This is a topic that has come up at several Meet&Greets. It would seem as though meeting our family on the road makes people curious about what we’re eating along the way! I don’t blame you for asking. Hopefully you haven’t been terribly shocked or disappointed when I’ve shared that we enjoy treating ourselves to some Chick-fil-A here and there on our trips. :)
As much as possible, I do try to pack healthy food for the road. The difficulty comes when we’re traveling for several days in a row. Homemade food can only last so long, and a person can only eat so many sandwiches.
We don’t feel worry over eating out occasionally. Although I will say that we certainly don’t love spending money on it and our guts don’t always feel great afterward. But since our family eats very, very well MOST of the time, eating at a restaurant is a special treat that my family enjoys without guilt. We usually try to make it count, as in, we don’t settle for icky tasting (in our opinion) restaurants and usually opt for one we all really like. I mean, if we’re going to eat french fries, we want to enjoy them, right?
So, now that I’ve explained that part, I’d also like to share some ideas for foods I try to pack for the first leg of our trips to at least get us off to a good start. In addition, I’ve made note of ideas others have shared with me.
Breakfast on the Road
- Giant Breakfast Cookies
- Scrambled Egg Sandwiches
- Breakfast Burritos
- Homemade Muffins
- Warm Vanilla or Chocolate Soother
Lunch/Dinner on the Road
- Sandwiches
- Calzones
- Meat and Cheese Burritos
- Leftover Homemade Pizza
- Tuna or Chicken Salad with Pitas or Crackers
- Tossed Salads with Chicken (either from home or purchased on the road at a grocery store)
- Chicken Patty Sandwiches
- Quesadillas
- Pigs in a Blanket
- Sloppy Cornbread Muffins
- Taco Corn Fritters
Snacks
- Fresh Fruit – lots and lots of fruit! If we eat nothing else good during the day, at least we have fruit. It’s the best convenience food ever! (Grapes, Berries, Apples, Oranges, Clementines, Bananas, and Pears all travel well.)
- Applesauce – I splurge on individul applesauce cups for a fun treat on a trip
- Baby Carrots
- Grape Tomatoes
- Homemade Granola Bars
- Mudballs
- Crispy Cheese Crackers
As much as possible (while doing laundry, packing, and finishing up four hundred last minute details) before leaving for a trip – I try to prep the food so that all we have to do is warm it up, grab it, and go. Phew! It’s a lot of work. But it’s worth it for the money it saves and the gut issues it helps us avoid. :)
Please share your ideas for healthy foods you pack to take on the road while you’re traveling. Also, have you found some good foods to make in a hotel room? Please share!
Robyn Owens-Miille says
Perfectly timed post. WE leave next week for a 10 day trip and i was trying to figure out what on earth to take with us. I will have access to a small kitchen so I can replenish stuff before we head home.
Joanna Sigman says
I usually make calzones for at least one lunch/dinner on the road and the whole family loves it!
Heather T. says
We have a 3 week road trip coming up and are traveling with 4 kids 1-8 so this is great, I already planned a lot of foods similar to these. Like you say its great to eat out and splurge but my stomach will pay the price. Fruit is always a great idea and even when traveling there will be grocery stores in most towns, so get items from them also, rotisserie chickens are great and with my family size we would eat the entire thing, fresh fruits and even vegies are easy to grab. I have a recipe for energy balls that is like your mud balls those will be great also going to make some home made Lara bars. You can also do a variation on the meat/cheese burritos, I make ours with home made refried beans/cheese, plenty of protein and they are great cold.
DonnaJ says
These are all great ideas. And I would never fault anyone for eating at Chick Fil A! We all like their food ~ my favorite it the grilled chicken sandwich on the whole grain bun.
Jenny says
This is great timing for us. We are preparing for a road trip in the next couple weeks. Every time I don’t pack food, I regret it. Will be using a lot of these ideas. Thank you for posting.
We have learned that stops are much more pleasant if we are at a rest stop with room to run, rather than a restaurant where we expect people to sit still and quiet.
Lyndsay says
We will be heading out for an 8 day road trip with 5 boys ages 8 months-14 years. We were already planning on fresh fruits and veggies, and sandwiches for at least one lunch. I will need a lot of snacks for the car, we love peanut butter and pretzels and the applesauce that comes in the squeeze containers so they don’t even need spoons :)We also found a great place to get beef jerkey made from organic grass fed beef with no icky stuff in it. I am pretty sure we will be eating a bunch of that, too. How do you travel with things like calzones and burritos that need to be kept cold and then heated up? I know our hotels will have microwaves but I was looking for something on the road during the day.
Laura says
If we’re going to be traveling all day long, here’s an example of what I might do:
Breakfast: Hot scrambled egg and cheeses sandwiches that I’ve made the day before and put into the oven in the morning before we leave. Grab and go.
Lunch: Leftover pizza or calzones, which can be eaten cold.
Dinner: Sandwiches
:)
Randi says
Maybe you could put them in a cooler and then just eat them cold. Or stick them under the hood for a few miles to warm them up. ;) LOL! Just kidding!
Monika says
This has nothing to do with this post, but I have been searching and searching for nitrate/nitrite-free pepperoni and cannot find it! (At least not for an affordable price…Amazon does have it for a fortune.) Vitacost doesn’t have it, nor does my local health food store, or my farmer’s market (shockingly, much of their meat contains nitrites!), or any of the grocery stores around here. I tried making Tammy’s homemade pepperoni once, but my kids and husband did not like it at all. Are you able to get it somewhere, or do you just eat it with the nitrates for the sake of having pepperoni? I am able to get uncured lunchmeats in the Hormel brand from my grocery stores, and their website says they sell uncured pepperoni…but not within 100 miles of where I live, and there’s no ordering option. :( Thanks for taking the time to respond!!
Laura says
We eat it very infrequently, so sometimes I just settle for regular ol’ pepperoni if I can’t find any of the better stuff for a reasonable price. :)
Heather D. says
I’ve found Applegate Farms uncured nitrate/nitrite free pepperoni at our natural grocers.
. It is so good. Wonder if you can get it online somewhere if you do a search?
Randi says
https://store.applegatefarms.com/A556B4/applecart2004.nsf/xpStorefront.xsp?SessionID=DI7SDU498E#
Randi says
https://store.applegatefarms.com/A556B4/applecart2004.nsf/xpStorefront.xsp?SessionID=DI7SDU498E#
Tracie says
Peanut butter and crackers (homemade if I have time)! There is a brand of peanut butter that makes a chocolate-flavored option, and as a treat, I’ll buy that because it doesn’t need to be refrigerated. It is also fairly low in sugar (7g per serving) and doesn’t have soy in it, like Nutella. I also buy those little, individual serving-size packets of peanut butter and almond butter when they go on sale at my local health food store so that I can have a bunch for road trips. I also have the kids help me pick out healthier snacks at the store-they are learning how to read the labels and make compromises, which is really important.
Kris Mays says
This is a very timely post for me, as we leave for our state homeschool conference tomorrow. Thanks, Laura!
Katie says
Can I ask how you warm this up? Do you warm it up at a hotel? This post really caught my eye because next spring we will be moving with a newborn and I’d like to bring some food with if possible.
Laura says
I hate using a microwave, but will occasionally do that at a hotel if I have no other choice. It’s better than eating out at least! Or, if it’s leftover pizza or calzones, we eat them cold. :)
Kat says
We pack similar foods. I also try to plan the trip around cities that might include Chipotle and Whole Foods. This allows us to eat out and stock up. We also try to eat some yogurt/kefir while on the road to help the gut deal with the stress of travel.
Becky says
If on a trip that allows a cooler (in the car) and a fridge/ freezer (in house or hotel), I’ll take homemade baby food (frozen), homemade sandwich bread (sliced and frozen), and chickpea cookies (fridge or freezer). Other must-haves: granola made extra chunky for snacking ease), coconut oil, small shaker of realsalt, and some if what you listed.
Sheila H. says
My secret for dinners is my crock pot- rice and beans (maybe with sausage), taco soup, barbecue chicken sandwiches, roast with carrots and potatoes.
I agree with stopping at a rest stop for eating and walking to release energy. I also try to find a good store in or close to the cities to stock up on supplies. The last time we went to Disney, I found a service that delivered everything to me for a minimal price and ate every meal in our cabin for 4 days!
Patty says
Thanks for the great tips! Linking up with you today!
Ashley says
Remember if you are staying at someone’s house you can order on Amazon and they’ll deliver to where you are at!!! So you could stack up on “healthier” snacks like Annie’s or Late July for the road and NOT have to buy kraft or herseys :)
kris s says
we love homemade subs and wraps. I just take a tortilla and spread with cream cheese then layer meat, veggies, and cheese. Then roll up and wrap.
Jody says
I could use a camping post similar to this! I will be referencing this for our next weekend campout since our last one was an utter failure because I just couldn’t think and plan properly.
Jamie Garcia says
Thanks! We’re going to the zoo tomorrow in DC and I was searching for some motivation to pack a lunch instead of buying their over priced food for our family of 4. I will confess though we are eating out addicted, especially pizza at our favorite local dive which has the best pizza anywhere! This is the only part of the budget where we never make it honestly, but with baby #3 on the way something will have to give with our 1x/week going out budget!
Amy S says
When we travel we pack homemade baked chicken tenders (great cold), pasta or potato salad, deviled eggs, fresh cut veggies and fruit and stop at rest areas along the way to eat. Leftovers are for dinner when we arrive. Deli sandwiches with fixins are a big hit. If you are staying where there is an oven I pre-bake pizza crusts and take the fixins so we can have pizza one night and pack stuff for crock pot meals. I also make some crustless spinach or veggie quiche and cut into squares and they are great for breakfasts or a light lunch. Helps clean out the fridge before traveling too. Lots of water. Time for a road trip…
Sarah Z says
My kiddos love your sloppy cornbread muffins! I do have a quick question. I make a lot of muffins for easy breakfasts and have been using silicone muffin ‘papers’ so there is no wasted muffin on the paper and they are reusable. The past couple of times I’ve noticed the muffins taste a little funny — almost soapy, but I make sure I rinse them well when I wash them. So I’m thinking their not as great as I originally thought since the silicone taste is seeping into the muffins from so much use. What do you use for your muffins? Or do you use anything at all and just used them for your yummy pics? :)
LindseyforLaura@HHM says
Laura uses paper liners from the “If you care” brand.