Eating on the Road: Gina's Idea Book

If there was one thing that I loved during my time in the States it was road tripping in my beloved 1992 Subaru Legacy. After all the roadtrips I took, I became an expert on road trip food. It took quite a bit of trial and error - you don't have refrigeration and the car is often subjected intense heat. Some of my road trip meals did not work and some were huge success stories. I just completed an epic two week road trip down the west coast and I made a lot of meals for my friend and I in the car. It gave us the freedom to drive and explore without anxiously looking for restaurants along desolate stretches of road, saving us time and money. Plus, it was just fun!!
Here is my guide to help anyone else with road trip meals.

Think Non Refrigerated Food Items
I have to admit, when I first started planning meals for the car I found that most of my ideas included some item which required refrigeration. It took quite some time and creative thinking to get a variety of foods for the car. We had a cooler with us which we filled with ice each day, so we did have some refrigeration, but it could not be depended on.

Stock Pile Shopping List
Packs of water
Canned tuna
Canned salmon
Canned chicken (no added salt, all natural)
Canned fruit and veggies
Mayonnaise
Barbecue sauce
Mustard
Salt/pepper

Utensils
To keep things simple (and so they would not take much space) we prepared everything with these basic utensils:
-2 knives (one small and one long)
-apple slicer
-tupperware containers with lids (these were our plates)
-can opener
-plastic forks, spoons, knives

Indispensable to us was a breakfast tray with legs that we used as a chopping board, kitchen counter, table, etc.

I bought a vegetable peeler with a scrubbing brush on the end of it, but we never ended up using it. Think simply!

Snacks

Avocado and crackers

When you are road tripping, you can pretty much just live on snacks, so it pays to have good ones! We had an arsenal of dry foods - pretzels, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried cranberries, banana chips, apple chips (if you haven't had them you should try them! Delicious!), almonds, crackers, granola bars. We would also have fresh food which we would buy and eat quickly - things like baby carrots, strawberries, raspberries/blackberries, peaches, cantaloupe, avocados, grapes and apples.

Cantaloupe and chocolate biscuits

Meals

Each main meal basically centered around a meat - either tuna, salmon or chicken either in a salad or in a sandwich. Yes we ate a lot of canned stuff, its perfect for the road! I stocked the car with condiments like mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, salt, pepper, mustard, peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes I would stop at a grocery store and grab a nice loaf of bread or a boiled egg (yes you can buy them preboiled) to add to the meal. And it is always nice to have dessert too! A small tub of apple sauce, canned peaches or a chocolate mousse pudding were always easy and delicious.

Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

- drain a can of chicken, mix it with barbecue sauce.

- spread bread with mayonnaise and top with barbecue chicken.

- serve! 

Simple and easy! Just adjust the level of barbecue sauce to your taste preference.

Chicken, grape, celery and mayo salad

Yummy on sandwiches and on its own, this one is a winner if you are lucky enough to have all the fresh ingredients on hand.
Slice the grapes in two, chop celery into small pieces. Drain canned chicken and mix altogether with mayonnaise until it reaches a consistency that you like.

Peanut butter and Jelly Sandwiches

Ahh peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretty much the easiest food in the world! If time was short and I was really hungry it was my go-to food! Serve with apple sauce for dessert and voila! You have a whole meal!

Tuna, mayo, and avocado salad

This is as 'gourmet' as I got with my road trip food. Lovely fresh lettuce, canned tuna drained and mixed with a bit of mayo, sliced avocados and almonds on top - scrumptious!

The Random Creations

Sometimes the greatest meal can come from the strangest mix of ingredients. This meal pictured above was tuna and mayo mixed with canned whole potatoes with a side of canned corn. May not sound very good but it was one of our favorite road meals!

Breakfast

We enjoyed some delicious breakfasts on the road! Towards the end of our trip we tended to buy a yogurt parfait for breakfast, mainly because of the convenience, and because we had not been stopping at grocery stores and had run out of fruit! But it was great when we were making our own breakfasts, especially since we were often sleeping in places without shops nearby.

Cantaloupe, apple and granola

Granola, banana and apple

Balance

Yes, we made meals when we could, when we wanted to and when we needed to. I always felt safe knowing I had a pantry load of food in the car, but it's no fun to only eat from the car! The joy of traveling is to experience and enjoy different foods, so we went out and ate in nice restaurants as well. It's all about balance! 

The main rule of thumb is to enjoy what you are eating! And try to avoid gas station/convenience store food, you are a valuable human being, not a garbage bin!

Children Are Like Cats...

The other day I took the kids to an incredible playground - there were so many things to do - it was wooden with all sorts of bridges and things to climb on. There were three large slides and all sorts of nooks and crannies to hide in.

The kids played happily for about 5 minutes... then they lost interest and became much more interested and engrossed in.... these poles.

Just like when you have cats and you spend lots of money buying special cat toys and then the cats prefer the box it came in!! 

My Seattle To-Do-List for Travelers/Au Pairs/Dreamers

Challenge: can you do/see everything on this list? I did :)

Seattle:
Theo Chocolate
Fremont Sunday Farmer's Market
Fremont Summer Solstice
Ballard Farmer's Market
Hedge dinosaurs (confused? keep looking 'til you find what I'm talking about!)
Fremont troll
Vladmir Lenin Statue
Jimi Hendrix Statue
Oxbow park - Largest Cowboy hat and boots in the world
Viretta Park - Kurt Cobain memorial
Smith Tower
Washington Park Arboretum
Kerry Park
Chocolati cafe (chai latte, please!)
REI downtown store (ah-maze-ing!)
University Village
U District
Capitol Hill
Ballard
South Lake Union
Alki Beach
Bainbridge Island
Whidbey Island
Deception Pass
San Juan Islands
Mt Rainier
Mt St Helens
Concert at the Show Box
Pike Place Market
Gas Works Park
Paseo Caribbean Sandwiches
Red Mill Burgers
Seattle Mariners at Safeco field
Seattle Sounders at Centurylink Field
Seattle Great Wheel
Seattle Aquarium
Pacific Science Centre
Space Needle
Washington Huskies game
Port Townsend
Camano Island
Puyallup Fair
Seattle Art Museum
Frye Art Museum
Henry Art Gallery
Olympic Sculpture Park
Discovery Park
Carkeek Park
Golden Gardens
Hiram. M Chittenden Locks
Museum of History and Industry
Centre for Wooden Boats
Greenlake
Columbia City
Museum of Flight
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Skagit County Tulip Festival
Tillicum Village
Ride the Ducks tour
EMP
Burke Museum of Natural History
Seattle Underground Tour
Wing Luke Museum
Seattle Asian Art Museum
Volunteer Park
Magnuson Park
Chihuly Glass Garden
Tacoma Glass Museum
University of Washington Campus
Seattle Public Library
Seattle Pinball Museum
Seward Park
Richmond Beach Saltwater Park
Edmonds
Woodland Park Zoo

Rattlesnake Ledge Hike
Tubal Cain Hike
Columbia River Gorge
Winthrop
Leavenworth
Olympic Peninsula
Hurricane Ridge
Hoh Rainforest
Quinault Rainforest
Forks
La Push
Long Beach
Cape Flattery
Bellingham
Tacoma
Anacortes
Olympia
Aberdeen
Astoria (Oregon)

The Changing of The Guards

After a full 18 months of living and working as an au pair. From pushing the little ones in the stroller to watching them grow up and become more independent. To see the development of each child - the older boys growing wise and strong; watching Kianna improving in every area.

It is an amazing moment. I glimpse to my watch and I observe the last few moments tick by until I am officially 'off duty'. I sweep my eyes over my room and I pause to remember everything. All the high moments. All the low moments. All the joy and the excitement. I think about how far I have come and how much I have grown.

But I do not feel sad about leaving. Because I know the family are in good hands. I gave my all to them while I was there, and now as I leave I know that they are older, they are more self sufficient, and they are entering a new season in their life as a family. I want them to enjoy being a family unit again. They still will have help - not an au pair, but a nanny for just a few hours in the afternoon. I met the new nanny, she is a wonderful girl. Fun and firm. I give her my trust completely. I wish her and the family all the very best of everything.

I can leave with a smile. I think this time as an au pair has made me look forward to the time when I will be a mother. I look forward to having children, I am not scared of being a parent anymore. But at the moment, I will enjoy my freedom! I will enjoy being only responsible for myself, I will enjoy travelling without children. I will enjoy waking up late on the weekends!

The United States has changed me. I made wonderful friendships. I travelled more than I ever dreamed of. I took chances, did things I would not normally do, learned how other people live, became more appreciative and grateful for life and the things I have. I learned the difference between a 'want' and a 'need' and I definitely learned to live extremely frugally. I became more gentle with other people. I lost the hard edge that surrounded my heart. I think I grew a heart. I became more open, loved more.

I learn that through the Lord, the more love you pour out, the more the supply grows! So when you get to the end of yourself, there is no emptiness, there is only more love. It is the most amazing and contradictory phenomenon. It changed my life.

What does the Lord have for me next? I have no idea! I eagerly await the next chapter of my life.