Traveling Healthy- Victory!

I don't know about you, but when I think of traveling the adventurous part of me gets all excited, then the mom/chef inside of me cringes!  Having a whole host of food allergies makes eating away from home a bit of a challenge.  I have been in search of a way to make it healthy, safe, easy, and affordable.  This trip I actually did it.  (It only took about 7 years of trying)

In the past I have basically packed all our food and then picked up misc. things at Whole Foods, no cheap endeavor!  I am now blessed beyond word by having a Trader Joes just down the road from my mother in laws home.  I would do a menu plan for our time away, bring what I could, fill in when we were there.  I basically spent my time shopping and cooking, or so it felt.

This time was different!  We left at lunch time on Saturday for a 7 hour road trip to Kansas City for Grandma's 75th Birthday Party!  I packed a jar of peanut butter, sun butter, jelly and bread.  That was for lunch, it also gave me a fall back if in a pickle on our trip, you can always have PBJ!  We had strawberries, pea pods, carrots, and water with our lunch.

I let each child pick out 3 snacks they wanted for the ride.  Our snack bin included:  apples, beef jerky, onion ring chips, pistachios, cashews and craisins, bananas, granola bars, honey roasted peanuts, Annies Kettle Corn, and raisins, not such a bad snack list for "treats for the trip" I was expecting a lot more requests for the sugary stuff.

For dinner we had salads (I had the lettuce all cleaned and wrapped in paper towel, onions diced in a container, olives in a container, and the dressing made and in a leakproof container).  I took one bowl per person plopped in some lettuce, topped it with onions and olives, drizzled dressing over it and whala...instant salad!  We had grapes along with some dark chocolate covered almonds for dessert.  Everyone was pretty full from snacking all day, so a salad hit the spot for dinner.

We arrived in Kansas City 7 hours later.  No one complained about being hungry the entire trip and everyone was fully satisfied when we arrived!  Success in the car at last!

Through out the week I went to the grocery store as needed to pick up stuff to fill in, verses create an entire menu for our family.  At the family meals we were able to eat the meat, fruits, veggies, and I made appetizers, salads, and sides to fill in.  My grocery bill was cut is 1/2 if not more, by just adding to what we could eat!

So, the next time you hit the road.  Do a little pre trip planning and then just ride it out, fill in with what is already being served, and enjoy your vacation!