This July my husband and I drove to North Carolina with our 3-year-old daughter, Sweatpea. This was about a 20-hour drive each way. Not only did we stock up on things to entertain our daughter in her car seat (this was the BEST toy to have on a road trip), I also had to be sure to have food that she could eat since she is still on the GAPS diet.
When figuring out what food to bring, I had to take into consideration how long we were traveling, and where we would be staying. We stayed in hotels 3 different nights while traveling, at my in-laws for 5 days, and an Airbnb for 2 days. Since I knew that we would have access to a kitchen/refrigerator for most of the days, I knew that I could go grocery shopping when we stayed at the in-laws and Airbnb.
Traveling
Before we left on our trip I prepped food at home and in our dehydrator. We bought ice the morning of each day of travel for our cooler. I also made sure to bring a lunch box with cloth napkins, silverware, bowls, a paring knife, a small cutting board, and a cup so that we could easily eat while traveling.
- Baked boneless chicken thighs
- Burger patties
- Buckwheat pancakes
- Homemade jerky
- I buy pre-cut stir fry meat, marinate in coconut aminos with spices (salt, pepper, garlic, onion, ginger, etc) overnight, and then dehydrated.
- Hardboiled eggs
- Cut up carrots and cucumbers
- Fresh fruit
- Grapes
- Apples
- Bananas
- Cheese
- Homemade almond crackers
- Dehydrated fruit at home
- Kiwi
- Apple chips
- Raspberry dots (these were raspberries that were getting a little soft, I mashed them up with a little lime juice and put them in little dollops in the dehydrator. Sweatpea loved these!)
- Dried fruits
- Mango
- Banana Bites
- Raisins
- Soley fruit jerky
- Freeze-dried strawberries
At Destinations
- We went to a local farmer’s market to get local eggs and produce
- Found a local health foods store
- Shopped at Whole Foods
- Brought my stainless steel pan and cast iron pan
- Brought our ProOne water filter
- Tried to cook at our destinations as much as possible
- Brought my own spices/seasonings that I use the most
- When we did eat out, I tried to order as clean as I could and brought food for Sweatpea with.
- At one restaurant, I ordered her a side of avocado slices, and at another she shared a steak with me
I was able to make sure that Sweatpea ate very clean while we were on this trip. My husband and I did eat out more than she did but always tried to choose the cleanest that we could. I tried to follow the 80/20 rule during this trip, and not sweat it when I ate something that wasn’t quite as clean as I would have eaten at home. It definitely paid off to prep for this trip. we had a lot of food we brought with us and had to carry into each hotel room, but it was worth it.
What are your favorite snacks and meals to bring when traveling?