable sticks, grapes, hard-boiled eggs, pretzels, crackers. We always brought a small cooler and planned to replenish snacks at grocery stores as we traveled, so we didn't have to pack a whole lot or worry about keeping it fresh the entire time.

Just avoid things that are very juicy or crumby, because of the mess, and I tend to avoid thing like yogurt that require spoons and leave food-y packaging, but that might not bother you as much as it does me. Other than that, whatever you like and that doesn't need to be absolutely cold for two days.

horseplaypen

We do a 5-day road trip across Canada twice a year for school - after 5+ years of this, we've gotten pretty good at it!

We usually bring a small cooler for drinks and things that need to stay cold. If we stay in hotels, we just bring coldpacks and pop them in the freezer overnight. If we camp, we just replenish the ice as often as we need to.

For snacks: nuts, dried fruits, trail mix type stuff. Popcorn. Granola bars. Lots and lots of water! We try to stop at grocery stores in big enough towns and eat from the deli since we can find much healthier options than fast food. Even if I'm not super hungry, I'll get a packaged salad or a veggie cup and some sliced meat or whatever looks good and keep it in the cooler until I'm hungry. Otherwise, you sometimes end up on a stretch of road with nothing except McDonalds and diners for a few hours.

now_or_never13

Can you bring a cooler and fill with ice as needed along the way? If you can, spend some time before you leave getting things ready. Containers of measured out dressing and cut up veggies to dip in it. Cut up fruits for snacks. Nuts. Nut butters, You can bring lunch meats and cheese along with lettuce and such to make sandwiches or subs along the way. Bring tons of water... milk... etc. If you are staying at a hotel overnight that doesn't offer breakfast bring oatmeal. Easy to make in the hotel room (most have either kettles or coffee makers that you could use).

You can pack hardboiled eggs. Bring the yogurt drinks. If you can bring a cooler you will be able to bring a lot of healthy stuff! Depending on the weather where you will be driving through you may not even need a cooler for some things. Stop at a store in the mornings and grab a few pieces of fruit, drinks, sandwich stuff so it's less you have to pack and bring when you leave.

BCSMama

Yeah, we also do a cooler and have snacks in there as well as in a bag. We also bring at least a case of bottled water. Things for the cooler: apples, grapes, bananas, clementines, berries, other fruit cut up and ready to go, vegetables cut up and ready to eat, cheese sticks, yogurt, boiled eggs. Things in the bag: granola, crackers, homemade jerky, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids, peanut butter and rice cakes for me, popcorn, granola bars, nuts, dried fruit, greek yogurt pancakes (try to eat those the same day or next day). I will also sometimes pack thermoses of healthy soup the morning of a long road trip to have for lunches.

karinefournel

Thank you all very much for your comments and ideas, it's very appreciated!

We are bringing a plug-in cooler so we will be able to keep food that needs to be cold in it and we will be stopping over night at an hotel. We will have to wait until we cross the border in order to get fresh fruits and veggies, etc but I will definitely be preparing food which are allowed.

Thank you again for your help!