Food products that travel really, really well

[paulraphael]

i don't know if this violates the plan, but you can get battery powered coolers for the car:

http://www.compactappliance.com/xq/JSP.jum...ble_Coolers.htm

a photographer friend of mine has one of these, and we used it on a road trip through the deserts in the southwest. worked great.

[Jensen]

I'll give you all of those reasons except the second one.

What's the longest you've had to travel between gas stations? In a pinch, that's also the same distance you have to travel between "grocery stores".

Of course, that's no reason not to be prepared for those days when the sidewall separates or when you travelling buddy comes down with inner ear-induced vertigo or when the motel you'd planned on staying in is full because it's right next to an amusement park and it's Friday night.

All of those situations (and more) have come up on road trips I've taken and, although these details probably won't fit Fat Guy's personal parameters, here's how we've dealt with them.

At one stop in Illinois, we had leftovers from dinner at a really great steakhouse. We took a "to go" box, even though we had no refrigerator in the motel room. Once back at the Red Roof Inn for the night, the to-go box went into the Cooltron (ack! with the dog food!).

The next day we were pushing on and, not wanting to make a lengthy stop for lunch, we made ourselves sandwiches from the leftovers while stopping to walk the dogs.

This is not to say that we didn't have supplies of "road snacks". My travel buddy kept a storage drawer under the driver's seat which was filled with trail mix, Smarties/M & Ms, and our big favourite...Gardetto's mix.

Additionally, the Cooltron was loaded up nightly with beverages. Travel Buddy preferred Diet Pepsi and my beverage of choice was water. I do NOT recommend relying on rest area water to refill your supplies though. Giardia is everywhere (especially along Hwy 40 in Arizona...).

When coming in late to a destination, keeping an eye out on your surrounding area can be a boon when deciding where to eat. On one trip, we'd planned on stopping in Des Moines, IA but found no available rooms. Ultimately, we plodded on until we reached Newton, IA (home of Maytag Cheese!). It was dark and raining and we had no idea if we'd find a room or not. Additionally, Newton is NOT right on the interstate and so there are no fast food restaurants (nor at the exits!).

But, keeping an eye out on the way into town showed us a Mexican restaurant that looked okay (for Newton, IA...LOL)...there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, at any rate. Once we got checked in, we double-backed to that restaurant and I had the best carnitas I've had outside of California.

If you can pack healthy snacks and keep those snacks well-stocked, then it's unlikely that you'll need anything else to "survive in the wild".

[SundaySous]

Haven't read the whole thread but I've been recently introduced to salted cod. Not sure about the temperature extremes or how to spell extreme for that matter but I think this would travel well. Draw back would be soaking it. Zip lock bag and change water few times?

Salted cod and the Scandinavian version Stock Fish I think would do well. There are also many dried fishes coming out of Asia I see. I see Mexican, Central and South American dried fish here and there. Really been meaning to reconstitute dried shrimp.

[JimH]

Tinned oysters & cherry clams w/hot sauce are good on crackers , as is peanut butter. Beef jerky, instant coffee (get a metal canteen and find a place in your engine compartment to safely strap it. It will get hot pretty quickly).

[naguere]

I have read of techniques using the the exhaust manifold of the car . wrapping food in several layers of foil and then strapping it to the exhaust for the last few hours of the journey, hot food then awaits you.

My brother an ex motorway patrolman assures me that a Chinese takeaway in foil containers lodged just before the catalytic converter of your vehicle will stay in good condition and hot for up to 60 miles (years of experience on this one) .

[Jane Die]

I've got mines and miles of road trip experience, and there are things I think you must have in the vehicle's cargo hold, regardless of the size of the vehicle or the length of the trip:

backpacker's propane stove and a couple of canisters of propane

2 or 3 qt pot or an old metal coffee pot

2-1/2 gallon jug of water

small cooler for ice

roll of tp and a roll of paper towels

knife

a couple of spoons

combo can/wine bottle opener

two tin cups

a couple of old blankets

All that and a big wad of cash.

If you can haul it on a motorcycle, you can fit it in the car.

As for food: fruit (dried or fresh like bananas, apples, raisins) bread and/or muffins, crackers, cheese (aerosol, if you must), hard salami or Slim-Jim's or jerky, nuts, chocolate, tea bags, sugar, powdered milk, cans of beans, soup, tuna, salmon, chicken, potted meat, SPAM.

These days, one can find any number of instant meals on the shelves that do not require refrigeration. If you can heat water, you can have a hot meal in a pinch. Though, honestly, I'd prefer cheese and stale bread to most of that. But I don't travel with children, and I imagine that makes a huge difference.

[SundaySous]

Now that I think of it while working in roofing there was one old timer that would reheat stuff on the manifold of one of the trucks. That's a parked truck motor running. I'm pretty sure he was just reheating though not cooking.