The Gulps: Is This Your Family?

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Get this: A family sets off on a vacation in their motor home—they fill it with all sorts of junk food that they love (and can’t imagine living without!). It’s not long before the motor home breaks down and won’t take them any further. Attached and dependent upon their quick fixes—food in bags and boxes, their digital devices and laptops, they don’t know what to do when they can’t get pizza delivery.

Along comes a farmer to step in—and save the day. They end up eating with his farming family and living on the farm for awhile, all the while learning about where food really comes from, how our bodies are meant to move more than from the TV to the refrig—and that green foods can actually taste good!

And surprise, surprise: This was a book that my 10-year-old daughter and I read almost every day for two weeks. She loved it! Written by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Marc Brown, it’s bright, colorful and entertaining. Not preachy yet a funny, smart story, this is a book that’s a feel-good read that makes it easy to open the door to discussing the food choices that we make on a daily basis.

And it couldn’t help but bring back memories of a recent road trip that I made with my kids. The day before we set out, when we were finalizing the packing and doing laundry and making lists to ensure that we had everything that we needed (and wanted), I debated on whether or not it was worth running out to the store. However, after a quick fast forward to the next day, thinking what it would be like after 5 or 6 hours on the road and mealtime, it wasn’t a hard decision.

Some pre-planning now and an hour out and back would save us the at-the-moment-hungry issue of relying upon whatever fast food outlets were at the rest area or exit of our chosen mealtime. A thermos of hot soup and another of hot coffee or tea would bolster our energy reserves just when we needed it. And tucking in a treat of something sweet (yummy soft Archway cookies or mini donuts?) was a fun surprise. Now that’s something that I don’t usually buy, but would give us a satisfying sweet at the end.

Planning our take-along food was the best pre-travel decision I made.

For not only did we not have to stop and pay for the privilege of waiting in line for greasy fast food, we could each decide when, where, and how much we would each have a meal. Daughter had more frequent small bites, I ate an early lunch, and brother fell somewhere in between the two of us.

It worked out so well that when it was time to gather everything together and head back home, I took a few minutes to jot down some travel meal items for a quick trip to Kroger.

I’ve found it’s best to try a different soup and sandwich for each leg of the trip—the variety is very much welcome as the miles seems to get longer and longer. Sometimes I’ll even ask the kids and see if they have any suggestions—that’s how we ended up with soft pita sandwiches on the way home. Hummus for the vegetarians. Ham and cheese for the carnivores. Easy to hold, easy to pack, they partnered perfectly with a thermos of cream of potato soup and hazelnut coffee. Tuck in a quart of chocolate milk, some little bags of baby carrots with ranch dip and some crunchy chips (and don’t forget that bag of powdered mini donuts—yum!), and traveling just got a whole lot more fun.

So the next time you head out for a road trip with your kids, try something new—don’t do it the Gulp Family way—take a few minutes to pack some pre-planned goodness and you’ll help your kids (and their taste buds) realize how much better good ol' fashioned grub is—especially when compared to those greasy rest area fast food joints!

Safe travels this summer, everyone!