Help!...Need travel food!

you can get a small cooler...cheese, humus, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, maybe a little chicken salad or tuna fish salad, and then I'd pack: apples, pears and grapes, crackers, jerky, pita bread, jar of peanut butter, raisins, fruit cups, pudding cups. I'd take along a toaster. You can toast bread, pancakes you've made ahead of time (and frozen), and I've seen waffles in the store that do not require refrigeration. I've had them...they're not the same as fresh, homemade, but they're ok...

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"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow the fields of those who don't."-Thomas Jefferson

This is a hit when we travel: Mix and pop in a quart jar.

Smashed Chickpea Salad
from the smitten kitchen blog

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons pitted, halved and very thinly sliced black olives
1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Zest and juice from half a lemon (if you’ve got one of those sad, juiceless lemons, use both sides for juice)
Couple good pinches of salt
A few grinds of black pepper
A few glugs of olive oil (the original is quite oily, like bread-soaking oily, I went a little lighter. Both ways are delicious)

Mix everything but the olive oil in a small to midsize bowl. Very lightly smash the chickpea mixture with the back of a fork or a potato masher. You’re not looking for a hummus-like puree but something closer to a coarse chop with a few smaller bits to hold it together. Add the glugs of olive oil, mix it lightly and enjoy.

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When I travel, I will fry up brown rice with some olive oil, curry seasoning and veggies. IF I know I will have a fridge available, or will be able to eat it out of the cooler in a day or so, I add some diced pork to it.

Makes a pretty nice balanced meal all in one dish..and I dont mind eating it cold if I have to.

When we go to Gettysburg, we take sandwiches for the first day. We always choose a hotel that has a good free breakfast and we stuff ourselves. Then we normally stop and pick up a few soft pretzels during the day and go to one of the grocery stores and use the salad bar for supper. We can each get a big salad with some protein in it for about $4 each. The Giant had some huge subs for $5 each last year. Even a pig like me couldn't eat one all at one sitting, so that was a great deal. Once in a while we will go have a meal at a restaurant, but nothing fancy. I suppose we could take more food along and sometimes we do take a bag of ham or cheese chunks, but it's vacation so we don't mind spending a little bit of money for food. We takes jugs of water and cans of soda along so we don't have to buy drinks.

Nomad

You are describing what is basically a Yooper staple...the same thing as the Cornish miner wives used to make for their husbands to take to work sans the BBQ sauce inside. They are called Pasties. Diced meat, diced potatoes (taties), carrots, onion, diced rutabega or turnip (neeps) or parsnips...with rutabega ( sweet veg) being the traditional 'other" veggie. Never skip the onion-it's the savory.

Sometimes the meat/veg portion would be at one end and a fruit pie filling at the other end of this half round pocket "finger" pie . People like to eat these with gravy or easier yet...ketchup.
YUM

-scrt crk

Don't devil your eggs. Make scotch eggs. Use peeled hardboiled eggs. Whip an egg for adding to bulk raw sausage snd hsv bread crumbs handy. Mold the raw sausage/egg mixture around the boiled egg dip in beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs. Bake 20 minutes at 350F. Good hot or cold.
Carbs in the AM leave me ravenous, trembly and weak by 10 a.m. Gotta have protein!

I forgot to mention in my post that we freeze our gallon water jugs and it keeps everything cold. We found as was mentioned that a solid chunk of ice...like in the jugs...is much better than cubes or crushed. We drink it as it melts and we replace the ice for the cooler if needed from the hotel ice machine. By the time we're ready to come home the cooler is all but empty and the water is gone. By putting cold soda in with the frozen water jugs everything stays cold for about as long as we need it.

Nomad

Pepperoni rolls, good fuji apples, string cheese sticks, and a small box of cheeze-its, worked great for carry around food for the whole day for DH and I last week at the DC Restoring Honor Rally. These are a bit salty, but we were sweating all day so it replenished lost salts.

The more proteins=the less hungry you'll feel. The more small food breaks,the less sleepy/"food coma" moments you'll need to address while driving...that may lead to stopping to rest. Just keep feeding that "energy account" along the way. Milk, chicken, turkey all contain tryptophan which will induce sleepiness.

-scrt crk

Almost all motels have a microwave, if not in the room, in the little eating area where there is a continental Bkfast. Google the motels where you plan on staying, they usually will tell you.

Or, do like we do, and take a small MW with you in the car, take it intoroom and cook yourself. It really i shandy of you are staying at improved campgrounds with outlets.

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We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

Another vote for hummus and a box of triscuits!!

Cheese, veg and fruit sticks.

Jar or two of your favorite nuts.

A loaf of bread, chunks of cheese, fruit and yogurt make a great lunch on the road. You can find store almost anywhere to "re-stock" as needed.

Chicken drumstick cooked ahead (breaded, oven fried, etc.) When at fast food places I always pick up the ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc in packets. If you have some of the mayo and mustard ones you can use leftover chicken to make chicken salad (use some of your cut up veg)....some Taco Bell sauce can spice that up.

Pasta salad with some pepperoni (or chopped up lunch meat), carrot, green pepper, onion, etc works great on the road. By having "meat" in it it's a meal.

Many hotels offer free breakfast. Some have microwaves in the room - can re-heat that way.

Don't forget to pack a good knife and cutting board. I find extra bags and a roll of AL foil a must, too.

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Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
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For motel stays, I take my crockpot and a box of crock pot liners. I put in old fashioned oat meal with raisins, brown sugar, and cinnamon at night when we go to bed. We wake up to a wonderful aroma and have a rib-stickin' breakfast. I bring along frozen cassaroles (I double the recipe whenever I make a cassarole and freeze one for road trips.). It keeps the cooler icy until we need it. I pop in a liner, dump in whichever cassarole has thawed, set it on high and by the time we've all enjoyed the pool, showered, and put on our pjs, a hot meal is ready. If there are leftovers, just wait until it has cooled, twist the crock pot liner, clip it with a clothes pin or office binder clip, and pop it back into the cooler. Reverse the process when you want to serve the leftovers. The liners = no clean up afterwards.

When my DH and I went to Missouri to visit my son we took the crockpot. I cooked all our dinners except for one (had to try out a place called Grappas) in it. I had everything prepackaged in large ziplock bags and just dumped into the crockpot in the morning, turned it on and it was ready by dinner. I made things like meatballs in barbeque sauce, brunswick stew, and cooked a whole chicken with potatos, onions and carrots. What worked out well is pretty much everything was frozen so it stayed nice and cold in the cooler.

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"Sins like chickens, come home to roost at night."
Charles W. Chesnut

wished I had thought of the liners! I had to wash my crockpot out in the tub

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"Sins like chickens, come home to roost at night."
Charles W. Chesnut

I used to bring the crockpot when traveling, but have changed to an electric skillet. You can pretty much cook anything in it. Many motel rooms have microwaves and there might be some things you can add to your meals - cold chicken goes well with microwaved potatoes (we usually dice potatoes, add a little oil, add rosemary or ranch dip mix and cook). In the electric skillet potatoes can be added to eggs for breakfast, we usually carry ham slices for sandwiches and adding to the eggs also. We don't drink coffee, but will clean the pot out (usually run a little vinegar through with water a few times), then heat water for dehydrated soups, tea and hot chocolate.

Since your husband has diabetes, some motels that don't have refrigerators in the rooms will have a small refrigerator that they will put in the room for you - they usually need to know ahead of time. When I was gestational diabetic we requested a fridge for the insulin and were always accommodated.

Dawn

Do you know what motel/s you will be staying at and where. If so you can look them up on the net and find out if they have micro waves and refrigerators. Lots of motels now also have free breakfast.

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A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.

As a person who has to be careful my sugar intake, I've found a lot of those breakfasts have nothing that I can eat. It really depends upon the chain and location though.
Dawn

Crock pot liners? They make crock pot liners?! Guess I've been in Mexico for too long. Never heard of such a thing. I'll go look for some tomorrow!

I never thought of that as a possibility! I have to make special arrangements for my husband since he can't climb stairs and has to have a handicap bathroom. I will do some calling tomorrow and see if they can accommodate my need to keep my insulin cold. Ya'll are full of great ideas and suggestions!

Leg ham, maybe corned beef, very salty - just enough for the few days. Tomatoes, whole onions. Slice slabs, make door-stopper sandwiches. Don't be afraid to buy a lettuce, then throw most of it away - still cheaper than buying even one sandwich or burger.

Later, small cans of tuna (or sardines), make sandwiches.

Breakfast, skillet, fry ham and eggs. Eggs will keep fresh enough for many days if you just stop them from getting too hot.

Take much fresh fruit - apples, oranges, anything else you'll like. Nibble as you travel. Reduces your need for big meals. Also much much MUCH fresh water, sip early and often.

Celery, nibble as you go. Supplies your green-vegetable fix.

First couple of days, hard-boiled eggs along with the ham.

Take ground pepper, and chilli sauce. Cup-a-soups. Instant coffee, tea-bags.

And any time you feel like it, get a hamburger, fried chicken, sub, pizza and salad, fish and chips. Not all the time - just when your body tells you it needs it. Should only be once or twice on the trip.