Barb Beck had some neat ideas for traveling by car. She suggested carrying
lots of canned beans for salads, and stopping for fresh fruits.
Dixie Diners (800) 233-3668 (I have no connection with them), has a mail
order catalog for many food items that come in little bags but do not
need to be refrigerated. Most are soy based products. They have the ease
of being able to be reconstituted with a little hot water. Most helpful,
until they are reconstituted they last almost forever, and would be
safe completely unrefrigerated. But as soon as you mix them with
water, you have to keep them cool.
I'd also suggest a multi-level steamer that you can prepare rice,
potatoes, and fresh vegetables in a motel room. You can eat right
out of the trays, and use paper plates and paper silverware. A steamer
is easy to clean since nothing sticks to it. Most steamers have timers
that you can leave alone that will turn off in an hour. Also, they
usually will turn off automatically when they run out of water.
Be sure you purchase a model that will do all of those things.
With a steamer, you can set the timer and go out for a while--coming
back to a completely prepared meal. (Rice on the bottom layer, with
vegetables on the upper layers). You can make textured vegetable
protein (TVP) from the dry packets and heat them in the steamer. In
most cases you should try to not put in spices until they are cooked
to try to keep the steamer easy to clean.
You could even steam some fresh fruit while you are eating, and
sprinkle brown sugar and FF granola on it (chopped apples, strawberries
and rhubarb mixture come to mind). Just mix them up.
Steamers cook very quickly and get VERY hot. You have to
be careful when you lift off the cover to keep the steam
away from you. This is especially of concern if you are
traveling with young children.
Mike Rosenblatt
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