What I Learned About "Eating Healthy" on a Vacation

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Tim and I have a little vacation tradition when we are getting away--just the two of us.  Upon arrival in a new town, we stop by a convenience store and purchase all kinds of snacks and treats we would never buy at home.  Our kids aren't with us to ask for the junk and we know we'll get back to normal eating habits at home.  Usually after the first day or two I'm all sugared out and done.  But it is fun to indulge a little and eat things we don't normally. 

I wish we could do this "7-Eleven indulging" with our kids on vacation, but their little bodies can't handle it.  I know that as their immune systems get stronger they will be able to handle unhealthy foods without reaction.  But currently, my kids are much happier and calmer with a gluten free, low sugar and low carb diet free from artificial flavors, colors, and MSG.  So, while we are still somewhat limited in what the kids can eat, we are not where we were! 

The best way to explain how differently they used to eat would be to tell you we used to travel with cooked brussels sprouts in glass canning jars.  The kids loved them and people would stare and even ask questions when they saw what the kids were excitedly eating.  We had to bring all the kids' food with us when we vacationed or ate outside the home and each item had to be made from scratch.  Sometimes it was a deal breaker for me and I wanted to just stay home instead.  It was so much work to cook for days, pack it all up, and then carry it all over wherever we were vacationing.  Buffalo Casserole with minced veggies at Sea World?  We've done it!  At this point, the kids were only able to eat a few organic vegetables and select meats.  That was it!

I now try to keep our diets gluten free, low carb, and low sugar.  It is just so much healthier, I feel better and the kids do better.  But on vacations I allow myself to use many more convenience foods and serve more carbs than normal so I have a vacation from cooking and the kids can have some "treats".  So far this summer we have traveled to the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and a nearby mountain community.  Here is what I've learned from our travels:

Buy lots of "new to you" snacks and take them with you.  Don't let the kids see them ahead of time!  Watching cousins or fellow tourists eat treats you can't have is hard if you don't have something special too.  I purchased things like brown rice cereal bars (like Rice Krispy Treats), chips in little bags, an organic flavored popcorn, bottled water and juice, and some GF cookies to pull out when a special treat was warranted.  The kids were happy, grateful, and surprised.  They also liked banana chips, pistachios, cheese sticks, and trail mix.

I also got some treats for Tim and I at Trader Joe's that enabled us to have an indulgence but without chemicals and added junk.  We loved the dark chocolate peanut butter cups the best!

Bring things that will be hard to find on your trip.  Gluten free specialty items can be harder to find and very costly if they are sold.  I brought GF sandwich bread, raw almond butter, hard boiled eggs, organic fruit and cut veggies in a cooler on our road trip and we saved so much money.  We didn't have to purchase any snacks or drinks and we ate much healthier than if we stopped along the way.  It tasted better too!

We stayed in a rental home during our mountain vacation (thanks to my generous MIL) and we ate at home most meals.  I brought up things I knew I wouldn't be able to buy at the local grocery store.  I brought nitrate free hot dogs and bacon, homemade salad dressing without the chemicals, GF frozen pancakes, GF macaroni and cheese, quality nut butters, and organic produce.  Next time I will also bring deli meat as the only GF option had nitrates.

Restaurants can be hard.  Have a back up plan.  We planned on finding a GF restaurant on the way to the Grand Canyon but ended up eating at Mc Donald's.  There was just nothing else available.  Next time I'd have sandwiches ready instead of assuming we could find a suitable option.  Another day we planned on eating inside the Grand Canyon Park and all that was affordable were those sandwiches wrapped in cardboard and sealed with plastic like the ones you can buy at the gas station.  We spent way too much money for low quality food that no one enjoyed.  We would have been happier with a packed lunch.  Next time I'll pack enough snacks so we don't have to eat out if the options aren't appealing or within our dietary restrictions.

In the mountains we went out to dinner the first night and happened upon a pizza place that served GF pizza.  The kids and I shared a small 4 slice pizza and salad.  They were hungry and and not happy about their small pizza slices compared to the regular pizza others were eating.  We had already spent $65 on the meal so I wasn't going to buy more food.  If I had brought snacks with us, I could have supplemented the meal and it would have been a more enjoyable meal for everyone.  Hungry, tired kids are no fun to be around.

Bring more water than you think you'll need.  We never buy water bottles at home but the kids feel like they are getting a treat when we have them on a vacation.  We didn't bring enough water on either trip, however, so we didn't drink enough and ended up paying high prices for bottles on the road.  Next time I'll bring gallon jugs too.

We are now planning for our next trip and I am hoping to get it right this time!

Moneysaver:  Trader Joe's has great snack items without preservatives, chemicals, and HFCS that are well priced.  You can't beat Costco for bottled water prices.  I purchased some of our gluten free grocery items at iherb to save money also.