Monday, June 11, 2012

Road Trip Menu - Post-Trip Notes

This was our first Road Trip where I made ALL our meals and snacks, and I've been sharing the recipes all week. To finish the series, I wanted to share how it went. Our Road Trip began with a 12hour+ drive to Utah, where we stayed for a few days for business, before we continued with another 8 hour drive to Yellowstone, where we stayed for 3 nights, before driving back home. We were gone a total of 1 week.

Again, here is my healthy Road Trip Menu, complete with recipe links:


Road Trip Menu:

Snacks:
  • Hummus with veggies
  • Homemade Trail Mix
  • Baby carrots
  • Beef Jerky
  • Homemade dried fruit - recipe here
  • Fruit salad
  • Individually packed watermelon slices
  • Yoghurt
  • Kefir

Ready Meals:

Quick-to-Assemble Meals:
  • French Picnic Baguettes: - recipes here
    •  - Ham & Cheese
    •  - Brie, Walnut & Prosciutto
    •  - Steak & Goat Cheese
  • Homemade Egg Salad and Arugula Wraps - recipe here

Drinks:
  • Unsweetened Ice Tea



Road Trip Menu: Success or Failure:

For our driving days, I packed our cooler full of the Snacks and the Ready Meals, so that we could avoid fast food, junk, and soggy gas station sandwiches, without having to stop to prepare food. It worked brilliantly. We ate Salad in a Jar, Ham, Turkey & Dijon Wraps and snacked on watermelon and carrots with hummus during the drive. When we arrived at the hotel late that night, we had the Pesto Pasta in a Jar for dinner, and fruit salad for dessert. 

While were stayed at the hotel in Utah, I restocked our groceries, and replenished our stash of Ready Meals for our drive to Yellowstone. I also prepared all the components for the Quick-to-Assemble Meals, so we would have some great meals while inside the park.  Last time we went to Yellowstone, we were stuck eating the park food, which honestly is absolutely HORRIBLE (if you're going, beware!), and that was not something I wanted to do again. Instead, on this trip we had delicious, varied picnics in the park every single day (including one day when we ate in the car while stuck in a sudden June snow storm!) and tasty dinners in our room each night. For our 1000 mile drive home, I once again spent a few minutes whipping up some wraps for the road. We also snacked on dried kiwis & beef jerky. 

By planning ahead, carefully picking my recipes according to the needs of each day of our trip, and doing a little bit of food preparation daily, I not only managed to feed myself according to my diet goals, but also feed my hungry Hubby food that he enjoyed, and that kept him satisfied. For the first time we managed to completely avoid unhealthy food options throughout an entire Road Trip, while also saving us time on long drives.

Overall, it was lovely. The food was delicious, healthy, fresh tasting and so easy. I was so happy my plan worked PERFECTLY! Even better, The Husband was majorly impressed, which alway makes me happy! When we arrived home, I'd had actually made PROGRESS on my fitness goals (woooohoooo!), instead of taking steps back. I'd call that a success. 

2 comments:

  1. I'm so impressed! It's amazing the kind of results we can get when we think ahead instead of relying on making the best of what we can find. Not to mention how much money it probably saved you. And time!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much!!!
      Isn't it crazy?
      And the best part? It was SUPER EASY.

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