Eating Well on a Trip



With a little planning, you can continue to eat well even when traveling.  We have been doing this for so long (eating well while on trips for about 18 years now) that it is second nature for me.  It was quite easy to eat well during our five years of homeschool trips traveling around the country in our little RV.  We had a refrigerator and kitchen in our little RV, but there are still lots of things I do even when flying or driving in a car somewhere. 

Traveling Tips:

1.  Google for a Whole Foods store, natural grocery store, or natural foods coop store before you leave for your trip, and go there the first day upon arriving for food supplies.  Even if staying in a hotel there is usually a little refrigerator in your room.  I buy things like good yogurt (without sugar), cheese, raw nuts, organic produce, whole grain bread, sulfite-free lunch meat, etc. to bring to the room. 

 

2.   I always eat breakfast that I have made in the hotel room (even when they have free breakfast buffets), and at least part of my lunch as snacks I bring in my purse.  When possible we get a suite room that has a small kitchen.  The difference in cost is easily covered by the savings from not eating out every meal.  When our whole family went to Washington DC in 2011 for 10 days, we had a room with a small kitchen and we ate only one lunch out the whole trip.  We ate all of our breakfasts in our room, packed our lunches and snacks with us, and came back to cook dinner.  We did not have a car so we got a hotel close to Trader's Joes and bought ingredients for meals every day or so.  You can at least limit your eating out to dinners with a little pre-trip planning. 

 

 

 

3.  When looking for a restaurant to eat at in a new city, I always ask around for which restaurants cook from scratch or use local produce.  You can usually google restaurants in the city you are going to and find the best ones available.  Also, we always received lots of great tips from local people (we homeschooled and spent 5 years on and off traveling through the 48 contiguous states).  I often asked at the local natural foods grocery stores for restaurant tips.

 

4.  Don’t ever eat soups out and stay away from sauces – they always contain MSG even when it says they are ‘made-from scratch’.  As we saw in the January class, even broth from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods contain hidden MSG (yeast extract). 

 

5.  If you know you will get a migraine from MSG, or a stomachache from preservatives, or fatigue from artificial ingredients, eat plain and ask the restaurant not to put the ‘spices’ on the chicken or fish or whatever you have ordered.  Try to eat at a restaurant where you can get a plain baked potato, or a plain piece of meat, etc.  

 

6.  Buy a good salad dressing (like Annies brand) at the grocery store and take some with you to the restaurant.  Bring a small Tupperware container with a lid, fill it up, and put it in your purse when you go out or a cooler bag if out for the day.  Usually the dressings are the worst culprits at salad bars.  If you have to use the restaurant's dressing use the plain oil and vinegar.  Croutons are also always bad.

 

7.  There are often great deli's at the natural food or co-op grocery stores, so if nearby, they are a great place to catch a meal.  And many cities have great restaurants where you can eat almost anything.  Though typically a bit pricey, feeling good for the trip is key when we travel, so we carefully pick the restaurants we choose to eat at.

 

8.  Take a backpack and a small cooler bag with you on your trip so you can bring lunch and snacks with you while out during the day sightseeing.

 

9.   When flying, I always pack up our lunches and take snacks on the plane.  Then you only have to depend upon getting water, and if you have a delay, you have good foods to eat.  But don't bring anything that is liquid; it will be confiscated, even honey (which I learned on my trip to DC).

 

10.  Have fun eating and enjoying the specialties of the area and what is in season, those dishes made from local foods.

 

We have traveled like this since the boys were born.  I must share a story with you from Jon's third birthday.  Our tradition was to have a 'friends' birthday party on even birthdays, and a 'family trip' birthday celebration on odd birthdays.  So for Jon's third birthday, we went to Galveston Beach and then on to Sea World in San Antonio.  We were gone for 5 days and were traveling in our van.  We again ate out only once, a dinner in Galveston.  What was amazing was our one day at Sea World, the last day of our trip. 

We had gotten a hotel room with a small kitchenette right down the road from Sea World and so I was able to bring our lunch, dinner and snacks.  We arrived at Sea World when they opened at 10:00 a.m. and brought in a backpack with snacks and waters.  We then went out to the van to eat our lunch and dinner.  (We always traveled with a large cooler in our vehicle).

 

We went non-stop the whole day (Tom was 5 and Jon just turned 3).  We got on the last ride at 9:00 p.m., and then as their 'treat' we said they could get an ice cream at the ice cream parlor at the entrance that was still open on our way out.

 

Going for that ice cream was the eye-opening experience for me.  The people in the ice cream parlor (adults and kids) looked terrible - fatigued and ready to pass out.  My family looked fine, fresh and full of energy still. 

 

What you eat, especially while on a trip, is SO important to how you are going to feel and if you are going to get sick or be exhausted while on your trip or upon returning.  Have fun eating God's foods and finding great sources for top quality foods while traveling.  We were constantly amazed during our homeschool travels of the vast resources of outstanding quality local foods in just about every city in every state.  It was so much fun finding all of these wonderful gems!