Healthy Lunches for a Road Trip?

We are road trip warriors!  Some of us are gluten free now so it’s been a little more complicated.  We have taken a cooler and brought along single serving Greek yogurt (the high protein kind), or even a bottle of kefir, for breakfast.  For snacks, we take apples and clementines, carrots sliced in chip form, hummus, regular chips, granola bars, water bottles that we refill, etc…  For trips I try to find individually packaged peanut butter, hummus, crackers, etc…  this makes it a little easier.  When I’ve been super organized, I’ve made ahead muffins and cookies and frozen them.  Only thing, they don’t do well after a few days of being in the cooler.  The little potato rolls are great for sandwiches (if you are not gluten free).  Sometimes we just do meat and cheese roll ups too.  We are trying, if we are on the road during lunch, to hit a Wholefoods instead of a restaurant and it’s a little cheaper.  They have alot more choices for me and my gluten free son.  Hope this helps!

we like to make walking salads….large leaf of lettuce, cottage cheese spooned on, crushed pineapple, raisins, almond slivers……and whatever else sounds yummy…..roll or fold the lettuce like a taco or burrito and enjoy

pizza pockets – pita bread, spoon in some pizza sauce, shredded cheese and pepperon….eat cold or heat on a small grill at a rest stop just wrap in foil

yogurt with different varieties of granola and or fruit goes a long way

if you have a microwave and a mini fridge or cooler omlets are super easy in the microwave in a freezer bag…..take pre chopped veggies or make plain for scrambled eggs

peanut butter toast or cheese toast (again microwave in hotel) with fruit good…..

hard boiled eggs and fruit salad

for us the key is always preperation……we don’t mind toting a cooler, few simple dishes and toaster or toaser oven and you can eat like a king……

How Ironic!

I was thinking of posting the very same question this morning! 

Funny, a lot of those ideas are what I had planned, so I’m glad to see I haven’t lost my mind by planning to take our camp stove even though we’ll be staying in a hotel.  BTW, don’t use your camp stove in your hotel room…baaaaad idea.  But I hadn’t even thought of using it at rest stops or parks-duh!  

Everyone be safe, and eat well

We always pack snacks for trips, whether overnight or just a day trip. It saves so much money, and I feel much better about what we’re putting in our bodies. We purchased insulated lunch bag/cooler things for each child so that their food and snacks are always within reach. Now that we’re gluten-free, it’s a little more challenging; but here are some things we packed before going GF:

Wraps: I would buy the Ezekiel Bread sprouted tortillas, Applegate Farms lunch meat, and some sliced cheese, add whatever veggies or condiments we liked, roll it in Saran Wrap, and pack it up. Everyone got their own wrap, made just how they wanted it, in their lunch box. I also do a dessert version of this by spreading cream cheese on the tortilla, slicing up some strawberries, and sprinkling some chocolate or carob chips before rolling and wrapping it up.

Individual yogurt cups and plastic spoons: I haven’t done this since I started making my own yogurt, but I suppose I could just get some small plastic storage containers with good lids and pack up my homemade yogurt.

I second the hard-boiled eggs! I’ve never thought of packing those, but it’s a great idea. I would probably pre-peel them and put them in a sturdy plastic container so they wouldn’t get smooshed.

You could also do some chicken salad and homemade bread or Nut Thin crackers.

Baby carrots, celery sticks, apple slices, bananas, raisins or dried cranberries, almonds and cashews.

Homemade granola.

Bake some of your favorite quick breads (banana bread, applesauce bread, etc.). If you have a FoodSaver, you could vacuum seal them, and take them anywhere for a quick snack or addition to breakfast.

We like to splurge a bit for trips, so I’ll usually get a few packaged items like gluten-free breakfast bars, veggie straws, and even a box of organic, gluten-free cookies. I know those things aren’t super healthy or inexpensive, but they’re convenient and easy which is sometimes worth the cost.

Have a great time!

Lindsey