The 10 Easiest Meals while Traveling on the Road!
Are you like my family and love a good road trip? We travel a lot but don’t want to waste that precious travel budget on fast food meals. I’ve come up with 10 (plus a bonus!) favorite go-to meals that can easily be made in a hotel room!
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Planning Meals While Traveling
There are some constants when planning a trip- you need a place to rest your head and you’re going to need to eat! After a while, fast food gets expensive and monotonous and you may be looking for some alternative ideas for your travels.
Best Hotel Chains for Cooking a Meal
As a family of five, we often need to stay in certain hotel chains that are able to provide enough space for us. As a plus, they often are hotels that cater to long term business travelers and provide a kitchenette. Here is a list of the chains we frequent:
If these chains are unavailable, we will sometimes stay at an Embassy Suites since they include an excellent breakfast and often an evening snack.
I’ve also gotten quite creative in some of our stays- did you know some RV parks let you rent by the night? We cooked a full meal including grilling out during our stay at the Grand Canyon RV Glamping resort.
What Equipment will you need for making your own meals on the road?
When we’ve done some of our epic road trips (think 3 weeks across the entire country and back!). We’ve brought along some of our own cooking equipment. I’ve narrowed it down to the essentials in this list:
- Instant Pot-I’ve looked into this and still don’t know what hotel policies are on an Instant Pot. However, we’ve been traveling with one for several years now and have never had an issue. Obviously do not leave this unattended while using!
- Silicone Utensil– You will need some sort of utensil to stir things with. Bonus points if it also serves as a serving utensil that you can use to get things out of the Instant Pot!
- Either disposable or travel cutlery
- Paper plates
- Dish soap
- Disposable kitchen sponges
- Ziploc Bags- Use these for leftovers or for your sponge when traveling to different locations. We also use plastic bags or reusable plastic containers to keep items from being waterlogged in the cooler. I bring both gallon and sandwich sized bags since we also use them to pack lunches.
- A Sharpie marker to label bags
- Cooler-You will need a cooler that fits inside of your vehicle and still allows for luggage. Don’t forget, you may need to be able to lift it when it’s full of ice!
- Cooler Bag– We pack a cooler lunch bag with lunches for easy access in the car.
- Ice Packs
Top 10 Favorite Meals to Make While Traveling
Meals to Prep Ahead
These are meals that I make at home ahead of our trip. I put them in a Ziploc or plastic container in the cooler and we reheat at the hotel. Reheat in either your Instant Pot or the hotel microwave as you see fit.
- Green Bean Carbonara– A family staple, this reheats wonderfully and my kids often fight over the leftovers! The best part is that it is a meal unto itself and doesn’t really require a side dish.
- Pulled Pork- Make ahead at home and bring hamburger buns to make sandwiches at the hotel. You can also buy premade coleslaw or microwave frozen veggies for a side.
- Taco Salad- Make the taco meat at home ahead of time. Dice tomatoes and other veggies to bring with you. Bring shredded cheese, lettuce and chips. Mix together with Catalina or French dressing in your Instant Pot. (Do not cook it, just use the Pot as a mixing bowl 😉 )
- Sloppy Joe- Similar to the pulled pork, bring buns and make frozen veggies in the microwave as a side dish.
- Spaghetti- Bring pre-boiled spaghetti noodles and ground meat and reheat in the Instant Pot with a jar of spaghetti sauce. Buy a bag of pre-made salad to eat on the side.
Meals to Make in your Hotel Room
6. Chicken Alfredo- Boil pasta in your Instant Pot and make according to the box’s directions. Add pre-cooked chicken (either from home or purchased at a grocery store) and a jar of alfredo sauce. Cook frozen broccoli in the microwave and add to the pasta.
7. Macaroni and Cheese- Make 4 ingredient homemade mac & cheese in your Instant Pot following this recipe from Cook Fast, Eat Well.
8. Hot Dogs/Kielbasa- Use the Instant Pot to cook hot dogs or any sausage. I like to bring small packets of condiments for shorter trips (like these) or for longer trips we just bring small bottles of things like ketchup and mustard and keep them in the cooler.
9. Sweet & Sour Chicken with Rice- Purchase pre-cooked chicken (or bring it cooked from home) and add a jar of sweet and sour sauce in the Instant Pot. Stir until heated through. Make microwave bags of rice for the side.
10. Sandwiches- We eat sandwiches almost daily for lunches while on the road. It saves so much money and we can eat while in the car, which helps pass the time. Here’s what we do to pack a great picnic lunch-
- Bring lunchmeat, cheese and condiments from home. Pack bread in a plastic container so it does not get squished or use tortillas to make wraps.
- Make sure to pack a knife to spread things like peanut butter and jelly. Use squeeze bottles of other condiments if you don’t want to use a knife to spread.
- Each person gets a sandwich, place in a plastic bag and label with the Sharpie so you know which one belongs to each person later.
- On the side we like to have Pringles. They don’t get crunched easily in the car and the can is easy to pass around.
- Everyone fills their reusable water bottle for the day, or sometimes I pack juice boxes for the kids.
- Bring fruit that travels well- Cuties or pre-packaged apple slices
- A package of cookies makes everyone happy during a long road trip!
- Car trays are a must for younger kids! My current favorite is here.
- Don’t forget to pack a roll of paper towels for the car as well as some wet wipes.
Meals on the Road Bonus Tip:
During our massive Route 66 road trip, my husband came up with a new and genius idea for a lunch stop- Costco!
As members, we were able to come into the store, use the restrooms and order lunch. The five of us can eat a meal for around $10 at Costco, which is about 1/4 of the price of an average fast food meal for us. Also, if you’re running low on water, bottled water is just $0.25 in the vending machine! The pizza, hot dogs and salad provide a nice change from the usual nuggets, burgers and fries offered at most chains. The novelty of doing something new and different and getting out of the car to stretch your legs is also great!
On the Road Again…
For the record, I realize the above meals are less than gourmet, however, when trying to stick to that vacation budget, they really work! They also make going out to a restaurant that much more exciting on the road.
Looking for more road trips tips? Check out my previous posts:
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