Good Eats On The Road

July has been a whirlwind of weekend road-tripping.

In less than 24 hours, Chris and I witnessed soccer matches at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA (USMNT vs. Haiti) and at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ (New England Revolution vs. New York Red Bulls).

My bike and I took a ride on the MBTA commuter rail for a solo beach day in Manchester-By-The Sea.

And we grinned through our favorite weekend of the year with friends and family at the Newport Folk Festival.

This photo is from the NY Times, I didn't take it!

And this photo is stolen from Matt. Thanks, Matt!

Although I deeply enjoy discovering local restaurants (and my husband is really excellent at finding them), jam-packed adventure trips tend to allow little time for eating good meals out. I loathe to sacrifice quality for convenience. After many a hangry road trip, I've nailed down a few strategies that keep me well-fed amid organized chaos on the road.

1. The cooler is my friend.
With all the tailgating we do for Revs games, our hard-walled cooler pretty much lives in the car during summer. I use it like a refrigerator on the road. I'm able to pack perishable items as long as we periodically stop at a gas station to refill our ice and drain out the cooler. The bonus of owning a smaller soft cooler and an insulated grocery bag makes it easy to carry along lunch and snacks on our outings. I also make serious use of hotel mini-fridges and abuse the hotel ice-machine. Thanks to this strategy, I never have to leave home without my yogurt and fresh fruit. No crappy granola bar breakfast for me!

2. Book AirBNB whenever we can. 
And we look for places that have a full kitchen, with a refrigerator and a stove. Having a super rental house at Newport Folk Festival allowed me to...

2. Make ahead and freeze meals to heat up.
I have a few go to meals that I can have ready and frozen. This enchilada recipe and this veggie burger recipe are among my favorites and are pretty quick to heat up.

When an oven or microwave isn't an option, I stick with a few favorite sandwiches that hold up well over the course of a day.

This summer, I've been loving a tempeh bacon BLT.

From the olden days of Asphalt Kitchen 1.0 (way back in 2011), here's a left coast veggie sandwich

and the farmer's lunch sandwich.

Portable, hand held, and delicious. Everybody wins.

3. When in doubt, Whole Foods salad bar.

Chris and I used to go out of our way on road trips to track down sweet little diners and cafes for our lunch stops. But even enlisting the luxurious 21st century assistance of smartphones with Google Maps and Yelp, we still encountered challenges finding something quick we both felt good about. Then, on one long drive home from visiting my family in NJ, we passed a highway sign for Whole Foods and pulled off the road. I got to raid the epic salad bar for tofu and sprouts and sweet potato and wild rice and kale washed down with kombucha (I fully acknowledge that I sound like a snobby yuppie/hippie right now). Chris got a handmade veggie burrito with ALL OF THE TOPPINGS. We both returned to the car full and content. And thus, the tradition of the Bean and Chris Whole Foods Road Trip Lunch Stop was born.

4. Always say yes to the local ice cream joint.

You will never have to ask me twice if I want to stop for ice cream on a summer road trip. I will eat an ice cream cone every single day in the summer.

As we head off on the road again for a real, true, honest to goodness vacation on the Cape, you can bet I have already made and frozen some dinners. The cooler is waiting to be packed. Here we go again!

I will leave you with this - the (#nofilter) view from my Saturday morning pre-festival long run in Newport, RI. It may be brutally hot outside right now, but I will take summer morning runs like this forever.