Help!...Need travel food!

TxMex · #1 09/02/10, 07:51 PM

We need to travel some next week, but the budget is really tight this month. The most obvious way to save money is not to eat out while we travel. Due to my husbands disability camping is out of the question, so we have to stay at motels. Sandwiches get a bit boring after a while. I'm happy to cook stuff ahead. We'll be traveling for 3-5 days. I need your ideas and recipes please!

rzrubek · #2 09/02/10, 08:12 PM

Sometimes when we travel, my wife makes wraps from flour tortillas, roast beef, turkey or ham and lettuce and spinach. She coats the tortilla with a spread then layers on the meat and greens. They are very good and easy to make while driving down the road. We'll often have them as a late breakfast/early lunch, then have something else for dinner.

Tilly · #3 09/02/10, 08:20 PM

We like to make casseroles that are good cold, like tuna/peas/noodles/cheese. We also keep a big ziplock with salad greens in it, with other ziplocks full of cooked chicken/onions/tomatoes/sunflower seeds to put on the salad. Cook up a batch of chili, it can be served cold or heated in a hotel room microwave.

Tilly

Kmac15 · #4 09/02/10, 08:21 PM

A lot will depend on what kind for refrigeration you will have available.

egg biscuits or sandwiches for breakfast
cereal for breakfast (when I did this I had no fridge, I just went and got a pint of milk each morning)
muesli for breakfast

Lunch
pasta salad
chicken salad / sandwiches
Broccoli salad

Supper
cold roast chicken , potato salad , cold pork &beans ( I love this straight from the can)
fried chicken with cole slaw, deviled eggs and biscuits with honey
cold supper of sliced cheese, fruit and crackers (add any leftover meat at this one)
chef salad

We are about to gut my kitchen, so I am in the same boat LOL

buslady · #5 09/02/10, 08:22 PM

My son took a Geroge Forman grill along on his vacation last year, and cooked on it in the motel room. Pancakes for breakfast, hamburgers for lunch. Buslady

chewie · #6 09/02/10, 08:23 PM

i go on trips for painting, and on those i also do not care to eat out. here's some things i do, and this is usually for a full week...

chicken, either get one from a deli already cooked or cheaper and better yet, fry up or roast your own, cold chicken is good! boiled eggs. maybe i'm just odd, but i even like fish cold, fried with little or no oil. i get those boxes of talipia in walmart, fry up half dozen and eat those for 3 days. canned chili beans are great. bring a can opener!!!

plenty of fruit, wash it before you leave home or hotel. some veggies cut up, can put some dip in small containers to spice it up. string cheese, cheese curds. crackers and pretzels.

fruit juice and plenty of water in your own containers--buying those little self sized ones at gas stations are sooo spendy!

nut mixes you make yourself with cereal, dried fruit, a few m/m's, very good!

you could some simple pasta salads to eat when you stop, add some ham and olives and you've got a meal.

i would even bring my own milk, since i prefer my goat milk from home, even in coffee.

bout all i can think of for now, but really, i can spend a whole week without getting into a store at all this way, and feel great for doing so. others eat a few granola bars, then in the evening get-togethers, are sooo hungry they eat like horses and then are sick by morning. duh!

HomeOnTheFarm · #7 09/02/10, 08:34 PM

Ditto...the best travel food I have found for us (three very young children, two adults) is pre-cooked quesedillas with cheese and meat (sometimes beans, but not often as the little ones tend to drop those on the floor by accident).
Nuts
Pre-cut fruit and veggies
(and by pre-cooked and pre-cut, I mean that I do it myself the night before we leave)
Cheese
Fried chicken

Our Little Farm · #8 09/02/10, 08:40 PM

Jerky, nuts, fruit, canned fruit, tortillas, cheese, crackers, humus, cereal bars.

HappyFarmer · #9 09/02/10, 08:40 PM

When the kids were young I used to pack the coolers, freeze bottles with water, and pack the snacks to save a few bucks. With 3 boys it was really a task to get something everyone liked, but also prepare it, warm it up if needed, and keep the cooler cold.

Since it's just hubby and me, we've now simplified things. I'll only pack the first day of food if even that. We go to the large supermarkets that have the warmers & pre-cooked foods, cold salads, meatballs, chicken, soups, fried chicken, lots of choices, fairly inexpensive, real food, and quick.
Sandwich meat can be bought by the slice, as can cheese, just pack mustard & mayo packets, and a loaf of bread.
The few bucks we spend make it worth it to not have the hassle, and have the extra room in the car on long trips.
HF

Momto5 · #10 09/02/10, 08:41 PM

We travel often and have a large family.....here is what we did on our trip to Montana last month. Salads.....Tuna mac, pasta (pepperoni, cheese , veggies and added a bottle of italian dressing to it right before eating), potato...we even did a green salad with chicken, ranch dressing lots of veggies (presliced at home) and bacon crumbles.We do wraps with honey mustard, turkey, shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce tomato and onion. Also bought foil packs of tuna (from dollar general) mixed mayo, onion and spices in a seperate ziploc bag(gallon size)...got to where we were going opened the tuna dumped it in the bag squished it all together and then served it on a bed of lettuce or the kids spread it on triscuits.
We too do the cheese, cracker, summer sausage thing...I cut it all before we leave and put it in ziplocs...add some sliced apple and some crackers...waaaalaaah!!!
We also do lunchmeat sandwiches which we add different stuff to so it doesnt get boring (pickles, peppers,veggies, special mayo we mix up ourselves).
Happy travels.

Sully · #11 09/02/10, 08:41 PM

This might not be within your budget, but you can get a doz. MREs (civilian brand) for about $60. Surplus stores and catalogs.

They are edible and have little heater packets. Some of our troops love them unless they have eat them for months at a time.

No refridgeration needed.

Good luck.

ajaxlucy · #12 09/02/10, 08:45 PM

Can you bring a couple of coolers?

I freeze beverages like iced tea, lemonade, and vegetable juice to use as icepacks. One cooler gets opened throughout the day, the other stays shut to keep things chilled longer. You can top it up with ice during the trip.

I like to bring cheese, hummus, hardboiled eggs, salami, and yogurt as well as fresh fruits and vegetables, and snacks like nuts and pretzels.

Also, a camping stove can make a roadside lunch stop into a hot meal if you bring something you can just heat up.

Good luck and safe travels!

whodunit · #13 09/02/10, 08:58 PM

Can you make a pie crust? You could brown some ground beef with some chopped onion, and maybe diced potatoes then add some bottled BBQ sauce to make it all stick. Wrap it in pie crust and press the edges together. Bake it until the crust is golden. These are good cold.

TxMex · #14 09/02/10, 10:21 PM

Great suggestions! I will absolutely have a cooler or two(insulin dependent and have to keep it cool). Love the idea about making up gallons of drinks and freezing them! Wish I had some water bottles to refill, but I avoid using the disposable ones when I can. Can't believe I didn't think about fried chicken. Love cold fried chicken. Cold fried chicken with cornbread muffins...mmmmmm. Any suggestions for how to transport deviled eggs without making a mess?
Pie crust....great idea. Half moon pies. Wish I knew ahead of time if the hotel rooms we will be staying in have a microwave or not.....I'd make some breakfast biscuits. Thanks ya'll!!

**clovis** · #15 09/02/10, 10:39 PM

We often take egg salad on our first day out, especially if eggs are on sale.

**clovis** · #16 09/02/10, 10:42 PM

Oh, one of our other favorites is to cook hot dogs, brats, etc., at home and put them in a ziploc bag.

A jar of peanut butter on graham crackers is awesome too!

For drinks, Crystal Light can easily be dumped into a gallon of store bought water.

jynxt · #17 09/03/10, 12:12 AM

When we travel I always toss an electric skillet and an electric water kettle in the car. Then it's simple to plan one dish meals and pack the cooler accordingly. You can make your own instant oatmeal for breakfasts or make a quick scramble in the skillet. Chili, or hamburger helper type things (I make ours from scratch), or a zillion other things that are quick and easy can be made for dinner and supper in the skillet too. Simple idea but it saves a ton of money when our family is on the road.

hotzcatz · #18 09/03/10, 12:31 AM

Usually, when we travel instead of going to a restaurant to find food, we go to a grocery store. We bring some food from home and then drop in at a grocery to supply fresh things if the trip takes more than a day or two. Why cart around fresh fruit and try to keep it from being damaged when you can get more at a nearby grocery store?

Murray in ME · #19 09/03/10, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxMex

Great suggestions! Any suggestions for how to transport deviled eggs without making a mess?

When I transport devilled eggs, I just put the egg whites in some type of rigid container to keep them from getting crushed and put the yolk mixture in a seperate container. It only takes a minute to fill the eggs.

mightybooboo · #20 09/03/10, 02:55 AM

Dont have food advice as much as cooler advice.

I used to live with a cooler for everything.A block of ice is good for about three days,meat in ziplocks just lay on top of ice.Block ice is for sure better than cubes.

From that point if cooking can do anything with a coleman stove and the cooler you can do at home with a refrigerator and stove.