3 great reasons to bring a whole food smoothie on the road and how to make it, delicious.

Speaking of Love/Hate, my relationship with hotel breakfast buffets is just that. While my men snap up pancakes, bacon, and sausage like their momma never makes it for them, I have kept my fingers crossed that there is a ripe piece of fruit. While my men fit right into the all-you-can-eat rush of baseball teams, vacationing families, and a business traveler scattered here and there, I have stayed in the hotel room and asked them to bring back that ripe piece of fruit. I love that my men are happy and I hate that my banana is green.

A whole food smoothie contributes to a calm environment on the road.

There are plenty of on-the-go smoothies in a powdered form that just need to be mixed with water. I mix my own dry ingredients into a sandwich ziplock for easy transportation. That’s easy enough but dry alone is better suited for eating as a snack or post-workout boost. To make a smoothie a meal, it needs real food like fruit and leafy greens and a blender. This Hamilton Beach Personal Blender with Travel Lid is ~ $15, does the job, and is relatively compact. Pack these or purchase them on the road. You’ll also want ice and a refrigerator or cooler. An Insulated Drawstring Backpack Cooler Bag packs easily and works in a pinch.

A whole food smoothie is a nutritious and complete meal.

Speaking of meals, eating out for every meal while traveling is costly. Let’s say you decide to skip the buffet for the restaurant down the road which has a complete menu to include nutritious options. Those options will cost plenty of money. The time it takes to drive there, wait in line, order, eat, wait for the check, and drive back, will cost plenty of time.

A whole food smoothie saves time and money.

But I’m on vacation! It’s time to throw caution to the wind! No worries about nutrition, time, or money! Really? Our family has walked down that road only to have burned time in a restaurant when we would rather be at the beach. Or we’ve burned money on a mediocre meal when we would rather spend it on a cool shirt. Or we’ve earned upset stomachs and lethargy when we would rather be light and energetic on the beach wearing our cool new shirt.

How do you eat when you travel? Do you bring smoothies or other foods? How do you manage food costs while traveling? Any other tips?

Hope your day is smooth(ie) sailing ~~~~~~~~ Angie Mc

31 thoughts on “3 great reasons to bring a whole food smoothie on the road and how to make it, delicious.”

  1. It does help that I try to pick hotels that are known for having a good variety for breakfast, but also too at least a fridge in the room helps. Since I have started clean eating, sometimes it is easier for me to just go shopping and have a few things in the room. I also make sure I have sacks that are appropriate for what I eat.

    I am doing stuff like a banana with almond butter (think peanut butter but with almonds instead). My wife also makes plain yogurt with chia seeds (let it sit overnight in the fridge to soften the seeds) and they you add whatever fresh fruit. Both offer the right mix of calories, fruit and protein that the body needs.

    Eating healthy though is flat out more expensive. Doesn’t matter if you are shopping or eating out – you will have to get used to the idea of paying more. However given how I am physically feeling, I would say it is 100% worth it.

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    • I’m right there with you, Vic! I love almond butter (have you seen the individual packets for easy travel?) and am enjoying it on rice cake thins, YUM! I’m a huge chia seed fan, too. While at Whole Foods I saw some new “puddings”. The one is chia, coconut milk, and mango puree. The other is chai tea (not sure what else). I’ll make more of these different flavor mixes at home. the little “pods” were *so* expensive! I’m glad that our families can cheer each other onto healthy happiness 😀

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    • Big breakfasts used to be my FAVE! Oh how I miss one complete with biscuits and gravy! Why don’t carbs and gluten love me the way I love them ?! 😉 Happy Sunday, CC 😀

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  3. I had to change my lifestyle after I got diagnosed with RA. I researched it a little bit and found out that food can trigger it. I scratched a lot from my diet, especially dairy and eggs, what was not as easy thing to do. I bought a nutribullet and it became my best friend. Every morning I have a smoothie with Spinach or Kale, Blueberries, Banana and coconut mild. I love it now even more than my “old breakfast”.

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  4. I’m not a huge fan of breakfast buffets either. Well, let me rephrase that–they’re tasty and often full of yummy pastries, and because of that, I try to be careful with them. If not, we could consume our entire day’s calories on breakfast alone. I’ve never brought my own food (that’s cool about your smoothies!), but I can usually find fruit, yogurt, and granola in the buffet. Or oatmeal. I love a great bowl of oatmeal.

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    • Exactly, Carrie. When I needed to go lower carb and no dairy, that was the final blow to my buffet strategy because I, too, used to count on their yogurt and granola or oatmeal. Oh, I used to be able to eat the hard boiled eggs, too. Now…I’m hungry for steel cut oats, yummy 😀 Happy Sunday!

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  5. I’ve never been a big lover of breakfast foods. I don’t hate them, I just prefer lunch and dinner foods. So I may opt for a muffin or something simple when I stay at a hotel. However, when we drove from Idaho to WV a few years ago, I found myself filling up on breakfast food more often. Not knowing for sure how long it would be before we stopped or what we would find when we did, that coupled with snacking along the way, I guess I figured I wanted to have had something on my stomach. Aside from that, when we travel for day trips, we just have snack foods for a lot of the day and usually will stop for an early, nice sized dinner.

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    • When our children were young and I didn’t have dietary limits like now, what you described was our travel plan. Fill everyone up with the buffet breakfast, snack all day, eat a decent meal at night. Crossing state lines is long and looking forward to a nice dinner helps. Happy Sunday, Jenny 😀

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  6. Oh shit. I loooooove breakfast buffets. I can eat a weeks worth of food at a buffet. Sometimes I fantasize about being married to a breakfast buffet but I’d probably eat myself to death in a year. And it’s probably not legal anyway. The government hates our love.

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  8. I worked at hotels with expansive breakfast bars..still, when someone came to me and seemed lost, I’d send them to a salad bar in a plush supermarket down the road..fresh fruits and berries in season, greens,nuts and seeds, etc. With your mini blender…they’d be set. Good idea.☺

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  9. a smoothie on the road sounds so good, what an idea. When I was on my extended road trip I rarely ate out. I made a little kitchenette out of the back of the van. I ran a small crockpot off my electrical box but other than that I ate foods cold except on weekends when I found bbq’s. Now that I’m back traveling with my family they don’t understand about enjoying the journey. I want to stop places, take photos, stay in a motel and relax so I can stop more places the next day. This year they’ve decided we’re picking up one of my daughters early from work…12:30am. Are they serious. They’re killing me. They be no stopping to enjoy the view, no photos and no smoothies. I understand they want to see their dad, he’s very sick with cancer so i’ll go along. Someday we’ll take a real road trip again.

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  10. Angie, I try to find a nearby farmers’ market if possible to supplement whatever food I can bring (in the car, it’s a lot; flying, I’m limited). I also bring my own coffee and coffee maker, but that’s because I’m a little obsessive about that, especially if it’s a destination marathon. Can’t afford “issues” on those weekends!

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  11. When I was on the road my expense account covered everything and a great benefit if you can get it. Outside of that I would stick with the fruit that was available, green bananas, apples, and oranges. Although, I had been guilty of partaking of the buffet when they had waffles. I love those belgian waffle makers and it is not a worthwhile buffet without one.

    Keeping nutrition bars and protien bars on hand at all times makes it loads easier as well. Proper prior planning prevents potential problems.

    Regards,
    Clifford T Mitchem
    Advocare Distributor
    Nutrition + Fitness = Health
    http://www.AdvoCare.com/13087657

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    • Belated thank you for your reply, Cliff. You nailed it about traveling with nutrition bars of all stripes. And funny waffles, when I was still eating gluten I did love them but as I’ve mentioned my dislike for hotel breakfast buffets in general, you can imagine my dislike for *cooking* at them. Yep, my men make their own waffles. And do tell, why do you eat green bananas?

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    • Thank you for your positive feedback and for noticing that I’ve been redecorating and reorganizing my online house, ~in 😀 ~~~~waving to you in Guam and happy Friday!

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