Our family just made a road trip South to Santa Barbara for a wedding. I have been so deep in filming the Rocking Body Raw Foods diet & raw foods course that I nearly forget the absolute crap that passes for food on this nation’s highways and byways. I packed dehydrated crackers, veggies, fruits and even some cashew cheese to make sure we had healthy eats on our journey. But, but with an energetic 18 month old, a husband who has been jonesing for In and Out Burger, and a teen who could live on pizza, meals stops were definitely part of the road trip adventure.
I am lucky in that my family is appreciative of, and enjoys the healthy foods I create for them. To repay their easy going eating style at home, I focus on being flexible with my diet when we eat out. But eating the way we do, little diversions from our healthy ways are quickly felt in our bodies and we end up looking for healthy foods. By far the easiest healthy meal options we found while road tripin’ were at TRADER JOE’S. I am a fan of Traders anyway, but I rarely buy pre-made meals there since I love to cook. Their selection of fruits and fresh organic juices (my faves: organic carrot, organic tangerine, and their green juice) made breakfasts easy while their choices in salads and wraps served as healthy options for lunch or dinner. Best of all we tossed whatever we wanted later in the cooler so we didn’t have to eat crappy, over priced hotel food.
The route from Portland to Santa Barbra has quite a few Trader Joe’s locations. I used the iPhone to Google locations and checked Google Maps to see which cites had a location near the freeway. I was surprised to see how many locations had tables outside, which made it even easier to use Trader Joe’s as a fast food options. On the journey my husband got his Double Double and Evie (my daughter) ordered an organic pizza from Pizza Guru (love their slogan; “one with everything”). But the majority of our meal were provided by the Trader and I know we enjoyed the trip much more on their real fast food options than we would have if we fueled our bodies with the easy junk foods that litter every exit off the 5.
THANKS Trader Joe’s!
