How to Eat Healthy When You Live out of Your Car

From Car and Driver

Whether you're on a business trip, a family vacation, or driving across the country, eating well while you're on the road can be an intimidating prospect.

It's easy to fall into Big Mac and KFC crispy chicken sandwich habits when fast food is so ubiquitous. Because of this, my diet was one of my largest concerns when I set out this July for what would end up being a road trip of more than four months and 15,000 miles.

I had good eating habits at home, but living out the back of my truck took some getting used to when it came to my diet.

Here's what I learned on the journey.

Your meals are only as good as your gear.

The first thing I did was create a simple but flexible kitchen setup that would work for all my meals.

I chose a two-burner tailgating stove, a backpacking stove, a 20-liter cooler (that I restocked with ice from gas stations and grocery stores), a plastic plate and bowl, a small paring knife, a small cutting board, and a rubber spatula.

I also chose lightweight aluminum pots, and a cast-iron pan that I’d be able to clean out by wiping with a paper towel.

Make breakfast easy.

I often stuck to a simple cold breakfast of yogurt and granola.

While large containers are often cheaper, they kept breaking open in my cooler. Instead I used single-serving yogurts. To make breakfast more filling I'd add granola and eat fruit that didn't need to be refrigerated. A container of strawberries is usually good for a day or two, as are kiwis, apples, and oranges.

For lunch, always go light.

Lunch is where I got most of my leafy greens in. I found it surprisingly hard to keep greens from wilting or spilling into the water of my cooler, so after a lot of wasted money on damp veggies, I decided that if I ate on the road, I would buy prepared vegetables.