Eating real on the road

We are leaving Friday for a camping trip, a few days in the metropolises of Springfield, IL and St. Louis, MO, then on to Lake of the Ozarks. We’ll be car camping: a tent, no electricity. We plan to hike, bike, kayak, raft, and tour caves and dams. Packing has been a bit challenging, due to all the variation. Eating will be as well. There are definitely some cool places to eat in Springfield and St. Louis. But I worry that the area around Lake of the Ozarks will be all fast food, cafeterias and diners. My goal is to eat out as little as possible. We should be able to have a good split by eating out in the cities (Springfield, St. Louis) and camping in Lake of the Ozarks.

Breakfast: Yogurt, oatmeal, bananas, green tea. I never eat hotel breakfasts. The oatmeal is fiberless, the eggs are hard as rocks, and the yogurt has chemicals in it. The worst is those waffles, what’s in that stuff? No, even worse, the breakfast sandwiches with 25 unpronounceable ingredients! If we get the opportunity we’ll buy other fruit on the road.

Lunch: I’ll bring along bread, pb&j, carrots and hummus in a small cooler to keep in the car for our day trips. I’ll also bring granola bars, trail mix, and some snacks: whatever’s lingering in the fridge & pantry. This should give us some flexibility to look for food, but have an option if we can’t find any.

Dinners: in the city, we’ll try some restaurants. Once we get to the campsite we’ll cook out. I’ve kept it as simple as possible, raiding our pantry for dry goods and canned goodies. Trader Joe’s makes meals that you boil in the bag, so we’re making jambalaya and Indian food that way. I’m leaving “veg” open, since the CSA box hasn’t arrived yet. And I made a batch of biscuit mix and tried bannock on the stove last night, it makes some nice heavy flat bread. I’ll mix in some garlic for the Indian food, it will be like bannock+naan=bannaan?

Menu (dinners):

Friday: road food. Have good options in Bloomington & Springfield…all three acceptable fast food joints have locations in each town.

Saturday: Plan to eat at Café Brio in Springfield. Look for my review on Yelp shortly after I get back!

Sunday: Out in St. Louis. My friend used to live there and recommends the Hill

Monday: Spaghetti: ground turkey, can sp sauce, finely chopped baby carrots, veg, pasta

Tuesday: Braised chix saug, jambalaya, greens

Wednesday: Smoked salmon, baked beans, pineapple, sautéed zukes or other veg

Thursday: Indian food and rice, veg, bannock (bannaan?). sorry, I’m an Indian food newbie…it’s the spinach and cheese, Palak Paneer, and then Kadhi Pakodi, dumplings in a yogurt sauce. I thought the box for Kadhi Pakodi was a curried chicken based on the picture. I know, that sounds really dumb, but when I bought it I thought I would be sending it to work with hubby! Meatless Thursday:)

Friday: On the road again…it’s a long drive back, about 8 hours. Panera, Chipotle, Noodles & Company…pb&j? I’m sure I’ll be happy to see my stove!