Bringing our own food never works

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RIZZY
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Does anyone else have this experience?

When I plan road trips, we try to save money by bringing food and snacks with us. Or, we'll go grocery shopping once we get there. With the exception of snacks and fresh fruit, my plans never feel like they work out. Last time, I didn't pack the cooler right and the chicken salad mix got flooded with water. The time before that, we had a poor quality cooler and a lot of the food spoiled. Another part of the problem is that I can't eat carb-rich foods and I have to have a lot of fresh veggies but I get tired of celery and carrots.


I'm planning a two month road trip for next summer. What are your best tips and tricks? What is the best cooler??
Shaken1976
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Since I know you are in Texas. Go to HEB and get a Kodi. Keep an eye and get them when they are on sale.

We always buy snacks and then the kids don’t eat them. Lol.

I would just shop for 2-3 days at a time. Also, fruits that don’t need to be kept cold. If you are ever in San Antonio, I have tons of hello fresh ice packs I can give you. They worked well for us.
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RIZZY
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Shaken1976 wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:36 am Since I know you are in Texas. Go to HEB and get a Kodi. Keep an eye and get them when they are on sale.

We always buy snacks and then the kids don’t eat them. Lol.

I would just shop for 2-3 days at a time. Also, fruits that don’t need to be kept cold. If you are ever in San Antonio, I have tons of hello fresh ice packs I can give you. They worked well for us.
I will check those out. Love me some HEB!
Heyteacher
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Maybe try an electric cooler—they plug into your power outlet (12v) in your car.
cgd5112
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The best cooler is the YETI. It's an investment for sure. However, it sounds like you and your family do a lot of road travel, so this may very well work out for you all.

We have a YETI tundra hard cooler. Best investment ever. Still going strong after almost 10 years!
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highlandmum
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Use block ice as the main source use cubes to fill and add frozen water bottles. They are way better than ice and they last longer. Also when you pack put the containers inside a freezer bag and seal. Keeps the water out. Remember cold air also will drop to the bottom of the cooler so you want the items you need to keep the coldest on the bottom. So for me I do a layer of the block ice (usually I freeze ice in a rectangular container and place the whole thing in the bottom), then the items I want to keep the coldest. Followed by the frozen water bottles, then the cubes to fill the cooler, and foldable ice bags on top (or sandwich bags with frozen water - not the best option but will work) Try to limit the amount of air. I am not a camper but we take coolers to highland games and at the end of the day everything is still really cold, and the ice, and water bottles are still frozen for the most part.
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Electric cooler or Yeti cooler. the key to keeping things fresh is to keep the good from getting wet. I use a lot of zip lock bags and small Tupperware square containers.

Single serve foods(guacamole, hummus, chicken, tuna). I also buy packets of condiment-mayo, relish, mustard.

Veggie-kale, grapes,carrots, bell peppers, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes

Single serve drinks add to bottled water.

I like cake so I make an old fashioned pound cake-it travels well. You can also freeze it.

I travel with a dog-his food is in a storage container and collapsible dog bowls, doggie wet wipes.
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We road trip and camp the whole way so we can make food instead of going out to eat. Get a plastic container that can hold ice and contain it as it melts. Make a habit of checking how much ice you have left daily. Bring a big cooler for most of your food then a smaller one to put that days snacks/drinks in to minimize opening and closing your main cooler. Make a grocery list of what you always want to have on hand and check your supplies the night before you go shopping. Take a cutting board and knife and containers and you can prepare your produce the night you grocery shop. Berries get washes and go in Mason jars. Grapes get washed, pulled off the stems, and go in Mason jars.
Get prepackaged things that have a lot of uses like the individual Avocado cups at Costco. If we want to make things that have some non-perishables and some perishables in them we will often mix the non-perishable ingredients and seal them with our food saver then write on the bag what needs to be added. We have a master list of meals and ingredients for each meal for easier shopping as well. We do meal plan the entire trip in advance.
We use an rtic cooler and it was well worth it.
Happy road tripping!
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MistressMonster
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Maybe dry ice blocks? Those work great for keeping stuff cold. I use the smaller packs to keep my lunches cold. Since I work outdoors. Can find them at restaurant supply stores.
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highlandmum wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 11:48 am Use block ice as the main source use cubes to fill and add frozen water bottles. They are way better than ice and they last longer. Also when you pack put the containers inside a freezer bag and seal. Keeps the water out. Remember cold air also will drop to the bottom of the cooler so you want the items you need to keep the coldest on the bottom. So for me I do a layer of the block ice (usually I freeze ice in a rectangular container and place the whole thing in the bottom), then the items I want to keep the coldest. Followed by the frozen water bottles, then the cubes to fill the cooler, and foldable ice bags on top (or sandwich bags with frozen water - not the best option but will work) Try to limit the amount of air. I am not a camper but we take coolers to highland games and at the end of the day everything is still really cold, and the ice, and water bottles are still frozen for the most part.
The block ice, definitely. When I was still married, my husband went on a camping trip with his son for a few days, then left the cooler out back for several days before he decided to clean it out. Almost a week later and that thing still had a couple of those blocks of ice that were mostly intact and whatever was inside was still cold.
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