Food Road Trip Food

The girl and I are headed on a shortish road trip to New Orleans on Monday. And because both of us like to over plan everything... I started making a list of snacks we need for our trip and it got me thinking. What type of treats, chips, candy, drinks or what have you do you always have to take with you on a road trip?

Growing up we always had:
Ritz crackers and Easy Cheese. You know, the fake cheese in an spray can.
Grapes. My mom always packed grapes in the cooler. They never got eaten. Mostly thrown out the window at other cars when my parents weren't looking.
Beef Jerky. It seems to be a staple in any sort of travel situation. I'm sure Buzz had some hidden in his space suit.
Soda of some sort. Mainly if we planned on stopping at a rest stop for a picnic along the way. Too bad rest stops aren't wholesome anymore.
Lunch meat, cheese and bread. For said picnic lunch at the family friendly and not at all trolling for gay sex in a bush rest stop.
Candy of all shapes and flavors. It seemed the only time I got to binge on gummy bears and Snickers bars was in the back seat of my parents mini-van (read: station wagon for the older generations)

My family was never big on stopping at restaurants on the way. Now that I'm grown up I do though.

What else?

 

N'warlins? You might wanna keep an empty belly en route, as your system will probably be working overtime once you arrive. I hope to die eating creole cuisine.

Seriously - I like eating nuts, sunflower seeds, trail mixes and only teas and water. Subs are always nice too, especially if you share a few varieties.

 

Yeah much healthier stuff now than when we were kids.
I remember that cheese in a can stuff. It does not even vaguely resemble actual food. They still make it?
We usually do a trail mix with multi-grain Cheerios, dried cherries, M&M's, sunflower seeds.
Freeze some drinks and pack them in a cooler with sandwiches.

 

I try to avoid caffeine so I don't have to stop to pee every 50 miles. We usually pack a cooler with sandwich fixings, grapes or bananas, and drinks and stop at rest stops (there aren't many left in Utah) for lunch instead of eating at restaurants. My road trip treats are chocolate milk and corn nuts, although not together. I rarely eat/drink either any other time. Oh, and cinnamon bears...never eat them except on road trips.

 

I can't go on a road trip without a ton of beef jerky, Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, and a case of Yoo-Hoo. I never drink it unless I'm on a road trip, but when my ass hits the car seat, it's beckons to me.

 

Beef jerky, sunflower seeds, special cookies/brownies.

 

I must be weird. I don't eat while driving on a road trip. Hell I rarely eat when I'm not driving on a road trip. Stop off and have lunch or dinner yes, but rarely while in motion.

The last time I did a night photography shoot in Yosemite I packed a cooler of pretzels and ice water. I also ate my dinner on my tail gate on the Valley floor. Does that count?

 

Tim Horton's coffee and doughnuts. Ordinarily I wouldn't touch them with a barge poll but when on a long distance road trip, it's part of the mandate.

I suppose the dearth of good places to stop en route to our cottage (a five-hour drive) has a lot to do with this.

 

Water, soda, some sort of fruit (typically apples or grapes), sandwiches and something crunchy/salty.

 

In college roadtripping with the marching band, I always had Fig Newtons and ginger ale (which is the only soda that is drinkable when warm).