Road Trip car picnic ideas

[T00dles]

That's right. I'm lookin' for em. Sometimes we stop, sometimes we eat while driving. We're making a (almost) yearly trip three day trip each way from New England to Michigan. In the past we've done sandwiches, cheese cracker & sausage. Fruit, cookies. Any other ideas? Does anybody do those mason jar salads? DH is skeptical to say the least. Everybody likes hard boiled eggs so I was going to make those. I just want some more easy fairly healthy ideas!

We will be staying nights in a hotel and we have a plug in cooler. Oh right, there's me, DH and dds 7 and 3.

 

[shoney]

I would grill up a bunch of chicken tenderloins. Marinate them first in Italian dressing. You could use them on top of salads, wraps or just dip them in honey mustard like a chicken tender.

 

[onenursebrandy]

Not so much a healthy suggestion....but Hot Pockets are surprisingly good on road trips! I microwave them before we leave, so they are "cooked" and we eat them at room temperature. Its a bit easier than sandwiches, kids feel like they're getting a "treat" since we don't normally keep them at home, and there's virtually no clean up!

 

[usnuzuloose]

You could make up cold pasta salads.
Fry up chicken and make potato salad

Pinterest has many ideas for meals like you want.
You can also make up chilled fruit soups, cherry and strawberry are really good
Yogurt in the tubes.
Jello and pudding

 

[powellrj]

I use to make pepperoni bread sticks and lots of cut up fruits and veggies.

 

[bearzabout]

Don't forget about rotisserie chicken from just about any grocery store. A chicken and a few sides from the deli make a delicious, cheap meal.

Look for coupons for Arby's. They frequently have coupons for 3 roast beef sandwiches for $5. They are easy to eat in the car.

 

[LovesTimone]

Apples, Cuties, Pears, Plums travel well, you can try Banana's but for me they bruise easily and tend to get over ripe in the car quickly.

Carrot & Celery sticks with cream cheese ( veggie flavor) or peanut butter

Deli meat and cheese roll ups. Example of what I do, start with ham, spread on a thin layer of veggie cream cheese slice of Swiss cheese, thin layer of cream cheese, another slice of ham, roll up and cut. I have used like a avocado mayo, or a slice of avocado on top of the cream cheese, you can add tomato and lettuce if you like, lots of combo's.

Pasta Salad - put together, but wait to dress it until about 30 to 60 minutes before you want to eat it.

You could do a Chef salad, Caesar chicken salad but I would not put together till right before eating, as everything will get soggy. A couple of bags of cheater lettuce, chopped up tomatoes, then whatever toppings you like.

As far as boiled eggs in a enclosed car.. just smell for me would be a no go...

To fancy up sandwiches, use wraps, sub rolls or onion buns, just getting different bread will make it seem special.

Yogurt, pudding cups

Crackers, chips, cookies, raisins, trail mix, dried fruit.

When grocery shopping slow down and check out things that you might have missed, single serve items, dips, the deli aisle and cases always for us have something new to try.

 

[pjlla]

Lots of great ideas here so I'll just add a reminder to not forget the wet wipes (both for your hands and for the car), a roll of paper towels, a small container of salt and pepper, and some paper plates! Plus a bag for the trash in the car!.............P

 

[HeatherC]

We always do cold fried chicken, coleslaw and some fruit like cut up watermelon. I bring paper cups and plates and plastic utensils. Everyone likes it because we never really have fried chicken any other time.

For snacks, we like brownies, Slim Jims, chips and Twizzlers.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

It takes 3 days to drive drom NE to Michigan?

Fruit salad- already chopped so easy to eat....melon, strawberries, grapes etc.

Sandwiches- cut in half so they can be a snack or a meal

Roll-ups- to avoid the bread, ham or turkey w cheese etc.

Hard boiled eggs- pre-peeled. Never had a problem w the smell. Great for a quick protein.

Prepackaged stuff so you don't buy it on the road- granola or protein bars, real fruit bars, chips, those single serve nutella treats, apple sauce pouches, real fruit snacks

Salad- mason jar is a good idea but any container works.

Cold chicken fingers

 

[sheetz]

Kale is good for a make ahead salad green because the leaves are sturdy and don't break down the way lettuce does. Just toss everything together and put into an airtight container the day before.

 

[jsmla]

I usually drive the ten hours to WDW and eat breakfast and lunch in the car. Since I'm solo (DH flies when he goes.) and eating while driving (Bad me, I'm such a thug!) I need things that are easy to manage one handed.


Breakfast
-Bagel sandwich-I like cream cheese and tomato or good old peanut butter but you could do anything really. These hold up very well if made the night before. They also fill me up like nobody's business.

-Homemade muffin and a yogurt smoothie. My newest toy is a Yeti travel mug and it does a great job of keeping stuff cold. Before that I used a freezable lunch bag.

-Apples and grapes are my fruit of choice-no peeling or chopping required and they are just fine for a few hours without refrigeration.


Lunch
-Wraps, I fold mine burrito style so that the bottom isn't too leaky. I make mine tortilla, meat or cheese, then any goopy stuff like guacamole or tomatoes in the middle. It helps to keep the tortilla from getting too soggy.

-Cheese and crackers or crusty rolls (I spoil myself with really nice cheese and bread.) with veggie sticks.


I also make up a batch of trail mix, I like almonds, raisins and dried mango, to munch on.

It's not fancy but for an only a few times a year kind of thing it works for me.

 

[barkley]

unless it's hot weather we tend to stop for food on road trips b/c I just plain want something warm to eat. if you have any insulated (to keep warm) containers then for the first day you could have some pulled bbq beef or pork to put on buns, serve it w/a chilled salad. for subsequent days you could bring along canned soup that you prepare and put into the empty/cleaned out insulated container before you leave the hotel each morning-serve it with sandwiches (or you could stop at one of the grocery stores near your hotels-many of the chain stores have a nice variety of hot prepared soups that you could buy containers of to fill the insulated container with).

When grocery shopping slow down and check out things that you might have missed, single serve items, dips, the deli aisle and cases always for us have something new to try.

Costco has some neat single serving items (come in packs of 8 or so with peel off lids like pudding cups)-hummus crazy2: not my thing but I know lots of people like it), guacamole, chicken salad (with craisins), salsa, spinach/leek dip to name a few. Costco in general might be a good place to check out-they have lots of snacky stuff in larger packages that are broken into smaller units. when my kids were younger I would let each pick out one item so we ended up with 2 to choose from for their lunch bags-both really liked the trail mix with the teeny tiny m&m's as well as the small individual bags of shortbread cookies w/jam in the center.

check out the easter basket aisle at the store-there are non candy options in very small packages-fruit treats, cheese puffs...these can be purchased and squirrelled away for the trip (my 'kids' tease me so much about buying stuff at Halloween b/c we don't get trick or treaters where we live, but they don't complain when they are taking off somewhere and want to schlep some snacks or need something to supplement their bag lunch-those mini bags of snacks work just fine-esp. if I got them the day after when they went on 50% clearance).

 

[loves to dive]

I'm a child of the 50s and 60s when road trips were the way to vacation and every Sunday you took off and went for a Sunday drive which lasted all day. Picnics and car snacks were my Moms specialty. She would pack lots of sandwich choices, all cut in half so you cold pick a half tuna fish and a half ham if you wanted it. Potatoe salad, boiled eggs, cut up veggies like carrots and celery and a jar of peanut butter, fruit like grapes that can just be snacked on. Now days I buy the already cut up and packaged apples but she would just cut them up (again good with the peanut butter). She would pre-make peanut butter crackers with ritz crackers (a rare treat for us since they cost more than plain old soda crackers). If you don't want to pre-make the sandwiches, just put a loaf of bread and the makings in the cooler that way everyone can make what they want. Tuna salad and chicken salad were a must in our family. We always stopped at some cool state or local park to eat, we never ate our meals in the car, there are 6 kids in my family 5 boys and me so stopping and letting those boys get out and play a game of frisbee or football was necessary.

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

I love mason jar salads, but wouldn't take them on a road trip due to the extra dishes!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I haven't tried them but what about those snack-ez cups? Snack and drink in one container. They also have the new paper towels that hold dawn detergent in them. They may be good for washing something at the gas stations.

 

[dromio42]

If you like tuna fish, try the foil packets and bring mayo packets. serve with crackers or in pita pockets. We do Kale salads the 1st day as well.

 

[T00dles]

It takes 3 days to drive drom NE to Michigan?

LOL! We're in Maine and we go to almost the northern tip of the mitten, plus we visit family in southern Michigan. We've done it a lot faster but this seems to be a good pace for maximum happiness for all family members.

Loves to dive - we do love to stop at nice places to let the girls run around but sometimes we are in inhospitable territory!

Barkley- We love those holiday things! I only buy them as a special treat (for their class) and they get so excited. Great idea I also like your idea of letting them pick out something. When I was a kid my mom would have bags of activities/snacks when we got to a certain point.

Jsmla - I appreciate the ideas on the one handed foods! Especially as the driver! (Mostly)

Thanks for the ideas everyone! Its nice to hear about different styles and similar ones too I can't wait for roadtrip season!

 

[marthachick]

We don't use a lot of disposable cups, plates, bowls or cutlery at home but on vacation we will. I wouldn't want to worry about hauling around empty jars or them getting broken in the car.

Two years ago we went out west on a big adventure. Since we weren't sure where all we would eat we bought bread, peanut butter, Pringles (so they wouldn't get smashed), cookies, a few other snacks and drinks. Since then, every time I eat a peanut butter sandwich, I think of our trip. Every meal doesn't have to be a perfectly balanced meal as long as you eat well most of the time.

 

[barkley]

Two years ago we went out west on a big adventure. Since we weren't sure where all we would eat we bought bread, peanut butter, Pringles (so they wouldn't get smashed),

pringles can are AWSOME for road trip snack packing. be it pretzels, trail mix, crackers, cheese puffs, cookies....anything that can be put into them for traveling is much more convenient and less prone to smashing (my mom used to hit up friends and neighbors to save them for her b/c she also mailed her holiday cookies in them).