Food You Eat That Car Makers Would Hate You For

[Moopheus]

Ice Cream! When you get it from a cheap place and the put a big scoop on top of a small cone and don't stuff the ice cream inside... if you are not careful, one little nudge can tip it from its precarious perch.

I have a traumatic childhood memory of that, which means, no ice cream cones in the car, ever again.

[Arey]

And as any driver of a 2008 -2009 Hyundai Elantra could tell you; try not to spill anything you're drinking into your cupholder. As the recall notice I , and many others got recently explains, if you spill something into the central console cupholder the liquid could leak down into the weight classification system connector. The contaminated connector could cause the front passenger airbag to deploy no matter what the weight of the passenger.

[SylviaLovegren]

When I was young and carefree I moved to L.A. and bought a VW convertible, stick shift. For some reason I then thought it would be a good idea to buy an ice cream cone and drive around while eating it. Two handed driving + ice cream cone + hot L.A. sun = disaster.

[SylviaLovegren]

When I first went to college, my parents drove me and my sister (who went to the same school) from Seattle to Pullman (across the state). Pretty much everyone who made that drive stopped halfway in a town called Vantage and ate at the A&W there. We were no exception. I don't remember if they had tables, but in any case, we ate in the car (parked in the lot). My mother was in the front passenger seat but had the door open and was sitting with her feet out on the pavement; my dad was standing outside the car to stretch his legs while he finished his root beer float, which he had on the roof of the car. Yes! You guessed it! He tipped the float over so that it spilled all over my mom's head. The amazing thing was that she just sat there instead of pulling her head back into the car to avoid the rest of the float because she didn't want to get the inside of the car dirty.

Been to that same A&W. Wonder if their hamburgers are as good as I remember. (Root beer floats are better than I remember...)

[Shel_B]

In a book I read recently, the author noted that a great number of people (I think he was only referring to North Americans) eat in their cars rather than sitting at a table, either by themselves or with friends or family.  Many eat while driving.

 

Eating while driving isn't just to satisfy hunger, rather, eating in cars gives the occupant(s) something to do - marking time.

 

Just wondering - who here eats in their car?  What do you eat, and why do you do it?

[gfweb]

I eat double whoppers with cheese (no pickle no onion) in my car because I'm hungry and on the move.

[FauxPas]

I think there are two roads to go on this one (ha, bad pun!)

 

One is the fine old tradition of travelling with food for the road. Pack up a cooler with food that is perhaps healthier and easier to eat than any road diner fare. Often, you plan to stop and take a break and then break open the cooler. Many times, it is your excuse to stop. 

 

But then people eat food, while driving, that is awkward or hot or has a potential to spill and that turns them into dangerous drivers. Work clothes + meeting + drippy burger or breakfast sandwich = distracted 

 

Combine it with a cell phone and it's really kind of insane. I've seen people doing that - eating + talking/texting + rushing 

 

So, not sure what the topic is really about, Shel. Personally, I wish we would be less distracted when we are driving. 

 

Though I have to say that we do some road trips where we plan for some munchies, but we aren't rushed and don't eat anything too awkward. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I don't have a car, but if I had one I might eat in it.

[Darienne]

We eat chip wagon French Fries in the car.  DH eats them while he drives, and I eat them and feed bits to the two pups in the back of the car or van, depending upon which vehicle we are in.  I have napkins, salt and pepper in each vehicle to refresh the fries as we go along. 

 

When we are on the road for long trips, we might eat in the van when it's too hot to leave the dogs in the van because the sun is too high and there's no shady parking.

 

DH eats in the car when I'm not with him.  He gets a coffee and a muffin at McDonald's which he splits with the dogs...the muffin is shared...not the coffee of course.   When we are together, it's Starbucks coffees in the car.  Most American coffee on the road is dreadful. (Sorry, but it's true.  I once talked to a lady server in a Colorado Starbucks and noted that Americans are supposed to be the great coffee drinkers of the world but how Canadian coffee is much better no matter where you go.  'Yes', she said, 'most American coffee is like weak weasel p*ss'.  Never forgot that one.) 

[GlorifiedRice]

Somewhere in my house or garage I have what is called a "Car Kitchen" from JC Whitney (Circa 1980s) that is the size of a shoe box, that makes an entire meal and brews coffee too.

Lets also not forget the book Manifold Destiny...

[Deryn]

If I didn't eat in the car when I am on a long trip (2k plus miles), I would not eat for days.

 

Sometimes the car is stopped when I am eating. Sometimes the car is moving while I am eating. I never have anyone except my dog for company so there is no way I am going to waste time sitting down in a restaurant by myself when I have many miles to go before I sleep and the daylight hours are short. I also am not going to leave my dog in the car (especially in hot weather) while I go in for a leisurely meal. And I hate eating alone in a restaurant anyway.

 

That said, I do not eat anything in the car that requires me to take attention from the road. And I do not attempt to even chew gum when the road conditions are not great - weather, terrain, traffic, etc.

 

Two family memories:

 

I had an aunt and uncle who owned a Jaguar. When they went on a trip, my aunt would pack any food in a very secure box and locked it in the luggage compartment. When they arrived at destination, it would be carried well away from the car before it could be opened. Her children were absolutely forbidden from having any kind of food or beverage in the car at any time for any reason. She brushed the crumbs off them before they could enter. Miserable people. They rarely went anywhere further than the local yacht club and for good reason.

 

My parents gave me a 'lived in' car lifestyle. We often piled into the car for long trips and the first thing my mother did was hand us all little baggies with small things like raisins to nibble on. Had we not had those, we would puke all over the seats (since every one of us was prone to carsickness). The 'picnic basket' was in the main part of the car with us and it was raided if need be to ensure Dad could keep driving instead of having to stop constantly for three kids screaming they were hungry from the back seat. My father only had one arm he could use but he usually drove. My mother would feed him sandwiches as he watched the road and handled the wheel with his left hand. He would not have been able to eat at all most of the day if my mother had not fed him - at least not without removing his only hand from the wheel - which was not safe. We always seemed to be on the road. Our car was tidy and relatively crumb free between trips.

 

Way back in those days though, there were far fewer restaurants (and no 'fast food' joints) along the road to stop at. If you wanted food, you brought it with you from home. And even if there had been places to stop to eat, my parents didn't want to have to corral three rambunctious kids to do so. Don't blame them.

[gulfporter]

Before I retired, I often worked 12 hour days (longer counting the awful DC-Metro commute).  My lunch times (when I was able to leave the office) were used to run errands, to the dry cleaners or drug store or hardware store or food store (for non-perishables).  So, yes, I'd often order something from our office building's deli, pick it up on the way to the garage and eat in the car while doing errands.  My husband ate lunch in his work truck (he owned his own contracting business), while driving between job sites.   I think this eating pattern was common among our work peers; there simply wasn't enough time in the day to have a proper lunch.  

 

Since we retired, we haven't eaten any meals in our vehicles.  However, I keep a bag of 'car snacks' on hand for when we get delayed when running errands, or when we're on long driving trips and don't stop for a mid-day meal.  Our car snacks are 100 calorie packs of both sweet and savory varieties.  

[Darienne]

Ah, car snacks.  Well, yes, on our long trips...Nova Scotia and back or Utah and back...there are always car snacks.  Usually I make them in tiny muffin pans.  Plain dark chocolate with raw almonds in them.  Tastes good, keeps you going, but not so delicious that you eat more than necessary.   Mixed nuts (no salt...salt makes them too tasty).  Coffee stops along the way. 

The trick, as noted, is to make the car snacks tasty, but not too tasty or we'd eat too much.

[Deryn]

One more thought.

 

I am rather 'chesty'. Most of the crumbs never land far from my neck. Perhaps I should use one of those 'crumb-catcher' bibs that we used to put on babies - the ones with the little pocket on them at the bottom - while driving and eating. Hmmm.

[Shel_B]

Way back in those days though, there were far fewer restaurants (and no 'fast food' joints) along the road to stop at. If you wanted food, you brought it with you from home. And even if there had been places to stop to eat, my parents didn't want to have to corral three rambunctious kids to do so. Don't blame them.

 

We never ate in the car even though we took some long trips.  When I was about five years old we drove from NYC to St. Louis and back, and at no time did we eat anything in the car.  We would always stop at a small restaurant or café.

 

Later, we'd take the car to the Catskill Mountains for our summer vacations.  In those days there were no freeways or super highways, and restaurants were, indeed, not found as frequently as they are today.  On the way up to our rented summer cabin, we'd stop at the Red Apple Rest on Route 17, and it was a big deal.  We'd be tired from driving, and the stop was welcome, not just for food but to get out and stretch our legs.

 

Some years we would not take our car, rather, we'd hire one with a driver from a car service.  I always liked that because the cars would be big, shiny black Cadillac limos, and there would be plenty of room to stretch out in the back.  Even when using the car service, we'd stop at the Red Apple.  Quite a treat!

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I used to eat a breakfast biscuit or McMuffin on the way to work. I did this because there was no way I had time to sit down and eat breakfast. It was safe because I started out driving a four on the floor with no power steering for years. An auto trannie with power steering practically drives itself compared to that. It also didn't hurt that I was in the ER as little kid for eating some questionable berries on the way to school when they brought in an auto accident victim. At least in this ER in Southern, CA, they had no private rooms in the 60's, only curtains, so I got a good look at him before they pulled his curtain. That curtain did nothing to block the sounds of his suffering. That stuck with me hard, and I have never even come close to having an accident that was my fault to this day.

 

We weren't allowed to eat anything in our parents' car as kids, and since you turn into your parents, like it or not, I've always been fastidious about my car. When I do eat fries in the interest of enjoying them while they're hot, or a breakfast biscuit in the wrapper, I rarely drop anything. If I do, I wait until I'm parked or at least stopped at a light, and take care of the mess. The thought of a child eating anything in my car makes me shudder.

 

I may pack a few snacks or drinks for a road trip to eat in the car or motel room, but a major part of the fun of traveling to me is to experience restaurants I haven't been to before. It's easy now, with the internet, to locate good mom and pop roadfood joints, although they are vastly outnumbered by chains. It's worth the effort to me.

 

I love the old timey drive ins with car hop service. There are still a few left in the South, including a Sonic Drive In less than 3 miles from my house. The food is okay, but certainly not the best of its type available in the area. The point is, it brings me back to a kinder, gentler world I liked a lot better than the one we have now.

[LizD518]

I generally snack in the car on long trips but try not to eat foods that are two handed (sandwiches) unless I have to.  An exception was when I recently stopped at a Panera Bread outside of Richmond, VA, as I was headed back to Delaware.  I knew I didn't want to get off the highway if I didn't have to and that stretch of road between Richmond and DC does not have highway rest stops.  So I got a panini to go since I figured the cheese would hold everything together pretty well.  It did and was pretty tasty too.  

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Shel_B,

 

The Red Apple Rest sounds very cool.

 

Do you remember what kind of food they served?

[Shel_B]

Shel_B,

 

The Red Apple Rest sounds very cool.

 

Do you remember what kind of food they served?

 

American food, maybe some ethnic Jewish-European food and recipes as well.  It was a l-o-n-g time ago.  The last time I was there was in 1961 or so.

 

It was a cool place! 

[Deryn]

Toronto to NYC and back. Several times a year when I was a kid, even in winter (for Christmas with my grandparents). No Thruway in those days - yes, I well remember and it used to take from 3 a.m. till well after dark, even without stopping for food. The first car we did it in (that I remember) was an old Singer sportscar - no back seat, no top (well, I think there was one but Dad was restoring the car and I think it was missing at the time), 2 kids (my sister was not born at the time) wrapped up together in my father's old flying jacket to keep us warm, wedged behind the front seat, in the open and often brisk air. All we wanted to was to make the journey safely and get there to eat at my grandparents' house.

 

We were not poor but we never went to restaurants when I was a child - except once a year, to a steakhouse, as a celebration after the eistesffod. The only other time I went to a restaurant was when my grandmother would take us for orange sherbet at Howard Johnson's or to the Bird Cage at Lord and Taylor's for lunch while shopping. Dad was not about to break that tradition just because we were travelling - and with a rowdy crew such as we kids were, I don't blame him.

 

I am glad he didn't too - because in those days, to eat in a restaurant usually meant (as far as my parents were concerned) that a) you had to be on your best behaviour (which kids don't always seem to do well - to be honest, my brother ate like a Goop) and b) you had to be cleaned up and wearing your best clothes (which would have been difficult considering how we were packed and rumpled in that old car). And, we would never have gotten to NYC in a day if we had stopped for food. The car felt fast (since it was an open air vehicle) but I don't think we made especially good time. I can do it now in half the time we took back then.

 

You and my uncle would have gotten along famously, Shel. I, on the other hand, am my father's daughter. Different strokes for different folks. I used to be annoyed at myself at the amount of stuff I had to clean out of my car at the end of a trip, but, since my dog sheds buckets year round and doesn't seem too concerned about his mess, I blame it all on him now (and am not concerned that I also make a bit of a mess in the car). My vehicles are not leased. They are bought new and I tend to be a bit more careful when they are new but they are driven till they die - so even if there are crumbs left somewhere, I never was too concerned about some new owner or lease company being more finicky than I am about its nooks and crannies.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Deryn (log)

[BeeZee]

One more thought.

 

I am rather 'chesty'. Most of the crumbs never land far from my neck. Perhaps I should use one of those 'crumb-catcher' bibs that we used to put on babies - the ones with the little pocket on them at the bottom - while driving and eating. Hmmm.

I used to adjust my car seat distance from the steering wheel so I could balance something flat between the bottom of the wheel and my lap (impromptu tray) - my leather portfolio was a good stand in. Being in sales...and often traveling up to 2 hours to a client...I would find a shady parking lot to park and eat something with minimal crumbs like a bagel. Local convenience store (Wawa) sells pre-washed seedless grapes in a plastic container, which are great for the car, too. I don't enjoy eating in the car, but it is sometimes a necessity when in "road warrior" mode and trying to make all the stops in a limited amount of time.

Edited June 24, 2015 by BeeZee (log)

[Porthos]

I eat in my car on a regular basis. For at least the last 25 years I have driven through for breakfast during the work week. I tend to get wrapped foods, burritos mostly, and eat while finishing my commute. I take medication that has to be taken on an empty stomach so I have to leave the house without having breakfast. By the time I am near my workplace I can eat.

 

I mostly eat my veggies/cheeses/meats lunches at work. When I do choose drive-thru I have taken to coming back to the patio at work to eat. Rarely will I eat my lunch in the car.

 

Dinners are mostly at home. Doing drive-thru for dinners and eating in the car does happen when we have errands to run and not a lot of time to get everything done. Again, I prefer to get wrapped food to minimize the "mess" risk.

 

The biggest change in eating in cars for me is not actually eating but drinking coffee. I wear what I know as golf shirts to work and I have ruined many shirts with drippy coffee cups. Soda with a lid and straw or bottles water works ok.

 

 

edit to add: Cell phone while I'm driving? No Way!

Edited June 24, 2015 by Porthos (log)

[Anna N]

I used to adjust my car seat distance from the steering wheel so I could balance something flat between the bottom of the wheel and my lap (impromptu tray) - my leather portfolio was a good stand in. Being in sales...and often traveling up to 2 hours to a client...I would find a shady parking lot to park and eat something with minimal crumbs like a bagel. Local convenience store (Wawa) sells pre-washed seedless grapes in a plastic container, which are great for the car, too. I don't enjoy eating in the car, but it is sometimes a necessity when in "road warrior" mode and trying to make all the stops in a limited amount of time.

I am in your camp. I dislike eating in the car but when necessary I grin and bear it.

[rotuts]

I don't eat in my car probably because its 'messy'

 

most things that I might get probably have extra mayo on them.

 

not having a third hand, and being the driver, the entropy of the situation would result in some of that mayo ending up

 

in odd places.

 

on the rare occasions I visit McDonalds very very early in the morning, for those egg/sausage/McMuffins

 

if i get two   ( one for that AM, one for the Next AM )  Ive found that more often than not

 

there is only one in the bag when I get home.

 

its less than 3 miles away and for me to go there at that hour, Im not just pretty hungry ,

 

Im looking for an egg/sausage/muffin  "fix" right then.

 

and no mayo is involved.

Edited June 24, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Porthos]

I will be leaving work in a few minutes. I realized there is one other thing that I regularly eat in the car. String cheese after I get on the road.