As I mentioned on another site of mine, I'm sort of planning to go on a solitary road trip this weekend. I still don't know where I'm going, but I have to get out of L.A., cuz I'm hella bored.
One thing that's been on my mind is eating whilst on the road. Historically, my road trips have not been the most-nutritious of times for me: I either hit the fast-food joints, snack on crap like Cheez-Its (...mmmm, cheez-its...), Red Bull, candybars and peanut butter sandwiches - or I just don't eat enough and end up shaky and light-headed and driving dangerously on a dark curvy road, ostensibly on the coast, but who knows, as it's dark, and I can't see shit because I'm suffering from malnutrition... I digress...
Does anybody have any road-trip snack/food secrets they're willing to share? I plan on taking a bucketload of water, and throw in two Red Bulls in case of emergency, but my reliance on frozen meals for Points-compliance has sort of left me in a lurch.
But I'm not going to worry about it too much. The road I'm thinking about taking (Hwy 50, "the loneliest road in America") probably doesn't have the benefit of a Subway every 50 miles - so I have to warm to the idea of just taking the plunge and eating at one of those roadside diners where the serve breakfast all day, and everything is cooked with heaploads of butter on a grill that probably hasn't been washed since the diner opened. But I'd rather go there on not an entirely empty, gurgling stomach. Tips?
Posted by weezgrrl at June 10, 2004 02:36 PMI don't know if this kind of food will work at all for you, but when I drive from the mideast back to the east coast...I was able to do it without sabotaging my healthy eating.
I got some of those Slim-fast meal bars...and some of them are pretty tasty too. I particularly recommend the cafe caramel mocha one and the strawberry cheesecake. And, I also got a few bags of the mini ranch flavored quakes rice cakes. I peeled a bunch of oranges and had them in a cooler...ready to be munched on.
You could still plan on stopping once or twice, but with a few staples...it could help curb a lot of the damage.
Hope that helped at least a little!
You can stay 100% on-program, on the road, by packing all the food you normally eat and bringing it with you. (Like it's a mega-picnic.)
All you need is a portable mini-refrigerator that plugs into the cigarette lighter in your car!
Cook all your Lean Cuisines just like normal, transfer them to plastic containers, chill them, then pack them in your mini fridge.
Bring the granola bars and the Count Chocula, and instant fat-free powdered milk to mix with cold water in the morning (don't forget a 1/3 cup measure and your cereal bowl).
The pudding cups don't need to be refrigerated anyway. Buy some mandarin orange fruit cups to have instead of the Minute Maid Light--a straight one-point swap, and a REAL serving of fruit, not a bunch of artificial junk.
The web site compactappliance.com is a great place to shop for car fridges. (Go to Portable Coolers -> 12 Volt Mini Refrigerators. Be sure to look at the FAQ on the larger models--very helpful.)
These things aren't cheap, but neither are crappy restaurant meals. And the value of being well-fed, feeling good, and staying on-program is, of course, incalculable.
You'll enjoy your trip much more, and feel much better about it when you get back.
Of course, unless you want to push your trip back a week, ordering over the web will take too long. If you can't find a 12-Volt cooler locally, a regular old ice chest freshly stocked with dirt-cheap ice (from any gas station convenience store) would probably work just as well.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2004 04:03 AMI was going to say a cooler that you can stock with fruit/veg/yoghurt etc etc would be good, but it looks like everyone has beat me too it. Having never been on a raod trip before I don't know how conveiniant the 'mega-picnic' is, but it sounds like a good plan to me.
Posted by: Zan at June 11, 2004 05:40 AMI'm still laughing from the anonymous post. I sincerely hope that was in jest!
Posted by: julie (me) at June 11, 2004 08:11 AMme, i'm addicted to honey nut cheerios. make some snack bags with 1/2 cup each in them (1 point) and they're good crunchy snack. and also baked doritos, but put them in snack bags too (15 chips = 2 pts). stuff like that. light string cheese - 1 pt. there's lots of good stuff to snack on that's road-trip-friendly. ooh, a stack of cheese sammiches! reduced-calorie bread and low-fat american cheese, that's only two points!
and so on, and so forth...
Posted by: pam at June 11, 2004 09:29 AMJust wanted to let you know that I linked you. :)
Posted by: Nicole at June 17, 2004 03:38 AMHey,
You can always grab Luna Bars, or Glaceau Water, grub fresh sandwhiches and produce along the way. There are ways to make this happen healthy!
Where do you think you are going?
I live in Los Angeles too, and I know that everyone gets the "get outta townies"....I am going to Laughlin in 2 weeks and I can't wait. Also it gives me something to work towards with my diet and exercising ;) Good luck and have fun whever you end up ;) Mystie
Posted by: mystie at June 24, 2004 12:49 PM