How to Plan and Prepare Healthy Meals for a Road Trip

Our Top Tips

When planning for a road trip, it’s not only gas and hotels you need to budget for but your food as well. It’s easy to stop at convenience stores and fast-food restaurants as you drive. However, to make both health and wallet-conscious choices, planning and preparing your own healthy meals and snacks can make all the difference. Here are our top tips for creating and preparing a healthy meal plan for your upcoming road trip.

Pick Cooler-Friendly Foods

When on the road, your ability to keep food either cold or hot is fairly limited, and that should influence what you plan to pack. Try to avoid foods that need to be kept at a certain temperature to keep from spoiling, like dairy products or deli meats, and instead, pack cooler-friendly foods. These can be foods that can be kept cold with a few ice packs, or non-perishable foods.

This can include:

Fresh produce
Multigrain crackers
Nut butter sandwiches
Trail mix
Protein Balls
Dried fruit
Organic beef jerky
Cookie Butter

Pack Nourishing Foods

Anytime you eat, but especially while you’re traveling, it’s a good rule of thumb to make your calories count. Eating empty calories won’t fill you up or fuel your body and will end up being a waste of money, time, and precious space in your car. Choose nourishing foods to sustain your body and make the most of your meals.

Take Advantage of Healthy Pre-Packaged Meals

Although some packaged foods are overly processed and full of unnecessary added sugars and fats, not all pre-packaged, non-perishable foods are created equal. You can still find nourishing foods full of healthy ingredients that are pre-packaged and convenient. These can include a filling porridge breakfast, protein smoothie packets, and nutrient-dense drinks where you just need to add water.

Here at Kroma Wellness, we even provide an Everything But Dinner travel pack specifically designed to keep you nourished on those long travel days. Plus, you can also select a convenient shaker bottle and traveling case to simplify your preparation on the go.

Choose Healthy Convenience

We know that while packing your own food is ideal, sometimes you may need to purchase some food on the go or you may want to stop at a restaurant to take a break from traveling. No need to abandon your healthy meal plan though, as you can still find healthy convenience foods. If you go to a restaurant, try seeking out balanced meals with lots of healthy greens, a source of protein, and foods with high water content to keep you hydrated. If you stop at a convenience store, look at the labels and only purchase ones with simple ingredients that you recognize and can pronounce. Both of these practices can help keep your body feeling fresh and energized rather than bogged down with heavy oils, processed fats, and added preservatives.

Sample Healthy Meal Plan

A woman eating a spoonful of Kroma OMG Cookie Butter.

If you’re not sure where to start, or if you need a bit of inspiration, here’s what we would pack for a full day of road-tripping:

Breakfast
Vanilla Cinnamon Plant Protein Smoothie (mix at home to bring on the road!)
Snack
Protein Balls
Lunch
Paleo “Chicken” Curry (keep in a thermos)
Snack
Cookie butter and sliced apples
Dinner
Nut butter sandwich with carrots and strawberries on the side

The Bottom Line

A Kroma 5-Day Deluxe Reset alongside a spread of food and accessories from the Reset.

Traveling doesn’t mean abandoning your healthy goals and lifestyle. You can still maintain your eating habits with just a bit of planning and preparation. Preparing healthy snacks and meals not only keeps your body healthy, but it gives you the fuel to feel well even during the stresses of road-tripping.

At Kroma, we offer you healthy convenience in great-tasting food. If you’re looking to detox before, after, or even during your road trip, try out our popular 5-Day Reset to refresh and restore your body. Kroma believes that you can detox without starving or sacrificing taste. The 5-Day Reset is created to be both simple and convenient, allowing you to detox wherever you are, including a road trip.

Sources

The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food | National Library of Medicine

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