I have a secret weapon when it comes to feeding my family while we are traveling. I use it every day and I have even given some away.
Using a portable oven in your car allows you to eat the same way you eat at home, on the road. These keep food hot, or even cook the food you pack, while you are driving. Pack the same meals you pack at home in glass or plastic containers and plug in the portable oven so the food will be hot when you are ready to eat.
With a portable oven you can heat food you have already cooked or you can cook food from raw.
My family and I have recently started eating less fast food, but we live pretty rurally so we need to pack food and eat while we are away from home.
We have been using the Hot Logic Mini for three years now almost daily.
We pack food into 3 or 6 cup rectangular glass food containers like these on Amazon. It is our own version of fast food. We can just grab a container and hit the road.
They have a 12 volt option and a standard plug version. I use the standard plug one at work. Every morning I drop in my food when I arrive and when I am ready to eat my food is already hot. We use another one in our van when we are traveling.
We heated up leftovers, pulled pork and breakfast sandwiches in it while we were on the road.
A hot meal in the car is so magical. We are used to just grabbing nuggets and fries when we are traveling, but a nourishing meal is so much more refreshing.
Ideas for Hot Meals on a Road Trip
So you have your portable food warmer of choice, and you have a trip scheduled. How do you plan meals that your family will enjoy that you can cook easily in the car?
I like to keep it simple, there are two options:
Make Ahead Road Trip Meals
Our portable oven makes it really easy to heat meals in glass Pyrex containers. We use 3 and 6 cup rectangular containers for family meals.
Because the capacity is so small you have to be creative about the hot portion of the meal. Some of the best things to prepare ahead for a family meal in the car have only a small hot portion. Here are my most successful ideas:
Tacos
Taco meat is very easy to prep ahead and makes a great hot meal in the car. Just heat the meat in the Hot Logic and pack tortillas and cheese.
I like lettuce and sour cream if you have the cooler space.
Breakfast Burritos
Batch cooking breakfast burritos is a meal prep classic. These things heat up beautifully in our portable oven. They do take awhile if you are heating them from frozen, so plan accordingly.
Nachos
Heating a nice mix of beef and cheese or refried beans and cheese make a delicious meal on the road. Pack tortilla chips and sodas for a meal just as satisfying as any fast food.
Mac and Cheese
I double batch my Mac and Cheese at home and pack a few away for hot meals at the playground with the kids. It heats up pretty quickly and it is something everyone likes. I usually add a few snacks like apples or applesauce too.
If we are running errands I will cheat and buy a bunch of chicken nuggets to go with the Mac and Cheese and it saves us a bunch of money.
These are my favorites, but there are really a lot more options for quick meals that you can prep ahead for a road trip. Pasta bakes, casseroles, chicken, frozen vegetables, we have even cooked steak from raw in ours. These are really great satisfying meals for any trip.
Grocery Store Road Trip Meals
The other route is to stop along the way and buy some meals and heat them as your roll down the road. Here are our favorite grocery store meals with a portable oven.
Cold Chicken
The cold chicken is usually cheaper than the hot chickens and they can be easily warmed in your Hot Logic.
You can put crispy things like chicken fingers right on the hot plate so they do not get soggy. Be sure to clean the plate with a paper towel or napkin once it is cool. The thing will stink if it is left dirty.
Frozen Meals
Frozen meals heat up much better than in the microwave in the Hot Logic.
Stick with things that are saucy like pasta and orange chicken.
Quesadillas
Tortillas again! Grab some tortillas and cheese and this makes a pretty satisfying meal. You can make it more hearty with beans and fresh salsa. Grab some sour cream and guac if you have the cooler space and the budget.
Wander around the grocery store and see what other ideas you come up with, we love frozen breakfast sandwiches, sandwich melts and burritos. If we are eating in the car we will choose one of these things.
It is so good to have an oven in the car, it just gives us options.
How to Pack Real Food for a Road Trip
Avoiding processed food on the road is a necessary struggle for many. There are an increasing number of people who cannot or choose not to eat highly processed fast food.
Our portable oven has saved us a bunch of money on road trips by allowing us to cook on the road.
We cook using our camp stove with cast iron skillet when we are stopped and the Hot Logic Mini when we are going down the road.
Budgeting
Stick to your normal grocery budget and add any food money you have budgeted for the vacation. Your normal grocery budget would have been spent at home anyway, so don’t feel bad for spending it on the road.
Meal Plan
Plan all three meals for the trip, but leave room for eating out. Research a few restaurants that you think your family can enjoy on your trip. Eating is a part of the vacation experience, and a break from making meals is usually something we look forward to.
There are quite a few ideas and meal plan tips in this post, so hop over if you are already in the planning stage.
Eating on a special diet requires research ahead of time, but there are almost always some options that can work. Breakfast is a great one for many diets as the components are often sold ala carte.
If eating out is not an option and you need to prepare and eat all of your meals from the car, it is possible if you have a solid meal plan and do some prep ahead of time.
Pack Meals
Pack meals together so they are easy to grab and prepare. Gallon ziplocs or some drawstring bags can really help keep things organized.
I like to keep an under bed storage box under the seats of my car with all the meal prep and food serving stuff in easy reach.
Make this as easy as you can on yourself. This is vacation!
Prep Meals
Prep some meals ahead of time and warm them in a portable oven.
Things like:
Breakfast Burritos
Baked Oatmeal
Pulled Pork
Taco Meat
Frozen Vegetables
Casseroles
Rice
All heat up well in the Hot Logic and give you a great foundation for a meal on the road.
Shop at Grocery Stores
You do not have to pack everything ahead of time, with the right tools you can cook almost just like at home when you are on the road.
So you can shop just like you are at home.
I love having everything I need with me at all times. I blame Herminone’s little bag and Mary Poppins Carpet Bag. These powerful magical women always had everything they needed everywhere they went. I treat my car the same way. I love to gear up the car so that we are able to go on an adventure at the drop of a hat.
If you are like me and you love Mom Van gear, check out this post with a few more cool gear ideas.
