Road trips are the perfect opportunity to try new recipes and spend time with family. But how can you keep everyone happy when there is no room for leftovers? The answer is simple: make ahead meals for road trip! To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of eleven easy-to-make dishes that will work well on your next road trip. Check it out!
List of 11 make ahead meals for road trip
- Crispy French bread sandwich
- Wrap with lettuce, tomatoes and onions
- Instant noodles/rice meal
- Cereal/oatmeal
- Banana-oatmeal puree with berries
- Canned tuna salad sandwich
- Peanut butter banana sushi
- Egg wraps with ham and greens
- Fruits and granola bars with milk or yoghurt
- Banana chips with peanut butter
- Avocado honey bagel
Your road trip should always be a fun time when you explore nature. However, this will not be possible if your stomach is not satisfied; thus the saying, “Food is our common ground, a universal experience. Before looking at the best make-ahead meals for road trips, it is important to ask ourselves, “How can we eat healthy on a long road trip?”
How to eat healthy on a long road trip?
For you to eat healthy on a long road trip, you must have light food that is balanced at your disposal. By balanced I mean, food containing all the crucial body ingredients; proteins, vitamins, and carbohydrates.
When on a long road trip, there are snacks that contain the necessary ingredients to keep you going. These are the foods you should pack for yourself and the family. Because you will be driving for hours, you should ensure to have enough protein and fibre-rich food. Some of these foods include a grilled chicken and turkey sandwiches. Along with these meals, you should have water to keep your body hydrated for the journey. On your list, you can add any other food so long as it provides the mentioned nutrients that are relevant for your body.
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Road Trip Sandwiches; Crispy french bread sandwich
Sandwiches are great road trip meals for the entire family. Bread is a great source of carbohydrates and other bread-like snacks are also rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fat. As well as this food being perfect to take along with you on your journey because it doesn’t spoil easily; it’s easy to store too.
When I go on road trips, I always take with me crispy french bread. I find it easy to prepare a sandwich with this bread. Therefore, I always have a multifunctional knife in my car for making a road trip sandwich. I pass by the closest supermarket to buy a French Mozzarella mayo and Jam which I use together with fresh bread to make a baguette sandwich. This a simple sandwich you can make as it does not get spoilt easily. You can keep the sandwich in a reusable plastic bag or air coolant boxes.
Wrap with lettuce, tomatoes and onions
Wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions is among the easy-to-make road trip meals. A wrap is one of the easiest snacks to prepare for a road trip. You can use any vegetables you want or have on hand as all wrapped up in a tortilla along with your choice of protein. This sandwich won’t get soggy quickly so it’s perfect if you are packing for a road trip. The ingredients you will need are; a tortilla, a leaf of lettuce, tomatoes and onion. These ingredients are high in fibre, therefore, this is among the healthy road trip meals you should consider packing.
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Instant noodles/rice meal
Instant noodles can be prepared to eat quickly. Put the dry noodles in a large bowl and add enough water to cover them completely. Add some salt for taste, stir well until there are no lumps left. Cover this with cling wrap or put it in an airtight container then leave overnight on your kitchen countertop (or you could boil it for 30 minutes). You can then add veggies or meat for extra protein source.
Instant noodles are good make ahead meals for road trip as they contain almost all the necessary ingredients needed by the body. Eating instant noodles gives your body carbohydrates, fibre, proteins, sodium, and thiamine. With this meal on your road trip, you are sure that your family is healthy.
Cereal/oatmeal
Just like the noodles, you need to soak cereal overnight before eating it. This is also a great snack for a road trip as it contains carbohydrates which give energy and fats too! All you have to do is combine cereal with coconut oil and stir until you get a smoothie-like consistency. You can then have it as is or add fruits into the mix to give your body some vitamins too!
If that does not sound appetising enough, try making porridge at home before leaving for your trip. It’s healthy because of all the fibre content in it, and it’s easy to make in few minutes!
Banana oatmeal puree with berries
Slice a banana into tiny pieces. Add oatmeal, milk/water and some fresh or frozen blueberries for added nutrients then mix together in a pot before cooking the mixture on the stovetop. You can add cinnamon powder or vanilla extract for flavour.
This meal is important for road trips because of its high energy content and easy storage. Adding water to the meal ensures that after eating, your family will stay hydrated for long. A hydrated body will not get tired easily.
Canned tuna salad sandwich
Fold some drained canned tuna into mayonnaise with finely chopped celery stalks, red onions and a little bit of salt to taste. Do not forget about the pepper flakes that give it a spicy kick! Spread some sandwich bread with mayonnaise, place half slice on each piece, top off with tuna salad mixture then eat up. Canned tuna salad sandwich makes a good road trip food for the entire family.
This meal is simple in preparation but high in energy content needed for road trips. You can also take vegetables and fruit that will be enough for a day.
Peanut butter banana sushi
Take some bananas and cut them in half. Spread peanut butter on the sides then roll together into a sushi shape. You can also add any topping of your choice like chocolate chips, raisins or chopped nuts to make it more special.
This is another simple recipe that will be great for road trips with kids who are picky eaters.
This road trip food is not only healthy but also high in energy. You can also prepare this by microwaving or oven baking the bananas and then topping with veggies that you have prepared beforehand for a quick meal.
Egg wraps with ham and greens
This is a simple recipe that can be prepared in less than 15 minutes for road trip food. Here you have to boil eggs and then peal them off. Cut the boiled egg into small slices and get rid of any yolk from it. Then cut some ham or bacon into small pieces with cheese if desired, add greens like spinach leaves before rolling everything inside the egg slices. One thing to remember is that you should use hard-boiled eggs to prevent the meal from becoming soggy.
You can see how easy and quick it is to make this nutritious road trip food. I am sure you kids will enjoy such a meal as you spin the car.
Fruits and granola bars with milk or yoghurt
This is a great idea for road trip food when your kids become restless in the car after only an hour of driving. This is a road trip snack that will give them enough fuel to keep going till you reach your destination. For preparing these just mix some fresh fruits like grapes and banana along with honey and cinnamon powder into a bowl then pour milk or yoghurt over them and keep it in the fridge for an hour to chill, so your kids can enjoy this refreshing snack.
Banana chips with peanut butter
For preparing these you just need only two ingredients which are banana and peanut butter. Slice bananas thinly, spread some blue band on each side of the slices and bake it for about half an hour.
Prepared this way, you can store these in the fridge to enjoy them as a snack whenever your kids feel hungry inside the car or during a hike. You can even serve this road trip food along with some juice or milk so they have a complete balanced diet meal during the road trip. When milk s added, banana chips with peanut butter is among the healthy road trip meals you can try out.
Avocado Honey Bagel
This is a nutritious meal that can be taken for breakfast when on a road trip. The meal features on this list because it does not need a lot of time to be prepared. Moreover, storing this meal is easy as you can put it in a reusable plastic bag or container. To prepare this, start by cutting an avocado fruit into two halves. Slice the avocados over each half. After this, add a bunch of pistachios spread over the fruit equally. Finally, sprinkle the dinner of honey and set it in a sealed box. You can as well add some pumpkin seeds if you like. While in this box, the food can remain fresh for a day.
Food that travels without refrigeration
You can also carry some food items that travel without refrigeration. This is mostly suitable for short trips, like hiking or camping. Some road trip meals which does not require refrigeration include dried fruit and nuts, cheese, peanut butter crackers, muffins or quick loaves of bread.
With these food items available with you, your kids will have a wonderful time on the road trip. You can even enjoy some of these snacks yourself along with them during the drive.
Road trip snacks
Here are road trip snack ideas you can try out on your next trip;
- Chocolate bars
- Fresh fruits
- Protein bars
- Peanut butter with crackers
- No-bake peanut butter protein cookies
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Hummus and celery
- Popcorns
- Grapes
- Carrots
Final Words
It is important to prepare a list of road trip food options that you can store at home before your trip for convenience. Having a list of road trip foods with you will save you a lot of time to enjoy your drive. Make ahead meals for road trip should be easy to prepare to save on time. You don’t want to overstay in the kitchen consuming the time that should be used for the trip.
Alongside every meal, ensure to pack a bottle of water with you before going on your trip! Keep it in the car and take small sips during long drives or when you feel thirsty.
