Eating Healthy on a Road Trip!

Simple & Fun Meals for the Car!

In April, our family took a road trip to Melbourne, Florida to attend the wedding of two of our very good friends. While long car trips present the opportunity for unhealthy snacking and fast food, they also present the opportunity to be intentional about healthy food choices and more importantly, eating food that enables you to feel exceptionally healthy during your travel adventures!

Let me give you an example: when you spend the majority of your day sitting in a car, it can often result in some intestinal back-ups, bloating, and sluggishness for a day or two. However, if you intentionally pack foods that are rich in fiber, water, and magnesium – and have a hydration plan for after you arrive at your destination, this can be completely avoided!

Also, many less-than-ideal food choices are made out of necessity at fast food restaurants that are located at rest stops and gas stops. If your food is pre-packed in the car, you’ll never have to worry about which restaurants are within an ideal distance of an exit.

During this road trip, I packed 100% of the meals and snacks that Thomas and I ate for 3 days – and not only did it save us time and energy during the drive and weekend, we got to enjoy all of our favorite healthy foods!

Meal Prep Time!!!

Let’s be realistic- when you are packing a family for a trip, the last thing you have time to do is cook up complicated meals in the kitchen. That’s why my strategy included batch-cooking for the two days leading up to our weekend trip.

Two days before we left, I cooked up a huge batch of gluten-free chickpea pasta and after we all ate our fill, I portioned out the rest into little containers. (Whenever I use acidic ingredients such as tomatoes, I always use glass containers since acidic food can leach into plastic and plastic likewise leaches into the food.)

One day before we left, I cooked a huge batch of potato, cauliflower, and chickpea curry. Again, after we all ate our fill, I packed up 8 cups of curry into a glass Pyrex bowl and tucked it away in the refrigerator.

I also cooked 8 cups of protein-packed quinoa, which is perfect to serve with curry, salad, or simply olive oil & salt!

The night before we left, it took about 10 minutes to assemble our lunches: Eric wanted quinoa & curry and I wanted an arugula salad!

Car Snacks!

For those of you who have been following my Thomas updates, you’ll know that he will eat ANYTHING in a muffin. That’s why he gets homemade muffins every single day. I made these muffins the day before we left:

• 1 1/2 cups steamed cauliflower
• 1 large zucchini
• 2 small bananas
• 2 eggs
• cinnamon
• almond flour
• coconut flour
• chickpea flour
• brown rice flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

And there’s nothing saying that adults can’t snack on veggie muffins too!

Now… what is the best food for natural energy, focus, and mood? Oranges!! All 3 of us snacked on fresh oranges during the drive – and as a bonus, the car smelled amazing! Since oranges can be quite messy to peel on the go, set aside 5 minutes to pre-peel before you leave. (Again, stored in a glass container since they are acidic.)

When selecting travel snacks, I intentionally include foods with healthy fat & protein to keep blood sugar steady. Homemade granola satisfied our cravings for crunchy and sweet foods. This granola was full of hearty oats, as well as coconut oil, sunflower seeds, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and subtly sweet applesauce!

Another big hit was Simple Trail Mix: organic raisins + toasted almond slices… that’s IT! I buy the pre-toasted almond slices from Trader Joe’s and they provide the perfect crunch, but with no prep work!

Breakfast at the Air B&B

When we travel, we almost exclusively stay at Air B&B rentals because there is usually more food storage and preparation space – specifically a full-size refrigerator and freezer 😉

We kept it simple for breakfast, with fruit, yogurt, nut butter, and granola. Thomas loves the Kite Hill unsweetened almond yogurt with fruit – that’s his breakfast most mornings.

Lunches & Dinners at the Air B&B

While Eric was enjoying his time as a groomsman at the wedding, Thomas and I ate our meals together. Since it was already hot in Florida, my warm-natured Thomas wanted all of his food served cold, so that just simplified things for us!

His meals consisted of:

• crumbled turkey & apple slices
• baked potatoes & steamed peas
• pasta & tomato sauce
• salmon burgers & steamed peas

Snacks included:

• orange slices
• apple slices
• Cauliflower, Zucchini, & Banana muffins
• “Happy Baby” Superfood Puffs

You may be thinking… “cold ground turkey?” My little Thomas is such a meat eater and when little kids decide they like a food, they’ll eat it! Ground turkey is one of the easiest finger foods to cook in under ten minutes so he enjoys it often and loves every bite!

When I travel, the only kitchen equipment I usually bring is my small cutting board, a cutting knife, and sometimes a peeler (now that Thomas needs fruit peeled). I can do without most other cookware, but this ensures that I can chop up salad toppings, fruit, avocados, hard boiled eggs, and many other fresh options!

I don’t buy many of the commercialized toddler snacks, but this is one that Thomas is obsessed with. They are a cleaner and healthier alternative to Cheerios, while still providing that crunchy finger food that toddlers crave.

My meals consisted of:

• Quinoa with Cauliflower, Potato & Chickpea Curry
• Chickpea pasta with tomato sauce
• Baked potatoes with olive oil, salt, and steamed peas
• Arugula salad

My snacks consisted of:

• Good Foods Avocado mash & Lundberg Brown Rice Stackers
• Orange slices

The Return Trip

The night before we left, I put Thomas to bed and packed our lunches for the car trip the next day. I basically portioned out the rest of the quinoa, peas, and turkey for Eric & I and packed the remaining salmon burgers & peas for Thomas! Before sealing them up, I drizzled everything with olive oil and sprinkled sea salt and we had a delicious lunch! (I also munched on a lot more avocado mash & rice cakes and granola on the way home too!)