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OT: Meals that travel well
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My husband recently began a new job as a worship pastor in a church that’s about 45 minutes from our house. It will be a while before we can move closer to the church, so in the meantime, he’s commuting. It’s easy for me to send lunch with him from our leftovers, so that is not my question. Once per week, I also have to be up at the church for rehearsal. In fact, the children and I will be leaving in about 30 minutes to head that way. I need some ideas for meals that will travel well so that we can avoid eating out. Although we can afford to eat out each week, I’d rather not because I notice that none of us feel as well as when we’re eating home-cooked, nourishing foods. Plus, I gain weight when I eat out…and that’s never a good thing.
I know soup travels well in a Thermos, but since it’s summer, I am not in the mood for hot soups as much. Tonight, I have made a beef and bean burrito mix. I’ve grated some raw cheddar, packed some sprouted tortillas, and the meat mixture, and that will be our supper. The church kitchen has paper plates we can use, so thankfully I don’t have to pack those too. But I can’t really think of much else that is easy for me to prepare at home AND travels well. Like, I can’t imagine that a casserole would be very simple because I’d either have to cook it at home and figure out a way to keep it hot on the way, or I’d have to cook it there and then mess with transporting leftovers home. Does that make sense?
Ideas are appreciated, as this is going to be our life until we are able to move…probably for about six months or so. Thanks a bunch!
Lindsey
Salad would be easy to take. One meal all of our children love is “salad night”. I will make some type of pasta salad, which ends up having whatever type of pasta I have on hand, fresh veggies, cheese, etc. I will also mix up a fruit salad, again with whatever I have and I always add a can of mandarin oranges as this keeps all the fruit from turning brown (if you have apples, bananas, etc. in it), and it adds a nice sweetness. Then I will make tuna salad or chicken salad and serve with pitas, bread, crackers, etc. This would be fairly easy for you to do. Just put it all in a cooler. I supposed you’d want to bring about the right amount.
Here is a link that was posted on another thread for cold soup:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/06/gazpacho/
I just made it today. We haven’t eaten yet, but I was curious and just tasted it and I think it is pretty good. That could be taken in a thermos to help it stay cold.
You could take an assortment of chopped veggies and cheeses and some hummus and pita crackers.
When we go for picnics I like to take vegeburgers and potato salad or coleslaw.
Burritos was the first thing that popped in my mind, but you are already doing that.
We make something we call haystacks. It is basically a taco salad built on the individuals plate. Chips, beans, lettuce, tomato, olives, cucumbers, avacado, onion, salsa, cheese, sour cream. If everything is chopped ahead of time, it is easy to transport. Any leftovers could be mixed together for a salad or to add to a burrito.
Taco salad, just add the chips when you are ready for them.
I don’t know what this is called, but it tastes good room temerature/cold. Cook some colorful noodles. Saute some zucchini. Mix those together with sliced olives, artichoke hearts and pesto. I take this to potluck all the time and don’t reheat it before the meal. Everyone really enjoys it. You could also add other veggies like broccoli, yellow squash, etc.
Hope one of those sounds good to you!! It is so hard to always have to pack meals around. It sure is nice that you won’t have to pack the plates, too!!
Good ideas so far. Cold sesame or peanut butter noodles with or without meat/chicken. Salads in all their variety (pasta, lettuce, taco). They have insulated casserole covers if you did want to go that route. You can also use your Thermos for things like hot cooked meat for putting together tacos, bbq/pulled pork sandwiches, sloppy joes, etc. Sandwiches. Boring yes, but if you don’t eat them a lot during the week they’ll taste delicious on Sunday.
We use a regular cooler for keeping hot things hot too. It works just as well as keeping cold things cold. Would definitely work for a 45-minute drive.
If you like hard boiled eggs, you could have a pseudo-breakfast meal with the eggs, some type of fruit, toast and jam, etc. If you eat meat, you could ccok sausage or bacon and keep that warm enough I would think in a cooler or heat it back up in a microwave for a minute max.
On the casserole idea, one thing I do is HALF recipes. Now that we are a family of 8, I don’t often do that b/c we eat the whole pan LOL! But you could make them in the foil pans (I reuse them again and again), so you would make a typical 9×12 casserole into two 8×8. I find that things like lasagna and other heavier casseroles travel well b/c they often need to “set” after you take them from the overn anyway.
If you have a pyrex portable or a similar system, you could use the bag to carry it even if the pan is not the exact size. I will place my 8×8 foil pan down into the included pyrex 9×12 dish and then zip it all up. Keeps it warm a long time. Add a salad or bread or both and that is a good meal.
What about baked potato bar? You can use the cooler to keep baked potatoes very hot for a long while. Just keep them in foil and put them in the cooler straight from the oven and keep it closed tight. Take whatever you like to top your potatoes: butter, sour cream, chives, cheese, bacon, broccoli, etc. Not a bad meal either. Easy and filling!
We made this curried chicken and chickpea salad recently for a potluck picnic and it was AMAZING. We can’t do dairy, so I left out the raita, and added a bit of mayo to the chicken mixture. SO good. I don’t know if your kids like these flavors, but if they’re adventurers like mine, they may go for it, and it travels well.
Blessings,
Aimee
We eat together as a church every week, and get there at 4:30 but don’t eat until 6:30 or later, so I bring the crockpot or I bake it in the oven then put it in the pyrex zip up cover like someone mentioned above. Then I heat my rice bag (the one for my back) and put it in there, the meal is still warm when we need it. I would think that and the crockpot would be very easy for you. I also have a quinoa salad that would be a cooler meal for summer (although I’m thinking you are the one who doesn’t eat grains?) that has quinoa, diced apriocts, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and almonds, and I eat that cold after the first day and it tastes pretty good that way actually.
Amama5, do you mind sharing the quinoa salad recipe? Quinoa does seem like a grain, but I believe (not positive) it is classified as a seed. I read that somewhere online and don’t want to say its for sure not a grain unless someone else can verify it though.
A great meal on the go would be smoothies! Get everyone a BPA free bottle and sip away! I know you guys do lots of smoothies! Have a side to go w/ it ..like a trail mix! HTH
Sure! It’s actually called Pear-Quinoa salad, but I use dried apricots instead because pears aren’t always cheap or in season. I’m not sure how to type it nicely on here because my computer double spaces my returns, but I’ll try.
14oz chicken broth 1 cup quinoa (rinse if necessary) 2 TBSP walnut, canola oil,etc 1/4 tsp salt 2 ripe pears, diced 1 TBSP fruity vinegar 1/4 cup fresh chives 1/4 tsp pepper 1/4 cup chopped nuts (opt)
Boil broth, stir in quinoa, reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook until liquid is absorbed. Whisk oil, vinegar, chives, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add pears and toss to coat. Drain quinoa if necessary, add to bowl and toss. Cool for about 15 minutes or serve warm. Top with nuts if desired.
Burgers – travel w/ them hot or cold (just reheat upon arrival), carrot and celery sticks, homemade crackers
Cowboy beef and beans, veggie mix (various veggies in your frig + favorite dressing tossed together)
Macaroni salad with raw cheese tossed in (my recipe = cooked noodles, fresh tomato chunks, fresh cucumber chunks, diced onion or green onion sliced, and cheese w/ mayo mixed over all)
Tuna salad on a bed of lettuce – transport both and make a lovely plate upon arrival. 🙂
More later.
Thanks, everyone, for these great ideas! I do have one of those Pyrex travel systems, but I never use it so I forget I even have it! I’ll have to dig it out. We are eating grains now. It was too overwhelming to be totally grain-free for a long period of time. Maybe someday we’ll cut grains out, but for now I like to know that I can rely on them when needed. Did you know I have never made a pasta salad? I guess I’ve always thought my family would turn their noses up at cold pasta…guess we’ll find out!
These are all good ideas. I’m so glad I asked!
Lindsey, I have a couple of very picky eaters and they love pasta salad! I am like the others: I just put in what I have on hand, which usually always includes broccoli. I keep it frozen. I buy the huge organic bag at Sam’s and then use it fresh for a couple of days, then freeze what is left. Always handy for pasta salad or casseroles or broccoli dishes.
When I use the frozen in pasta salad, I just begin to heat it up on the stove and then immediately turn it off so that it is still very firm. I will add in cherry tomatoes, zuchinni if I have it, turkey pepperonis, carrots, etc. Really you can put any type of veggie in there. I keep the veggies large-sized but cut up. For mine who refuse certain veggies, they can just pick them out. I know people have all sorts of tricks but I have a couple with SPD and some food they just can’t eat (b/c of texture not taste).
I will use balsamic to toss it with or sometimes italian that I make. I will use goat chees or crumbled feta, again whatever cheese I have. That is the beauty of it!
My children also love tuna salad with crackers, so I’ll have “salad night” and do the tuna salad, a fruit salad and the pasta salad. This is something I make when we are going camping, and I’ll pull this out for the first night when we arrive. It is all ready to eat, but not junk. I think your family might surprise you on the pasta salad!
Texas caviar with chips. Add some fruit and maybe a smoothie. I pretty much look for any excuse to eat Texas caviar.
We love pasta salads too, and they are super easy to tote.
Here’s another idea that I did for my vacation traveling that worked well. If you can spare a day to make an extra lasagna, I made a double batch and froze one. When it was time for traveling, I just simply let it thaw on the way in a semi-cool ice chest. I was able to cook it when we got to our condo. Maybe you can do the same if the church has an oven. This idea could be for anything you can freeze and want to take on the go.
HTH!
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