eating on the go

[memory maker]

what do you do when you are on a car trip (we take one every month to go see my parents) and you have to stop and eat? The only things that we have found are getting sub sandwiches (with no meat) or Burger king has a veggie burger, but they changed it and now I dont like it.
what do others do when you are out and have to eat?

[zak]

:popcorn

I'm interested too... as this is the week I'm trying to turn us into a Veg/Vegan family...

When I was veg while preggo I would get Bean Burritos w/o cheese... ??? does that count or do they have animal products in their beans??

[Mother of Sons]

I'd probably just pack a few meals in a cooler. I'm craving a veggie wrap right now actually. Thos would be easy to make and take along.

[ShangriLewis]

I usually pack food to go with us. Do you need some ideas because everyone seems to really love to eat here.

I used to drive alone with my 3 boys back and forth from North. Cali. It was a 14 hour drive to my parents house. Sometimes I would stay in a hotel. Othertimes I would drive straight through. The boys needed to stop somewhere and I hate rest stops by myself.

So, I found out where the biggest and cleanest McDonalds play area was. We would get happy meals with Cheese sandwhiches. My kids love that. Just ask for cheeseburgers with no meat. The toy kept them busy the rest of the way. Since, we never, ever go to McDonalds it was a new thing for them to do.

[GrowingInGrace]

vegan:

fresh fruits and veggies
steamed veggies and baked potatoes
B-L-T minus the B :giggle
salads (get an italian or vinaigrette dressing)
Asian food (minus the meat of course)

restaurant wise:
Sweet Tomatoes ROCKS!
Dairy Queen, Burger King and most every small, owner-operated burger joint have veggie burger options
Spaghetti Factory
Olive Garden

Vegetarian: easy! just toss out the meat. :)

I'd actually avoid most fast food places, as they often fry everything in the same vat of oil. BK and DQ flame-broil their burgers and microwave the veggie ones (at least did last I checked).

We actually prefer to pack lunches and non-refridgeratable snacks.

[ArmsOfLove]

We usually pack our food--of course we have the whole gf thing going on too :rolleyes

I love crackers and hummus, sandwiches, chips, veggies, fruit, protein drinks (pre-bought), cookies, tofu pups, tater tots, pickles, and my mom and I make 3 bean salad that we eat :)

[memory maker]

thanks for the ideas. we are going to visit them next week. I will try packing our meal and see how that works

[Lady TS]

We usually pack our food--of course we have the whole gf thing going on too :rolleyes

I love crackers and hummus, sandwiches, chips, veggies, fruit, protein drinks (pre-bought), cookies, tofu pups, tater tots, pickles, and my mom and I make 3 bean salad that we eat :)


I'm not vegetarian, but do you have a recipe for the 3 bean salad?

[julbug]

I have to second (or is it third?) the packing a cooler idea. We pack sandwiches, crackers, frozen juice and water bottles (which double as ice packs) and are still cold when you're ready for them. We also bring our fruit bowl "to go" so we have bananas, apples, pears, plums, etc. to snack on whenever we want. Same for veggies, DS loves baby carrots, "those roley, poley tomatoes" (cherry or grape tomatoes), he's coming around on celery sticks, as long as I slather them with almond butter. :yum

But when we want to stop and rest for a full meal, we keep an eye out for a Subway (Veggie Delite) or just about any ethnic cuisine restaurant: Chinese, Thai and Indian being my current faves. If you can stop at a mall, check out the food court. There's something to be said for building your own picnic for everyone to share from all the options available. It's great fun and really helps to break the monotony of a long car trip. I *think* you can get a vegan baked potato at Wendy's (they put broccoli on it maybe :shrug) which I would just dress up from our snack stash in the van, add: sunflower seeds, salsa, sprouts, Earth Balance and Tofutti sour cream(we always pack some in the cooler because you just can't find any where the IL's live), etc. Also a grocery store with a nice salad bar is usually a good bet.

Trips that we take often, like to IL's or my parents, I take notes and keep a running list online. I print out the updated list just before we leave each time. When we start to get hungry I see where we are so I can say "That International Buffet place that we like is coming up, exit 143."

Angela, Taco Bell does not use lard in their refried beans. :D So a bean burrito is fine and they can make one with rice, tomatoes, & lettuce if you ask. I'm not sure what that would fall under though. I haven't been to a Taco Bell in years, they would probably just charge for a plain bean burrito.

[Celeste]

A lot of the chain restaurants will have something that caters to the vegetarian. Chili's used to have a veggie burger and I think Friday's does too.

[Mothering by Heart]

My favorite on-the-go meal right now is red bell pepper cut into strips. I buy pre-made hummus and scoop it up with the pepper. SO GOOD!! I take it everytime I am going out.

I wish the kids ate it.

[4thekids]

At tacobell tell them you want a bean burrito -cheese, EASY lettuce (that way you get it free) then add rice, tomato, whatever you like. You can also get a double decker -meat EASY rice, add what ever. Same for Chalupas if you eat fried foods. At taco bell they are supposed to fry the shells seperate from the other foods. Just make sure that whatever you have them take off you find an item of equal value and tell them EASY whatever that item is. On the TB computer easy is not charged while add is. My dh used to work at a TB and we go there a lot!