Help us eat healthy without a refrigerator for a couple days - no shopping or take out anywhere around...

[momee]

We need an idea for breakfast, lunch and dinner that needs to stay in car for 2 days in high heat but is still relatively healthy.  

 

I will have a cooler but it really logistically can't stay cold longer than 24 hours, right?

 

I have tons of ideas for prepackaged snacks - it's the actual meals I'm having trouble figuring out.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2016 by momee

[hornblower]

Will you have access to heating food up?  A hot plate or kettle? 

[ktgrok]

Can you pick up more ice as needed?

[JustEm]

Home made beef jerky

[Ravin]

Will you be able to take the cooler out of the car and/or replace ice? A block of ice lasts longer than bagged cubes, I usually start with that in a cooler for an extended period. What is the cooler rated? A 7 day cooler will keep things cold longer with the same ice than a 2 day cooler, etc, though those times are based on reasonable outdoor temps, not inside a hot car temps.

 

Start with whatever you can frozen, such as water bottles, yogurt tubes, etc.

 

As far as things that will keep fine in the car:

 

no sugar added/juice-only fruit cups, applesauce pouches and such

nutrition bars (Luna Cliff, etc.)

jerky is good for protein. How healthy or not depends on the kind you buy. Peanut butter; tuna or sardines; crackers; juice boxes/100% juice capri suns (another thing that can start the trip frozen), water of course, cereal (dry cereal is an excellent munching snack on a road trip).

 

Fruit and veggies should be fine in the cooler the first day, even in a 1 day cooler; I wouldn't count on 24 hours but unless you're in the Arizona desert or something, it should still be fine at dinner time, so fruit, carrot/celery sticks, etc., dressing to dip them in; jam and a loaf of bread (keep the bread in the cooler if leaving in hot car for very long) and the aforementioned peanut butter, and lunchmeat (start frozen; eat once thawed in cooler). Some salami keeps fine without refrigeration until opened; get a package you know will be eaten in its entirety in one sitting. Have that with crackers.

 

Rice cakes, any other dry food really, dried fruit, trail mix, nuts...just avoid chocolate chips that might melt in your trail mix. 

 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Ravin

[ktgrok]

Do you need food you don't have to heat up as well?

 

Peanut butter and jelly is about all I have. Sausage slices and cheese and crackers with grapes. Cold pasta salad? 

 

If you are going to be able to cook or grill, you could freeze some meat before putting it in there, then use once thawed. 

[Reefgazer]

Hard boiled eggs, individual bottles of juice or pieces of fruit, and bagels for breakfast; PB+J or tuna sandwich for lunch, salad, fruit, and nuts for dinner. 

[redsquirrel]

Do you have access to a microwave or ways to heat water?

[Roadrunner]

I would take noodles that you can pour hot water and turn into soup. We live Korean and Japanese ones. I would say canned food is probably your best bet.

 

Also you can use your cooler for the first day, say sandwich meat and cheese, and then rely on dried/canned food.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Roadrunner

[J-rap]

Will you have a can opener?

 

I'd suggest bean burritos.  You can get a can of refried beans and flour tortillas.  A small block of cheese can be left unrefrigerated for a few days, or you can skip the cheese.  You can also have a jar of salsa, and tortilla chips.

 

You can also make tuna sandwiches.  Tuna is available now in bags that rip open and are seasoned already.  A cucumber sliced and put in with the tuna is tasty.  

 

I think a bag of baby carrots can be left unrefrigerated for a couple days.  Also, bananas, apples, and other fruit.

 

 

[momee]

No access to power to cook with  - and I think my cooler is just a normal rated one.  I will have the ability to retrieve ice, once a day if needed I hope.

 

Sounds exciting but it really isn't.  Kinda feels like I'm going to the island on LOST, lol.  I'm not.  Nothing anywhere near that exciting~we are opting out of the food being served at a camp due to dietary restrictions and eating from our car.  The first day and the last day we will just eat a large lunch before we arrive.  It's the middle day I am having trouble with.

 

HB eggs and fruit, salami or ham, a block of cheese, fruit, pbj, and some bagged tuna might do for dinner.  Thanks for the idea.  Bagged tuna is a big help!  Pbjs are always easy and popular, jerky?  Idk, I've never eaten it.  

 

" A small block of cheese can be left unrefrigerated for a few days"

I did not know this...

 

 

Edited July 28, 2016 by momee

[hornblower]

I would take a small butane stove like this: https://www.rei.com/product/660163/msr-pocketrocket-backpacking-stove

if you bring a thermos you can make up extra hot water or use it make & store coffee/tea. 

Then you need one pot dishes: mac & cheese (reg or vegan LOL),  plus canned things: refried beans, beans in tomato sauce, spaghettio's, soup. 

Bread. 

cereal 

instant oats 

 

prepared sandwiches for the first day. 

Shelf stable milk - regular or nut or soy. 

apples, bananas, oranges, cucumbers, slightly under ripe tomatoes. 

raisins, nuts, 

Edited July 28, 2016 by hornblower

[MEmama]

I second the camp stove if you have access to one. You can cook essentially anything with a single burner.

 

Otherwise, since you'll be at a camp, will there be a campfire? You have tons of options if you have flame.

 

If neither of these, I'd make a pasta salad (no mayo) ahead of time and serve with veggies, smoked salmon or tuna, and whatever else you like. The salad can be loaded so it's an actual meal (we are not finger food people).

[AprilTN]

I would probably take a cooler and eat things from the cooler on the first day, and then eat peanut butter or canned tuna the second day after the cooler is no longer cooling.  That way, you only have to eat one day of food that doesn't need a cooler.  You could freeze your fruit and that would help keep things cold and then you could eat the fruit.  Apples and bananas for the second day.  You could take veggies that are whole such as cucumbers and tomatoes and then just cut them when you are ready to eat them.  

 

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Does anywhere around you sell dry ice? Check and see. That would be a way to extend the food in the cooler. Also, keep it in the shade and wrap it in a blanket.

[Pippen]

If you're going to use a cooler, I've had best luck keeping melted water out of containers and plastic bags by using empty peanut butter jars. After screwing on the tops tightly, do a few wraps of duct tape to cover up the seam where the lid meets the jar. 

[Annie G]

I'd make wraps and then wrap them really well.  I think they hold better than sandwiches. 

 

We routinely eat cheese, crackers, fruit, and cut veggies (such as bell pepper) for a light dinner. Adding some tuna  would really round that out. 

[gardenmom5]

a breakfast I'll do is oatmeal with chopped apples and cinnamon. I make from scratch - it's easy and it a whole lot better than the instant kind.

no cooling needed.

[Rachel]

You could do banana bread or something similar with fruit and yogurt for breakfast.

 

Salads could work if you found individual servings of dressing so you don't have to worry as much about refrigeration.

 

PBJ is kind of my go to for those types of meals, but I would want more variety.

[three4me]

W love to buy the individual tuna SALAD pouches. Just spread them on crackers or whatever and I find them to be surprisingly delicious!

[momee]

Thanks so much.  You all are just the helpers I needed!

 

[zoobie]

Nicer canned chili (TJs is decent) with tortilla chips. It would be fairly warm stored in a car, and not terrible room temp. Salami, crackers, whole fruit, cheese. Tuna (pouches), small tomatoes, pita bread or crackers. You can dress the tuna with lemon olive oil (TJs). There are little shelf-stable, healthy versions of a "lunchable" type product called Go Picnic. They're on the smaller side portion-wise. Might be more of a snack than a meal.

 

Can you keep your cooler outside of the car? Alton Brown has an episode on how to pack coolers and the science behind it.

[ThursdayNext]

Eta: We've kept things in our cooler cold 3 days. As in, the lunch meat under the ice jug was still partly frozen the 3rd day. And the food feels like straight out of the refrigerator. This is in our minivan to keep safe from bears, but in shade and 90 degrees outside as hot as it got.

 

Can you bring a camp stove? I'm thinking of the camping meals we do. We pack a big cooler and can keep food cold for 3 days. Though that is with tree shade on the minivan. I freeze a mostly full jug of milk, and we drink it as it melts. And I freeze a jug of water as well as other ice packs. The bigger the ice block, the longer it stays frozen. I don't worry about the condensation, just make sure everything is waterproofed.

 

We do pancakes and bacon the first day, with premade batter I just need to add baking soda to. The second day we have eggs. After that we do oatmeal and fruit. I prefer the texture of old fashioned oats with my own mix ins to those instant packets, even if I just add boiling water to a bowl.

 

For lunches we always do sandwiches unless we have leftovers. The first couple days meat and cheese, then peanut butter or almond butter. We pack plenty of fresh fruit and veggies to go with them, and most fruit and veggies will keep a few days unrefrigerated. Carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, mini peppers, avocado, snap peas Etc are usually the vegetable at lunch and supper to avoid cooking.

 

For suppers we do hot dogs and veggies, grilled chicken (packed marinated and frozen) with potatoes and veg.

Then as the cooler is less cold we do pita pizza pockets. With jarred sauce, pepperoni in one of those packs, and premade pitas, the only thing not shelf stable is the cheese.

 

After that, when the cooler can't be counted on for food safety, there's a good salad to make with canned tuna and instant brown rice. Or just tuna salad with the shelf stable mayo packets, pickles, celery eaten on crackers. And a vegan taco soup with canned beans, corn, tomatoes. An omelet for supper is good, as eggs last a while unrefrigerated.

Edited July 29, 2016 by ThursdayNext

[TX Native]

Granola

Sardines on crackers with sliced cucumber and carrots to the side.

Pre-make PB&J sandwiched on whole grain bread and freeze. Store in cooler to help keep things cold, but remove a few hours before eating.

Apples and celery sticks dipped in PB.

Nuts

Whole grain muffins

Freeze hummus and place in cooler. Should be cold the next day. Serve on pita bread.

Cheese sticks in the cooler

Freeze green smoothies in a mason jar and leave in cooler. Drink when defrosted.

Avocado halved and seasoned right before eaten. Eat straight out of peel with a spoon.

[ktgrok]

When I worked at a summer camp, and was vegetarian so couldn't eat most of the options, I lived on peanut butter and jelly. For days at a time. a few days of peanut butter and jelly and some milk to drink won't hurt anyone. (I don't recommend a whole summer of it though....by the last week we were all getting sick as even those eating the camp food had awful nutrition...the camp food was terrible. We had a Fish and Game officer come visit, and seeing what we were eating horrified him. He went and caught us some fish in the lake and cooked it up for us. And vegetarian notions aside, I ate every bite of it..best thing I ever tasted.)

[JanetC]

I had a friend who lives off the grid. When her family rebuilt an old car engine to power a generator for battery power for a refrigerator, they were all so much less sick!

 

Invest in a 3-day cooler and a way to boil water if you possibly can, and please be very aware of food safety.

[KungFuPanda]

In this situation I'd be serving tuna salad and apples. Canned tuna and those little packets of mayo and relish. Don't forget the tiny salt packets and your can opener. Canned fruit, cheese, crackers, pepperoni, peanut butter,and those little jelly packets. I like smoked oysters, but that's not for everyone. You can do Walking Tacos: Each person gets a baggie with chips, canned chicken, cheese, and taco seasoning. No dishes. I've never actually fine it with canned chicken, but it's worth a shot. Honestly, quality nutrition would be secondary to avoiding food poisoning, so I'd feed them anything shelf-stable that they would eat . . . Pop tarts, pretzels, dried fruits, beef jerky, etc. you can get the little boxes of milk for cereal and it needs no refrigeration.

[heartlikealion]

No access to power to cook with  - and I think my cooler is just a normal rated one.  I will have the ability to retrieve ice, once a day if needed I hope.

 

Sounds exciting but it really isn't.  Kinda feels like I'm going to the island on LOST, lol.  I'm not.  Nothing anywhere near that exciting~we are opting out of the food being served at a camp due to dietary restrictions and eating from our car.  The first day and the last day we will just eat a large lunch before we arrive.  It's the middle day I am having trouble with.

 

HB eggs and fruit, salami or ham, a block of cheese, fruit, pbj, and some bagged tuna might do for dinner.  Thanks for the idea.  Bagged tuna is a big help!  Pbjs are always easy and popular, jerky?  Idk, I've never eaten it.  

 

" A small block of cheese can be left unrefrigerated for a few days"

I did not know this...

 

Eh in my house I've seen cheese left out for much short time look like it's getting unappetizing/melty. I don't think I could touch one that had been out days. Of course it's really humid here so...

 

For beef jerky you can get a couple variations. I haven't had what I consider real beef jerky in (to me the kind that comes to mind when I hear the term is the slices like bacon) but we sometimes get Slim Jims. Jack Links is another brand. I can only handle the Mild variety of Slim Jims. They are kind of greasy, but I would want to keep some with me as an alternative to nuts/peanut butter for protein.

 

In addition to a cooler maybe you could bring some other insulated containers/lunch bags if that helps at all with packing. I don't know. Before dd was born I was given a tall cylinder bag with a zipper at top and a long ice block. Sometimes when we go out I just use that instead of taking a cooler. But it doesn't always distribute the cold evenly so might have to tinker with that. At Wal-Mart they had the $1 ice blocks next to some back to school stuff like sandwich containers or lunch bags or something.

 

I know you said you have snacks covered but I was wondering if you had planned on bringing trail mix. You could make a huge batch ahead of time. Pretzels, nuts, cranberries, (not sure if chocolate would hold well). We had some trail mix a few weeks ago and dh added butterscotch and white chocolate chips to it. I'd throw the trail mix bag in the cooler, too lol.