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!