Vegan Road Trip

Sorry for the delay between posts. My husband and I just moved from Florida to Winnipeg, Manitoba and it has taken a while for us to get settled in. In fact, we are still staying in the guest bedroom of our landlord's house, waiting for new floors to be installed in our place.

We haven't been able to cook--which is killing us--so we have been struggling to come up with ideas for a post. Then it hit me: The Vegan Road Trip. We spent three days in the car, and we knew ahead of time that good vegan choices would be few and far between as we trekked across America, so we decided to pack as many tasty vegan road trip food items as possible.

We set out with a few bags, a cooler, and a bag of ice. We just used hotel ice machines to refill the cooler each morning.

Breakfast:

Clif bars - You choose the flavor, these things are like vegan rocket fuel, packing about 250 calories into a convenient little wrapper--great for driving!

Fruit - Enough said! We had peaches and bananas.

Lunch:

Sandwiches - My husband enjoyed his PB & J, with unsalted fresh ground peanut butter and jam without high fructose corn syrup. For a variety, and because I hate PB & J, we also packed tofurkey slices with lettuce, tomato, vegenaise, and mustard.

Spinach Pies - You could prepare these yourself. We bought them from a fantastic local restaurant. A word of warning, these can be addicting, don't buy them too long before your trip. You may finish them all before you even hit the road. We almost did. :)

Tamek brand canned stuffed cabbage leaves - These were actually a gift from a loving, Lebanese grandmother but having tried both types, I recommend the stuffed grape leaves rather than the cabbage.

Snacks:

Dried fruit - Our close friend Pete, who works at a health food store, decided to surprise us with an 11 lb. bag of dried mangoes, which we happily munched for about two weeks.

Mixed nuts - Great source of protein and fat, which vegans can always use.


Hummus with fresh veggies and pita chips - I can't overstate the importance of fresh veggies. This was one of our biggest concerns at the beggining of the trip. It is difficult to find good, fresh veggies on the road. Dip them in some hummus for a great snack with loads of protein and fiber. For the salty snack cravings, open up the bag of pita chips. We had Stacy's brand Garden Veggie Medley flavor which were great plain and even better with hummus.

Gatorade - It's got what plants crave: electrolytes. (If you haven't seen the movie Idiocracy, you should.) Seriously though, we read that sports drinks keep you hydrated and alert without as many bathroom stops as water and coffee. Maybe it only worked because we thought it would, but it certainly seemed to keep us going without having to stop.

And of course, don't forget the dog food. Not exactly vegan but I thought it would be an excellent excuse to post this adorable picture.

Our road trip was a complete success, in part because we planned ahead to make sure we had an abundance of healthy, tasty vegan food to keep us going through torrential downpours, the state of Georgia (no offense if you're from Georgia), and the general discomfort that comes with 30+ hours of driving.

As soon as we get into our new place we should be posting regularly again. Can't wait!