Have Food Will Travel
Well we have finally arrived in Vermont! After two days of driving, and two days of settling, I am online, although briefly. We won’t have reliable internet access until next week. But I couldn’t resist coming online to share this post with you, my loyal readers!
We arrived at night, in the dark, but woke the next day to paradise – green grass, flowers blooming, sweet breeze blowing. We had two glorious days like this, and now there is almost 2 feet of snow on the ground! But that is what you can expect at this time of year in Northern New England. In any case, I wanted to talk about food – and more specifically food while on the road…
If you are like me, planning a trip inevitably involves food. Many times I will choose a travel destination based on what the food scene is like there – are there good quality restaurants with local farms to supply them? Are there unique foodie experiences to be had? New exotic foods to try? Etc… But what do you eat on your way there, where often the choices are less than optimal?
If you are driving, your choices are extremely limited. At the airports, there is little better – mostly in both instances it is a sea of fast food, or if you are “lucky”, sit down chain restaurants, none of which are a part of my food plan because you never know what goes into the food they are cooking. Even so called “healthy” choices on the menu can be cooked with bad oils, and salad dressings can have corn syrup, or the worst of the worst, anything can be loaded with MSG, hydrogenated oils, food dyes or other food preservatives. No, you really never know what you are getting, and eating bad food on the way to your travel destination can have you feeling poorly once you get there – which really defeats the whole purpose of enjoying your time away. In my experience, only in Italy was I able to literally stop at a rest stop and get good, fresh and locally made food– but that is a post for another time, perhaps.
So since I don’t live in Italy, what I have been doing lately is making food for us to take on our trips. This year all of our trips have been road trips, and that makes packing food to take along a little easier, especially if you go with foods that are easy to eat with your hands. All you need is a small lunch box sized cooler (depending on the size of your travel party), a few ice packs, and a smaller grocery bag with non-perishable items. For long trips, remember to pack enough meals for everyone you are traveling with and plenty of water. For Roberto and I, when we head up to New England for example, we need a total of 4 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 4 dinners – 2 of each meal for two days. Imagine how much money that will save you in road meals!
Also, remember, that you don’t need to eat something different everyday for every meal. Usually we take 4 of the same thing for all the breakfasts, and then create a large batch of 2 other choices – one for dinners and one for lunches. If you add some fruit, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, or maybe even some kettle chips and a little dark chocolate, you have enough variety to keep it interesting, as well as some treats to keep you motivated to keep on truckin’!
Here are some of our favorite meals to take along:
1) Oat Cakes with various cheeses, sliced, smoked salmon, or salami (you can pre-package the cheeses and meats into ziplock bags, and pack the oat cakes separately to keep them crunchy. This is a great breakfast choice.
2) Hard Boiled Eggs – which you can either have for breakfast with an oat cake or create an egg salad with for one of the other meals and serve on rolls, or wraps, etc.
3) Lettuce Wraps – large romaine lettuce leaves stuffed with tuna, salmon or egg salad, or beans and corn with salsa, or chunks of mozzarella and tomato drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette or any other creation you can come up with. You can even make a “turkey sandwich” and put it in a lettuce wrap.
4) Homemade Chicken Salad – served on rolls or bread or stuffed in a lettuce wrap. I like putting sun-dried tomatoes in my chicken salad
5) Green Salad Wraps – make a delicious tossed salad full of crunchy veggies, dress it, and fill wraps with the mixture, or one of the other mixtures above, under lettuce wraps.
6) Homemade Maki Rolls – these are the best little finger foods in the world! 🙂
For our most recent trip – the drive from Florida to our new hometown in Vermont, we took #1 for breakfasts, and #’s 2 and 4 to divide over lunches and dinners. The prep time for this was about 15 minutes. Enough time to cook the chicken for the chicken salad and mix up both the salads (I had hardboiled the eggs in advance). Plus I did this with my kitchen PACKED for the move – so trust me, anyone can do this! LOL! 🙂 We are lucky enough to stay with my aunt in Virginia half way, so she lets us tuck our little cooler in her fridge, overnight and sends us on our way the next morning with full bellies!
What kinds of foods and snacks do you like to bring on your trips? What is your worst road food experience?
You can check out my mom’s posts here and here on her blog Travel Closeup for more road trip food ideas!
vanillasugar - April 28, 2010 at 10:29 am
yes! safe & sound. so glad you made it home. couldn’t agree more with you on the food. when we travel we try and bring our own stuff, but if we can’t we map out the closest whole foods on the way.
peter - April 28, 2010 at 10:30 am
Welcome back home…the northeast! I expect to meet you and Roberto soon!
kat - April 28, 2010 at 10:30 am
Always such a good idea! We usually pack snacks but not meals. For our last road trip, following the Mississippi from Mpls to Memphis, we tried to avoid fast food & only eat at local places. I think we did pretty well & found some of the apps on the iPhone helped a lot with finding places like an amazing Vietnamese place in Moline, IL. We found the trick was to stay off the main highways, tricky when you don’t have a lot of time
Jan - April 28, 2010 at 10:32 am
Glad the move went okay Jenn! All the very best in your new home xoxo
Love the food you took for the trip too.
kat (in japan) - April 28, 2010 at 10:33 am
we usually bring some snacks just in case lunchtime comes around but we are nowhere near any place to eat.
glad you made it safely!!
Judy - April 28, 2010 at 10:35 am
Glad your trip went well! Love all of these road food suggestions. As you know we take frequent road trips as well and I hate eating on the road…Miss nowing you are just a couple of hours away. We’ll be up there to see yo in the fall though!
Melissa - April 28, 2010 at 10:44 am
I’m just so happy for you that you are where you are. Finally. All the best to you and R.
♥
Toontz - April 28, 2010 at 11:03 am
Yeah, you made it!! “Snow”, tee, hee…I can’t resist, Jenn! We have always packed food for our road trips, because, frankly, with the kids we couldn’t afford it otherwise. One smaller cooler for drinks, the other for food. Then we would have a box for “dry” foods – crackers, bread, chips, etc. A jar of peanut butter is always in the box. When we are traveling, we make it a point to stop at a state park for our meals. We have discovered some beautiful places on the way to our final destination!
Happy Cook - April 28, 2010 at 11:09 am
Hood to hear you have reached there safe and sound.
Kristina Johnson - April 28, 2010 at 11:18 am
Congrats on arriving at your new home!
I always pack food for the road, especially now because I refuse to eat fast food. Plus it saves money. I usually bring stuff to make sandwiches or make a big pasta salad with some chicken in it.
Sunshine DA - April 28, 2010 at 11:24 am
So glad to hear you’ve arrived safe and sound!!! Can’t wait to hear more about the adventures you are sure to have… I love your road food idea… it’s the only way to go… My go to on the road is always my made up trail mix… raw almonds, dried cranberries raisins and cherries, and toasted unsalted sunflower seeds… I live on this stuff!!!
Rosa - April 28, 2010 at 11:33 am
Great food to take on a trip! That is a lovely picture of you 4 ;-P!
Cheers,
Rosa
5 Star Foodie - April 28, 2010 at 11:50 am
Glad you made it to Vermont, have a fun time settling in! Those foods you packed especially the hard boiled eggs reminded me of our trips when I was little – it’s exactly the kind of stuff we would pack for a three-day train trip. Now we mostly pack snacks – bars and lots of trail mixes 🙂
Teresa - April 28, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I am so elated for you and Roberto. You were certainly super organized for the trip. We can all learn from you, your majesty. May your new home bring you nothing but happiness.
Sue - April 28, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Didn’t you guys just move? Vermont is the greatest. Congratulations and it’s been at the top of list of the smartest states in the U.S. too!
Sarah - April 28, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I hope you have a gas stove 🙂 The next challenge in VT is cooking while the power is out (and the grill is buried under the snow). Welcome Vermont Transplants!! It is a crazy awesome state to live in (but I am a native so I am crazy too).
Jenn - April 28, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I’m glad your move has gone well. Now it’s just the settling part you gotta take care of. Share some pics of the new digs! 🙂
TS of eatingclub vancouver - April 28, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Congrats! Good luck on more settling in. Moves do take quite a lot of work. =)
Banu B. Bingor - April 28, 2010 at 3:25 pm
My dear, I do adore you! So nice of you to find time to write to us 🙂 Enjoy your new life in the north! 🙂
Janet_Gourmet Traveller 88 - April 28, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Hi Jenn, congrats to your move. We always drive 6-7 hrs from Basel to Holland to visit my in-laws but I do not have such prepared food like yours, only simple sandwiches. We are leaving again on Fri so perhaps I can plan in advance a little more to think of something more fancy. Yours are very inspiring. Agree with you, the food on the road are boring, not fresh and more expensive.
Maryann - April 28, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Good luck in Vermont. As a Floridian I always hate to see the good ones go! Anyway, my fave road trip food is real Cuban bread with onion and pepper omelets tucked into them. Messy yeah, but my idea of a road trip is to just enjoy the ride and vacuum when you get there.
Pam - April 28, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Lookin great kids…..looks like you belong there!
xoxo
Esi - April 28, 2010 at 7:56 pm
So glad the move went well! Hope the snow doesn’t stick around too long!
Erica - April 28, 2010 at 8:58 pm
I love Vermont!!!! My husband would love to move there!!!!
Wizzythestick - April 29, 2010 at 2:01 am
Your new site is gorgeous.
Vanessa - April 29, 2010 at 2:23 am
Love love love this post!! Since I often drive across the country in Italy, I never really gave this much thought, and for those of us living in California a long road trip means a treat with In ‘n’ Out burgers… But a longer drive requires better planning, and kudos to you for those simple and great recipes!!
Grazie!
nina - April 29, 2010 at 2:31 am
I wish you many blessings in your new home. I am sure you will make it perfect for the two of you in no time!
PS. Can I come with on your next trip, the food looks divine!!
Bren - April 29, 2010 at 2:35 am
España also has some awesome travel stops with really decent hot food– I was so surprised and thoroughly impressed. I always take my own food when traveling: fruits, cookies, nuts, tons of water, dried fruit, and what ever else I fancy! I don’t like stopping so much.. hahaha.
Many congrats on a successful and save move.
bellini valli - April 29, 2010 at 8:42 am
I know you will love being back in Vermont guys. I look forward to so many foodie stories in the land of maple syrup. What do I take on road trips..tabbouleh, salmon nicoise and lately Vietnamese Summer Rolls.
Susan @ SGCC - April 29, 2010 at 8:49 am
Glad to hear you made it safe and sound, Jenn. Enjoy your new “adventure” and don’t forget us poor schleps still sweating it out down here in Hades! 🙂
Cris - April 29, 2010 at 9:52 am
Hi Jenn, glad to see you both home! For a 3 hour trip, the longest we’ve had in the past few years, we take fruits like grapes and tangerine that are not messy, also, chips, crackers and lots of water. And I love your idea of making wraps. That chicken salad sounds sooo good, I don’t know why food hast to taste so good there that all you say make me feel homesick for travelling there… which hopefully will happen in August, yay!
Michelle - April 29, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Looks like you had some great food to nosh on during your travels! Yum! It all sounds so tasty and easy to make. I’m glad you guys made it safely. Oh, and that two feet of snow you mentioned? Yeah that sealed the deal – there is NO way I could live in a place that’s still snowing at the end of April. Uh uh…..lol
Toni - April 30, 2010 at 3:07 am
Love the way you pack for your trip! And you picked the perfect time to arrive in Vermont – time to get settled and establish your life there and enjoy the summer before getting drunk on the fall colors.
DebinHawaii - May 1, 2010 at 4:31 am
I want to travel with you guys! Everything looks delicious.
We don’t road trip much in Hawaii 😉 but for plane trips back to the mainland I always pack my own food so I don’t have to eat airplane food. Usually a sandwich wrap, veggies and hummus, nuts, and a little dark chocolate and some good bars–like Lara Bars for a little sweet treat.
tasteofbeirut - May 1, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I had a cousin who went to college there and she had told me how beautiful the state is; I would take a lot of pita bread and cheese an tomatoes and cucumbers and apples and all of that!
Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten Free - May 2, 2010 at 12:27 am
I’m so glad to know that you arrived safely!! And with full bellies. You look so happy.
When Joe and I travel I always pack food – simple dishes like you listed. Meats, cheeses, fruits, veggies. Joe loves sandwiches so I pack those for him. He can go much longer than me without eating, too. I need frequent, smaller meals. Having food that works with my body makes the entire trip easier.
Keep us updated!
Arlene - May 2, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Loved the picture. Made me feel happy all over.:) Where was Moo – was she taking the picture?? I just got back from a little trip too and missed being able to pack our typical “travel food basket”. It was a real challenge to find a place to eat that was wholesome and healthy. And more often than not, we did not have options at the rest stops. So you pick the best of the worst. Taking your own is totally the way to go. Looks like you had a moveable banquet!
Mallika - May 2, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Congratulations on the big move! Hope you both are settling in okay. Happy new home and lots of cooking.
Bob - May 3, 2010 at 9:53 am
Glad your move went well! My family used to take all kinds of road trips when I was a kid and what we would do is stop in grocery stores everywhere and try to find stuff we couldn’t find in Boston. Good times.
Summer - May 3, 2010 at 4:38 pm
A lovely post, with sweet pics…
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A bakers paradise:-))))
Am also here to tell u something interesting!!!
SUper giveaway at this link…psst psst, am sure u love LE CRUESET ,dont ya?
Well its jus one of the goodies u can chose:-))))
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maybelles mom - May 8, 2010 at 9:58 am
welcome north. you know Lake Erie is now right around the corner–come visit.