Hours spent on the open highway are enough to make anyone hungry. Instead of stopping at a random roadside diner or any of the numerous fast-food joints that speckle the country, pack your own grub. Here are our best food for a great road trip.
Make-ahead breakfast for road trips
If you’re getting an early start, don’t stop for doughnuts. Make overnight oats in small jars, then bring them and plastic spoons the next day. Better still, you won’t need to take up precious cooler space if you eat breakfast right away.
Here are a couple of overnight oats recipes to get you out of the garage faster:
Healthy, road trip lunch
Lunchtime is a good time to stop driving, stretch your legs, and enjoy good food. Better yet, it’s the perfect reason to picnic.
Lettuce wraps make great take-along fare. Wrap washed Romaine or Boston lettuce leaves in paper towels, then seal them inside plastic bags. Store the bags in the fridge overnight so there’s no need to stick them in the cooler the next day.
Carry roast turkey, ham, and vegetables in sealed containers in the cooler and use them to fill the wraps. Skip diced tomatoes, hummus, or guacamole—unless you brought a change of clothes.
If you want to make something more substantial, try these tasty ideas:
Road trip snacks
Not all selections from the produce section are created equal—at least in terms of messiness. Carrots are neater than juicy nectarines. Radishes won’t drip onto your pants the way watermelon will. Better yet, choose one-bite snacks: seedless grapes, cherry tomatoes, and sugar snap peas.
Bananas, oranges, and other citrus fruits are great for traveling because they stay fresh for days. But remember to bring extra plastic bags to hold the peels. It can be a long way between rest stops!
Another option is to beat the doldrums with popcorn. Make batches with different flavourings to beat snack boredom; consider one with ground cinnamon and grated nutmeg, another with finely grated Parmesan and black pepper. Or go all out and whip up a couple of our recipes