Perfectly Practical #164 - Food When Travelling

We went on a mission trip with our youth group a couple of weeks ago.

The twelve of us would be driving a long way and so I was in charge of getting breakfast, snacks, and lunch foods ready for the group.

By planning ahead a bit, we were able to keep costs (and calories) down as well as save some time that would have been spent at a fast food joint.

Whether you are going on a road-trip with a group or just your family, here are a few tips to make life easier on the road:

• Pre-Made Sandwiches - We had an assembly line going the night before we left and made up two days worth of sandwiches.  This takes a little prep time but man oh man it was worth it when we could just pull out a sandwich and eat lunch quickly with no fuss when we would pull over for lunch.  We only had meat and bread together.  The sandwiches didn't get soggy that way.  You could do the same with wraps or pitas.
• Dairy on the Side - We packed cheese sticks instead of sliced cheese on the sandwiches.  That way those who didn't like cheese didn't have to have it and there was no waste.  We also had those yogurts that come in tubes which were great for lunches, snacks, or breakfast.
• Pre-Cut Fruit & Veggies - We had chopped carrot sticks, celery sticks, pineapple wedges, grapes, and cantaloupe wedges to have with our sandwiches.  By having them pre-cut, all I had to do was pass them out to everyone - not fiddle with knives and drippy messes. 
• Salad in a Bag - I divided up pre-packaged salad into lunch baggies and we had those one day with our sandwiches.  We just poured the dressing over the top.  It worked well.
• Portioned Snacks - I had portioned out baggies of trail mix and party mix as snacks.  That worked really well and if I would have thought about it, I should have done the same for chips. 
• Small Airtight Tubs - We were able to keep things like the sandwiches cold in the coolers without them getting soggy from the ice by putting them in smaller airtight tubs and placing those in the coolers surrounded by ice.
• Condiments with their Corresponding Foods - We kept mustard, mayonnaise, and pickles with the sandwiches and the Italian and Ranch dressings with the veggies so we only had to pull out one or two coolers at a time instead of the whole bunch.
• Plan Ahead - I had sort of worked out what we would eat each day and tried to keep to that for the most part.  I had put a fruit and a vegetable together in a plastic grocery sack which it made it so much easier when it came to passing out food for lunch.  I could pull out one grocery sack.  The bonus was that our trash could go back in that sack.  
• Pack Drinks - We were doing lots of manual labor on this trip and needed water to be available.  We took a cooler with a spout for drinking water that could be used on site as well as packed water bottles and canned drinks.
• Be Aware of Food Allergies - I knew that no one on the trip had food allergies but if they did, I would have taken that into consideration.
• Paper Goods - Make sure you pack plates, napkins or paper towels, bowls, utensils, cups, hand sanitizer, etc.

Safe travels to you!

This is part of Works for Me.