Healthy Travel Food
 

We are going on a two week trip in September. It seems light years away, but I tried to book a hotel yesterday that was completely full - fortunately they are part of a group and were able to find me something just a 1/4 mile away. Anyway, it got me thinking....

I need to start making plans for food - dehydrating some things, stocking up on other things so it's not a big buy at the end.

The complicating factors:

• dd2 is vegan
• ds is gluten and corn free, no almonds or peanuts
• we are going to the southwest and will spend a lot of time on the Navajo Nation reservation (not a crowd of stores to shop) and around national parks. Most of the places I have reserved do not have kitchettes (but are important choices because they optimize the little time we have at those locations).
• eating as clean as possible to offset the times we just have to eat 'whatever'

Easing factors:

• I am planning to take a tub with a collendar, cutting board, knife, etc
• the kids are used to other people eating what they can't have...to a point

What I have in mind so far:

• almonds, pistashios, pecans
• sunflower butter
• dehydrated strawberries
• dehydrated bananas
• rice crackers and matza crackers (gf)
• a dozen boiled eggs (for the start of the trip)
• a big bowl of gf pasta (for the start of the trip)
• a big salad (for the start of the trip and hopefully we can restock)
• buying a flat of water whenever possible make sure we always have plenty
• meat jerky pack for dh
• tuna? I can cut up pickles and bring some mayo

Suggestions? I'm willing to do prep work during the summer (like the dehydrating) to prep ahead. (I'm missing the old says when I'd have made a mountain of peanut butter crackers and popcorn to snack on)

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

I'm going to :popcorn along. We are going for a week later this summer. And, while we don't have as many dietary issues, maybe I'll glean some good ideas.

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

How about a mountain of sunflower butter gf crackers?

Can you dehydrate garbanzo beans? That might be a fun crunchy snack to replace popcorn, if it would work like the bag I found at Costco that is.

Homemade Lara Bars and granola bars.

Apples, clementines. Dehydrated?

Cheese sticks or slices.

Little boxes of raisins.

Carrots and celery sticks, maybe to dip in sunflower butter.

Favorite gf cereal in baggies.

Muffins for the first few days.

You could get little deli packs of mayo for the tuna so you don't have to worry if the cooler doesn't keep it quite cold enough each day.

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

Making notes...:)

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

I like this refillable water dispenser. I don't know if you have these where you are, but we have spring water dispensers where you can pop in a quarter and get water. Sometimes Walmart and Whole Foods have them.

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

Pemmican is the ultimate travel food. I like to make it plain, with immune boosting herbs, with berries etc.
Making ghee out if grassfed butter is simple, nutrient dense and can be made with dehydrated spices or herbs added. Really simple to have a grab jar for breakfasts and another for lunch dinner.
Basically canning quart meals. This can backfire as cans can easily break and leave you with nothing to eat and a big mess. That being said, I have a preference for dehydrating foods now. If the hotel has a microwave this might be the easiest option.
For salads I like sprouting seeds, on the road you can use burlap, jute or hemp bags to sprout them. It's kind of tricky to get the timing right without having to have a few sacks in growth while traveling.
Will the hotel have any means to cook food? Microwave, hot water, does it serve breakfast? If it has one of those waffle machines, you don't have to use the pre made waffle mix. I have snuck in sourdough mixed with whey protein for waffles, they did not turn out as good as sourdough pancakes but our stomachs thanked us for not eating the regular ones.

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

Pemmican - I don't even know what that is:shifty We will be staying at 12 different hotels, so I'll have to assess as we go. gf pancake mix is s good idea:yes

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

I had to google it :giggle

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

An Instant Pot might be a great asset.

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

If you have an instant pot you can make easy and delicious one pot meals so easily when travelling. I froze some "croc pot packets" before leaving home and packed them in a cooler still frozen. They thawed a tiny bit on the road and i threw them in frozen with some rice pasta and a jar of sauce or fried up some rice and added water and we had dinner in less than 30minutes in the hotel room. :rockon

I packed everything in a medium sized storage tub and we'd bring that, our small cooler, and our over night bag into the hotel with us for the night.

Other things i packed

Applesauce cups
Chips and hummus (also kept in the cooler)
I baked muffins before we left for breakfast since the hotel breakfast wouldnt be safe for our food issues
Hardboiled eggs

Just did a month long trip with 2 full days of driving at each end of that trip.
First day:

Breakfast: muffins, fruit, and applesauce pouches/cups, hard boiled boiled eggs (kept in cooler)
Lunch: stopped t a walmart and grabbed safe lunch meat, chips, hummus and more fruit ate on the the road.
Dinner: pasta and meat sauce made in the instant pot.

Day 2 breakfast: cereal i packed with coconut milk i oacked (all in tub) disposable bowls and spoons (also used the night before for dinner).
Lunch: chips and hummus and the rest of the hard boiled eggs.
Dinner: grabbed meat at walmart and fried rice in in the instant pot threw in chicken and taco seasoning and cooked for 17 minutes added 2 cans of drained pinto beans beans at the end, added added salsa as a topping . Could easily (easier really!) omit the meat. : yes

Menu was similar for the trip home. Also pasta and meat sauce sauce with beans instead of meat is pretty yummy!

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

Humm...Instant Pot. We were given one for Christmas and haven't figure it all out yet. I'm trying to envision that playing out....and the clean up. I'll give that some thought. :think

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

Following along. We're going out of town soon and I want to bring food. I'd totally bring my IP if we weren't flying. Plastic hot water, tea maker. Not just for tea and oatmeal.

Your vegan can help you, right?

How much space will you have for coolers?

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

vegan is 19, so she can help a lot.

Space is an issue. Five people in a suburban, planning for hiking, museums, pretty hot mid days in canyons and chilly nights of star watching for 15 days... The food and at least one flat of water. So one big cooler and a few small ones are probably a max.

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

When we have traveled in the past, we took the pancake griddle because it could toast/do an egg/make pancakes/tortilla.

I would suggest shelf stable milk so that you only open as needed and the heat should not affect.

Rice/Quinoa/oats...........those could be done with an instant pot or rice cooker.

Taking potatoes could also be done in the pot.

Will you have access to doing any canning of meats for the non-vegans? If so, it is easy to can chicken or hamburger or stew beef. It could then be added to the pot of rice and beans.

100% juice boxes or bottles to have for a change from just water.

Re: Healthy Travel Food
 

Ecingmama, Your room will have a kitchen of some sort. Even the smallest room has 2 burners. There are many BBQ areas around the property...so many things can be cooked on a grill.