Fast foods on the road

[Darienne]

Just reading the thread about Hershey's latest ventures started by The Unknown Cook inspired me to start a thread about AVOIDING fast foods while on the road.

DH and I travel from Ontario to Utah and back once a year, passing a gazillion fast food joints where the meals are close to the freeways, lots of parking, convenient, cheap, fast, passably clean washrooms, etc, etc. We try as much as possible NOT to eat in fast food places. And when we do, it's salads and wraps mostly...with the occasional burger. Mea culpa.

We avoid these places at breakfast by: bringing a toaster oven, granola, bowls and cutlery, buying milk and fruit locally, etc. Lunch by tortillas with hummus for one. Or the salad bar in a local grocery. Avoid on the road snacking by taking premade little dark chocolate and raw almond cups. It's amazing how little chocolate will satisfy the need for 'something'. We have a plug-in fridge of course which can plug into the cigarette lighter or an electrical outlet. And so on.

We are always open to clever ideas on how to improve our eating on our travels. All ideas are welcome here.

[Tri2Cook]

Fast foods on the road How do you avoid them?

Don't avoid them, just swerve at the right moment so you take them out with a tire or bumper and don't do any damage to your car. Roadkill stew.

Seriously though, the way I personally avoid it is by just not stopping. What I mean by that is, unless I need to gas up the car or grab a few hours sleep at a hotel, I don't stop at all. People tend to hate travelling with me. I've gone very uncomfortably long amounts of time needing to get rid of that last cup of coffee because the car didn't need gas yet. Yes, I realize this is not a good option for most... but you said all ideas were welcome.

[David A. Goldfarb]

When I do long drives, I just keep a look out for potentially interesting towns that might have something local that isn't a fast food chain, and I don't mind driving around a bit to find it, if I'm not on a very tight schedule. It might not be great--maybe just some local diner or a spaghetti & meatballs kind of Italian place, but even those are interesting in their own way.

[Lisa Shock]

Since my husband and I are vegetarians, were are very aware of how difficult it may be to find food en route. Some things also hold up better in different temperatures than others. My tips include:

* Pack drinks, soft drinks, whatever you normally drink plus some jugs of water, just in case. This way, you are less tempted to stop 'just' for a drink. On long trips, I put a 12-pack of soda pop in the trunk, just in case. This has saved me a fortune over the years.

* We take a kettle for hot water, and two big ceramic mugs with us, since we are tea drinkers. We make hot tea in it, and I can make a jug of iced tea for the road with this setup -using a half-gallon cooler jug and motel ice.

* Don't be tempted to start a new diet on the trip. You probably won't really want to eat those high-fiber, lowfat, bran bars when you're being inundated with ads for ice cream parlors and such. So, pack snacks you like and you know you'll eat.

* I usually stop at my local healthy grocery, Sprouts, or Trader Joe's and get some nuts and dried fruit. They pack a lot of energy into a relatively small space and do not need special care. I avoid anything with flavors on the outside, in an effort to keep the car clean.

* I do pack a cooler, which we take to the room, partly because we take vitamins every day that need refrigeration. In that cooler, I will pack a large container of pasta salad, a tub of almond butter, a sandwich spread/dip like hummus, some small apples or other seasonal fruit, and some prepared carrot sticks and celery sticks. I then also have a loaf of bread along with us. This will usually last up to 3 days and help us not pay for lunches. For a longer trip, we re-fill at Trader Joe's or a local market.

* The big secret weapon is that I'll buy some snack that we don't normally eat much of regularly, like potato chips, and hide it in the car then pull it out when we are way out in nowheresville. It seems to satisfy the urge to splurge a bit, and keeps us moving.

Mostly, I try to keep occupied with playing podcasts, or radio dramas and such to keep our minds off food. I also make certain that everyone brings a couple of books.

[rlibkind]

I concur (and use) David's approach. Although you've still got to be wary of portion-control frozen and industrial commissary goods even at a small town diner or cafe, you can usually do better than chain fast foods.

A resource I use on trips is to go to Google maps search for "restaurants" and/or "food" at likely locations. One example: I found an incredibly good pastry shop run by an Israeli ex-pat in Brookville PA just a few minutes off I-80.

And any burg that's a county seat is likely to have a half-decent diner or cafe within a block of the court house.

[HungryC]

Research, research, research. Good food is all over America, you just have to dig around to find it. Figure out your route and hit the internet: I can't imagine driving through multiple states and not sampling the local fare. (Road-trip research is one area where chowhound.com's message boards truly excel.) Just 'cause you don't eat fast food doesn't mean you can't stop!

[Darienne]

All sorts of useful and good replies.

And right! I would not want to travel with Tri2Cook. Maybe once, maybe 30 years ago, but not now. We used to do Santa Fe from Peterborough ON in 2 1/2 days. Them were the good young days.

We do Moab in 4-5 days now. And we have two large lame dogs with us. And we travel only major freeways. With lots of stops for doggy breaks and walks. And DH hates to wait for breakfast in a regular restaurant as he wants to get going on the road ASAP. And we travel in pretty straight lines. And DH hates to go far off the Interstate for ANYTHING. So all we hit are fast food places. Sometimes it's hard enough to find a grocery store. We all have our 'things'.

Mostly what I am after is eating in the motel room, on the road, at the rest stops if it is warm enough...that sort of thing. We are not vegetarians...although we were for 30 years...but almost, so vegetables are the main thing.

Not to mention feeding dogs who eat raw on the road. A bit of a challenge.

We do have a little kettle for making coffee or soup. But there are no Trader Joe's in Kansas.

I do find that raw almonds work better than mixed nuts which have a higher 'yummy' factor. 70% chocolate discourages munching also.

Speaking of good food: Moab is not a place to go for that. Red rocks, yes. Good restaurants, no.

[Holly Moore]

Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine!

[Darienne]

What a hoot. Also looked up The Original Road Kill Cookbook. We actually killed our first deer ever in Indiana last May and I was so grateful to be traveling in a one-ton van. Also that Indiana deer are not as large as Ontario deer.

[PopsicleToze]

I do research a few weeks before I leave by reviewing Chowhound.com and making a list of the places that sound interesting. Google them and you'll find more information. Then, you can always post any specific questions about the places on Chowhound and someone will always help you. That's always yielded some really nice out of the way places I would have never known about. You can't beat it for up to date reviews and things you would never know about, "Oh, but that place is closed this week for repairs, so go up the street for 2 miles and eat at ..."

www.chowhound.com

Rhonda

[Katie Meadow]

Darienne, I had a really good piece of pie in Moab, but that was about 35 years ago. My standards were lower and nothing ever stays the same, anyway.

We travel with a cooler. We also try hard not to spend a lot of money eating out when we are on the road. Summer is easier, since picnics are not so problematic at parks and rest areas as they might be in inclement weather, and summer also means local fruit stands. But you aren't traveling in the summer. I take lots of pre-cut crudites in well sealed bags, lots of apples, a good supply of my favorite crackers, and always a big chunk of some type of hard aged cheese, like a pecorino or something else that satisfies in relatively small amounts and keeps well. Hummus, peanut butter or other spreads work well for us. And I usually take a supply of energy bars and good chocolate.

Smaller towns often have a fast and simple detour to the original downtown, and if you cruise Main St you can often find a homey local spot; the food might be pedestrian, but it won't be corporate. If some really sweet looking cafe or diner pops up we might spring for an opportunistic meal, but I don't drive out of my way on a road trip looking for places to eat--especially if the dog is with us. I get far too sick of driving to do any extra. When I am driving through the west I often find that taco trucks near a small downtown can be a good bet. My personal horror: spending even a dime for dreadful fast food and depressing atmosphere. I'd rather just buy a cup of tea and eat a bittersweet chocolate bar.