Getting Nutrition on the Road

Traveling makes my nutrition bones weary. My digestive system can only handle so much processed meat, bread and cheese products, which seem to be so prevalent when dining away from home. We’re headed to a Texas State Park cabin in the big thicket for a couple nights. Here’s how I plan to get in some fruits, veggies and whole grains in our diet while we travel. Of course there will be hot dogs, smores and potato chips on the menu, but that’s not all I’m planning on feeding my family.

Lunch Day One
Chicken salad sandwiches on whole wheat bread with bagged spring mix salad (for lettuce). Grape tomatoes and sugar snap peas to dip in ranch dressing and potato chips.

Dinner Day One
Grilled sausages/hot-dogs (I’ll buy the best-for-you sausages Hubby will allow, he rarely gets a say in our raw ingredients, and I can’t short him that prerogative on a cabin in the woods trip) and grilled asparagus. Hopefully it’s still in season and on sale. If not, I might buy some fresh green beans and grill them on top of some heavy foil. Smores for dessert.

Breakfast Day Two
Campfire breakfast-(canned potatoes, one onion, pack of bacon and a dozen eggs, all cooked together and served like a hash-Hubby’s family recipe). Fresh fruit.

Lunch Day Two
Ditto lunch day one, maybe baby carrots in the mix.

Dinner Day Three
Steaks on the grill. The rest of the bagged spring mix salad, carrots, tomatoes, sugar snap peas and ranch dressing as a salad. Grilled whole wheat baguette brushed with olive oil.

Breakfast Day Three
Croissant sandwiches-scrambled egg, ham and cheese. Fresh fruit.

Lunch Day Three
We’ll probably grab a bite on the way home.

Dinner Day Three
We'll be home for dinner. Having been away for a few days, with not much in the fridge and little time to prepare dinner, I'll probably make oatmeal. I like to give our digestive systems a good cleanse after travel diet.

Snacks
Grapes, Apples, Tangerines. Pre-assembled trail mix made from plain wheat/rice puffs, dried fruit, almonds, and left over easter M&Ms. Bumps on a log (celery stalks with peanut butter topped with raisins.

We are looking forward to a few days away from the hustle and bustle of life. This will be Little Boo’s first state park experience where he’s old enough to do most of the walking himself. My mom arms are starting to lose their tone since I don’t have to carry him as often. I still carry him quite frequently, more so than I did when Big Boo was this age. Partly because I resist his growing up, and still baby him, partly because I like the work out for my arms. I do not look forward to having to return to push-ups and weight training to maintain muscle tone!

Kid Appeal Tip If you have a hard time getting your kids to eat healthy, try bringing only nutritious snacks along on an afternoon walk/hike. They'll be hungry from all the activity, and removed from other less healthy food sources like potato chips or pretzels. That wholesome trail mix or crisp apple will be a welcome response to their hunger pangs.

Apologies (again) for my absence. Work got really insane, been working most evenings and those I didn’t I lacked the energy to blog in the evenings. Sadly, I may only get to one post a week for a while.

How was your Easter? We spent ours over-indulging in candy and food with family. Sounds like a perfect holiday to me.