Food Prep Friday

That's a thing, right?  If not, I think we need to make it a thing.   I could use some ideas!

As I mentioned in my last post, we just got back from a 2 week road trip.   We spent the first five days in the general Chicago area, so two of the boys could compete at a regional gymnastics meet.   After that, we packed up a very messy hotel room and hit the road again.   This time, it was a multi-state road trip to get back to our old stomping grounds in Maine.   A week there was good for the soul...but not so good for the waist line.   I was happy with how things went - I spent more time in hotel gyms than I ever have before, and I did feel in control for the majority of the trip - but the combination of a higher salt intake, lower fiber counts, and lack of choices while on the road led to a pretty spectacular weight gain:  8 pounds!   I know most of it was just the traveling, as the majority of that (5 pounds) has already come back off with two days at home, but I felt gross and bloated by the time we got back home on Tuesday.   I'd like to avoid that with our next road trip, considering the end point is a beautiful condo on white sand beaches in Florida, and I don't want to feel subpar by the time we get there!  

So what's a girl to do when faced with road travel?

I think the key to success this next time around is really going to come down to preparation.   I went into the last trip feeling pretty prepared and with goals:  working out, snacking right, and drinking lots of water.   I did those things, which is why I think I didn't gain much weight until the last two days of travel (where there were NO choices along a two lane highway in Canada, and I was out of my packed snacks and go-to meals).   I'd only gained 3 pounds between Chicago and our last day in Maine, but managed to pack on 5 pounds in two days of traveling back from Maine.   3 over 10 days of vacation is totally do-able.   5 pounds in two days (where I sat on my butt for 12 hours a day) left me feeling sluggish and gross.

Our biggest struggles this last time was not snacking, workouts, or water intake.  Those things went well, with coming prepared.   I had our favorite snacks (this are the best options for us!), a nice new water bottle, and even brought our macro-friendly salad dressing from home to be able to take into restaurants.  

Where we struggled the most was during the "free" hotel breakfast, during lunch on the road (not many options, so we ate a lot of fast food), and then the crashing into a hotel room and just wanting something quick and easy to feed everyone (read: pizza or fast food, yet again) before getting them into bed.    So, those items are my focus with preparation for our next trip.   I'll build upon the water, healthy snacks, and workouts........and hopefully will feel less swollen by the time we are finished!

That brings us to....FOOD PREP FRIDAY!   

Here's what we're planning now:

Individual crustless quiche.    These aren't the healthiest of options, but they're easy to budget for macros, the kids LOVE them, and it's closer to our normal diet than hotel breakfasts.   By the end of our last week on the road, my kids were just *done* with the hotel options.  Even though we stay at hotels that have better breakfasts than most (just the nature of having to get a suite because there are so many of us!), it's always the same thing:  reconstituted eggs and some sort of fatty meat, unappetizing fruit (does anyone REALLY like red delicious apples?), and sugar loaded waffles.     Because there are so many of us, we're usually in a hotel room that has a full or partial kitchen - there really should be no need for us to go down to the hotel breakfast.   Our regular go-to "quick breakfast" is eggs, and those don't pack all that well.   However, these individual quiche do!

Also for breakfast, I'm planning instant oatmeal and smoothies.  I froze plain Greek yogurt into 1/2 cup servings by making these little "yogurt pucks".   I'll put them into individual sandwich size ziplock bags with a cup of frozen fruit, and then package all of the bags into a gallon sized bag.  I'm hopeful that deep freezing them, then keeping them all together in the cooler will keep them cool enough to stay mostly solid.  We'll just need to add a liquid (water will do, in a pinch), and throw it into a Ninja, which already comes with us on every road trip anyway. 

For lunches, we'll bring sandwich fixings and fruit.  It's a bit easier to pack this time around, since we're not leaving the country.  We typically stop at rest areas, make a picnic lunch, and let the kids run around with the balls and games that I always bring with us.   (Bubbles, balls, frisbees, stuff like that - they get their energy out and those good endorphins pumping, making for a much happier carload at the end of our rest stop!)

Dinners will be back in a hotel room, and that's where we struggled this last time around.  We were tired by the end of the day and just didn't care about what we were eating.  The goal was to go with food that was easy, something that everyone liked, and was quick.  Unfortunately, that translated into lots of fast food for us, or restaurants with drinks.   It was easy to justify after a long day of travel.  However, it left us feeling gross, not sleeping well, and typically didn't set us up well the next morning, either.   (Isn't it odd how once you start eating junk, that's all that your body wants?).  Our solution this time is to, once again, rely on those hotel kitchens and bring easy to reheat freezer meals.   They're not exactly what we normally eat (more meat-heavy), but they'll be better than fast food or pizza, much cheaper, and just as quick.   

On the menu are individually wrapped beef burritos.  Typically I start with this recipe for roasted vegetable burritos, but I had thrown this southwest shredded beef in the crockpot the other day, as a back up for dinner in case we didn't get to make it to visit Mike on his birthday (he was on call and you never know if he'll be catching babies or free!).   He ended up being able to do dinner with us, so I was originally planning on just freezing the beef for a later use.   Instead, I used about half of it, and created burritos with the roasted veggie and bean mix, a little brown rice, and toasted them up.   The kids devoured them for lunch, and I was able to make 2 dozen in all.....more than enough to take the leftovers with us on the road.   This plus fruit or a simple bag of salad should be nice meal after a long trip!

Tomorrow's plan is to make a double batch of chili and freeze half of it.  It will thaw in the cooler on the drive, and then I should be able to warm it up quickly on the stove top.  Some sour cream and cheese (which will also be great with the burritos) will be all it takes to make it a complete meal.  

Those meals will get us to Florida, where I can re-evaluate how the food prep worked, and make a plan for the drive back home.   Fingers crossed that it will

help us feel better and less "road weary" after 2.5 days on the road with the Circus clowns!

******

What are your go-to road trip or travel food tips?