Well. Here we are prepping to hit the road again. And since we live in Arizona, any road trip means an extended drive through desolation.
Homemade lunch and snacks are the only way to go. That means we won’t be forced to make bad food choices and we have satisfied tummies.
Massimo Electric Cooler
Hub bought the electric cooler for our original big trip in 2022. And he has never been happier with a purchase!
He uses it for longer grocery runs, short weekend getaways and certainly for our big road trips.
Since it uses no ice, there’s no chance for water to leak into bags or containers and ruin any food.
Picnic Basket
We’ve had the same picnic basket for our entire married life. Which is longer than some people have been alive.
I like to keep it stocked with plastic ware, a sharp knife, table cloth and extra plastic bags for trash. There is plenty of room for snacks like nuts and pretzels that don’t need to be kept cold.
I scored disposable cutting boards from Dollar Tree recently, and if you see them at your store, pick them up. Great thing to have for $1.25.
Lunch Idea
Fried chicken, potato salad and fresh veggies has always been a road trip lunch favorite. But this trip I simplified and upped the protein.
Using my favorite divided plastic containers, I packed our lunches and stacked them in the cooler.
This is what I did:
- Chicken salad
- Butter lettuce
- Hard boiled egg
- Almond packet
In a side Ziploc I added apple slices and in another fresh veggies.
I’ll let you know after our trip how long this yummy meal kept us satisfied. But I will admit, we seem to eat a lot on road trips. Hmmmm.
Snack Idea
For road trip snacks (besides the usual salty naughty things we always pack) is snack-size bags of sliced cheese and a couple different kinds of crackers.
Sweet Idea
Two batches of cookies are accompanying us on this trip. I used my usual oatmeal cookie recipe, adapted with gluten-free flour. And for a little change, I tried this recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies.
Homemade cookies are a pain in the neck for me to whip up, but honestly it’s worth it. Knowing what the ingredients are and the fresh taste can’t be bought at the super market.
Prep and Pack Day
It’s really important for me to get the kitchen duties done as far in advance as possible. Of course, I want the food to be fresh, but I cannot be scrambling to load the car and hit the road early if I’m prepping and packing food.
And I always have ideas of what I want to bring and then promptly forget. So it takes me several trips of thinking, “Oh, yeah, I need to load that.”
Happy Hour
When we hit our destination on Day One it’s lovely to relax with a refreshing drink and some happy hour food to tide us over until we find a dinner restaurant.
The snack food translates perfectly to hotel-room happy hour fare and there might be a bottle of wine in that cooler 😉 .
Wrap Up
Our trip is taking us back to Colorado. Not only do we love the Western Slope and the Rocky Mountains, but this year we have added the PLUS PLUS of spending time with both of my sisters.
We have a big, exciting family agenda planned and if any of it turns out as fun as I hope, I’ll be sharing it here.
This road trip lunch and snack prep took me about three hours in the kitchen which included baking the cookies and cleaning the disaster.
Thank you all for hitting the road with me and God bless you and yours.