Two Moro's Travels

Though in actuality, some of my best ideas have come from planning vacations.  

We travel quite a bit, whether it is just a day or weeks. Traveling in the car sometimes keeps us on tight schedules and stopping frequently for snacks can get expensive and time consuming. Here are some of the ideas that we use that have worked for us. I hope you can use some of them or adapt for your own travel adventures.  Let us know what yours are in the comments!

Please note: We have no affiliations with any of the companies or organizations that we link to.  We earn nothing.  Nada.  Zippo.

Cold Food

We do have a small cooler that we can and do use, but I have more often taken a larger insulated zippered shopping bag and placed a clear rectangular storage bin at the bottom. I put ice in it and when it melts, I can just empty out the bin.  When staying hotels, it takes no more than a regular hotel room ice bucket to replenish it.  We use this to keep 3-4 water bottles, my husband’s cold brew, some string cheese; just the few things we will be using that day. It takes less room than a cooler and it also lighter to carry. Here is one available on amazon, though I did get mine at TJ Maxx.     

I have also frozen 2 water bottles and placed them in the cooler to keep the other items cold. On hot days you can just keep refilling that frozen bottle. Mostly, I use insulated bottles that I fill with ice before we head out for the day. The bottles of water are for when water is not available. Fruit can easily be cut up ahead of times and kept cold for good nutritional snacks. We have also stopped at supermarkets and farm markets and gotten small trays of already cut up fruit; it is more nutritional, refreshing, and contains less calories than snacks offered at gas station and convenience stores. 

Trail Mix Type Snacks

We like making our own trial mix using some things we have at home: assorted nuts, raisins, mini chocolate chips, mini pretzels, Cheerios… We have mixed them up and put them back into an original container, such as, the raisin canister or the peanut jar.  We have also placed them into mini bags and made-up different varieties, though this does result in plastic bags having to be thrown away, so it is not our usual go-to method, but it works. 

Protein Bars

This is another one our go to snacks. I purchase different varieties and just put them all together in one see though bags. So, when we are hungry a protein bar at least ensures that we are getting protein and not just carbs and sugar. I purchase different brands and different flavors and the sweetness satisfies those long trip hungries that creep up.

Accoutrements

They are 3 things I travel with when vacations are more than a few days. One is sugar packets. I use stevia; my husband uses Splenda. I always keep those on hand.  Two, I also take a half and half creamer.  Sometimes I even put either flavored creamers or pump in some sugar free syrups right into the half and half container; salted caramel is my favorite. This is a must because we usually have our first ci=up of coffee in the mornings while we get showered and packed at the hotel o for cup in the evenings that we sometimes want. 

Three, this will be a new one for me on or next trip. I loved having salads when traveling in the summers in the past. They are crisp, flavorful, and so satisfying. I pump up the protein intake by adding chicken on top. But I realized that the dressing they add packs on lots of calories. My daughter introduced me to a salad dressing from skinny girl; the raspberry vinaigrette is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. And the best part?  Skinnygirl dressings are fat-free, gluten-free and sugar-free, with just 5-10 calories per serving. 

Smoothies

On a few occasions we have packed our ninja blender to make smoothies at night. This has replaced one of our meals when we are not in the mood for anything heavy. We pack our proteins powder, peanut butter, and these small chocolate almond milk bottle that need no refrigeration. The hotel supplies ice for that ice cream consistency without the heavy fat content. A wonderful way to end the evening or start the morning. I will warn you, the ninja blender is noisy, so we try to use it earlier in the evening to not disturb the other guests. 

Quote: Gautam Singhania.