[DeliaDawn]

My SO travels for his job. It's typical for him to be gone for a few days to a week at a time, every week. During this time, he does a lot of driving each day and it's a different town and motel every night. When he eats at home, he has no tummy problems but when he's out on the road, eating fast food, pizza, and other restaurant food, he has a lot of stomach issues. He would like to take food from home but that in itself causes some problems. For one thing, if it needs reheated, not all motels have microwaves. Not all of them have refrigerators or coffee makers in room either. We have a spare coffee maker he can take on the road to make tea.

Of course, keeping things cold enough while driving each day presents another issue. We have tried hauling food in a cooler and a lot of times, it ended up watery from leaky packaging. Then you have the issue of buying bags and bags of ice in the summer.

I am very open to ideas to help him out. We do have a foodsaver and I have found a place where I can buy the plastic deli containers at a very reasonable price.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Contrary Housewife]

First, we use either frozen water bottles or those little gel packs to keep things cold. They don't leak and can be refrozen if you get a room with a mini fridge.

In the summer I like to concentrate on room temp foods like sturdy fruit (apples and oranges), granola bars, the healthier bagged snacks, trail mix, nuts, etc. You can make some of it yourself, like fruit leather or beef jerky, or pack slices of banana bread or muffins. It's not a meal but it's a healthy filling snack. It's more likely that DH will be satisfied with a sandwich for dinner if he is filled up on nuts and banana bread, rather than going out and getting a big greasy dinner.

You might also take him on a learning trip to the grocery store to show him what kinds of relatively healthy, cheap food he might find there on his travels. A lot of stores sell deli sandwiches, or have chinese take-out for a fraction of the price of a restaurant.

And then there's coffee maker cooking. I don't know how adventurous your SO is or what his cooking skills are like, but here's some options:

Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide

How to Cook Food in a Hotel Room: 11 steps (with video) - wikiHow

Amazon.com: Cooking Without A Kitchen (9780963706218): Peter Mazonson: [email protected]@[email protected]@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/[email protected]@[email protected]@61HZNJ766NL

Food You Can Make in a Coffee Maker | Geekosystem

 

[DeliaDawn]

Thank you! He's a very good cook...has restaurant experience and loves grilling and smoking foods, time and weather permitting. I do have a couple of electric buffet ranges...a one burner and a two burner so thought that might be an option for him.

That coffeemaker cooking is really interesting! I wish I'd known about that when DS and I traveled with him last summer.

I will share your suggestions with him. He's a bit picky about eating some vegetables and doesn't like any kind of nuts (will eat peanut butter). Otherwise, he's not that hard to please.

 

[Contrary Housewife]

You might also consider getting him a little sandwich maker/ non stick grill thingy. I see them on Amazon starting at about $20. He can make grilled cheese (bread and american cheese will keep at room temp/cool temps for several days) and if he can get a few slices of meat at a grocery deli he can have a fancier hot sandwich. It's also possible on some of them to cook burgers or chicken, but he'll want to be aware of cleanup issues (like dripping grease and not clogging up the hotel sink).

 

[madhen]

When I travel, I call ahead and ask if the room has a fridge and/or coffee maker, and I try to stay in those hotels that do. If they don't, and I don't have an option, I use the ice bucket as a mini-fridge. You can keep a small carton of milk in there for a week or more, just by changing the ice daily. (Same works for yogurt, etc, although you may have to get creative, because the ice buckets are pretty small. I once used my carry-on, and lined it with the garment bag they leave you for getting your clothes laundered!) Fruit stays good for days without refrigeration. I can live on trail mix, protein bars, bottled water, fresh fruit, and sweet potatoes that I nuke ahead of time.

I will also freeze things that don't need to be frozen, like the trail mix and dried fruit, and toss that in with the stuff that I want to keep cool. Saves having to haul extra weight around, and you don't have a problem with "weeping" bottles making everything drip.

Also, if he is buying his food anyway, most grocery stores have deli sections, where he can buy a lot healthier meals than fast food and pizza. He can get a sandwich made to order, or even a little prepared roasted chicken. Many have hot food sections, as well.

 

[MaryCarney]

How about the cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter?

 

[MsMarieH]

Check the truck stops for other things that would plug into the car cigarette lighter.

I'm half joking and half not, but honestly, I have a cookbook the inlaws bought us years ago as a joke called Manifold Destiny. It's about how to cook on your car engine while driving long distances. Might be kind of fun to check it out. It's got recipes where it tells you it cooks this fast when driving at 55 mph. Pretty cute little book.

On a more serious note, see if you can find certain chains like candlewood suites or residence inn, which include kitchenettes. They aren't always much more than other hotels.

 

[DeliaDawn]

He can't call ahead to find out if the room has microwave/fridge/coffee maker because he is never sure where he'll end up for the night. He inspects homes in 3 states so there's lots of driving and weather or traffic conditions affect where he ends up at the end of the day.

We talked about the cigarette lighter cooler but I don't see where he could store it because of all the tools and such he hauls around with him. There's not even room for a passenger in the little pick-up truck he's driving now and the back has a generator and other suppplies.

You guys have given some great ideas! I have been trying to figure something out that would help him for months now.

 

[DeliaDawn]

I saw mention of that cookbook on another site while researching for ideas. I'm not sure he's that adventurous!

I traveled with him this past summer and don't recall seeing many of those motels in the areas we stayed. A lot of times you end up in very small towns, especially in the mountains of VA and KY. More often than not, there are few choices so it's usually Super 8 or something of that caliber. He has to try and keep expenses as low as possible.

 

[MsMarieH]

OK... Next option - camping food~

Somewhere I read a great idea (maybe one of my dehydrator cookbooks) where they took dehydrated vegetables and pasta (smaller pasta like macaroni) and put it in a thermos with boiling hot water and a bullion cube (he could do this before he leaves in the morning, possibly pulling from a motel office if they don't have a coffeemaker in the room (though most hotels I see do actually have one) or stopping at a mcdonalds and asking for hot water to fill the thermos. By lunchtime, it's cooked.

Alternatives, bring along a dish that could be microwaved (canned soup, chili, etc.), microwave something in the a.m. (heck could even do it at a gas station with a convenience food section - they usually have microwaves), and keep it in the thermos to keep it hot.