Walmart here I come!

Howdy !!! Gloria here. Nice to meet you.

We bought a microwave. Sometimes the truck he will be in has one, but if it doesn't, he has the microwave in our vehicle. He also has an electric strip, as sometimes the location where you can put the microwave securely is too far from the inverter. I give Rick leftovers and cooked food, but he is actually very easy to feed. He really likes those Hormel completes, which are easy and fast. Also, soups and items like that. Then he has breakfast stuff, snacks and fruit, as well as a lot of water. He always has cash so he can get some stuff to break up the norm.

Also remember that Walmart looks for any excuse to feed the drivers. There is a good reason why, when you get your uniforms, that they tell you to get them on the large side. There are cookouts for holidays of all sorts, cookouts for anniversaries, cookouts for birthdays, cookouts for safety milestones, cookouts for truck driving championships. Basically, a lot of cookouts. Rick loves it.

DC showers are usually very nice. They just remodeled the ones in Buckeye, but he has used them in Casa Grand and Apple Valley also.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. Sorry it took me so long to chime in, but I got behind. LOL

 

Ohhhh, thanks so very, very much, Gloria and Matt!!! All such excellent ideas

Unfortunately, Brian has some dietary restrictions I'm gonna have to navigate around. He has high blood pressure so I have to avoid feeding him pre-packaged foods because they are SO LOADED with SALT !!! They also tend to be counterproductive for folks who are trying to lose some weight, as he is. Although he is typically easy to feed because he will eat nearly anything that doesn't eat him first, I have to monitor Brian's diet pretty carefully. I also have to make sure he gets lots of fiber every day, so sending salads and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies is a must. (He had 12 inches of his colon removed due to diverticulitis about 10 years ago. Doc told him to stay out of truck stops and to eat lots and lots of fiber every day.)

Gloria, what kinds of cooked foods hold up the best for the duration of the entire week for you? There are never any leftovers around here, so I will be cooking foods for Brian to take with him almost exclusively. Like your Rick, he is good with cereal, milk and a banana for breakfast. I might have him buy his milk fresh everyday rather than trying to send and store it -- he drinks a quart or more daily! I will also be sending water with him. Come spring he will be wanting Gatorade also, if not before then.

Matt, like you, Brian won't be "eating out" much -- that's way too expensive for us. I've found a Coleman 40-qt cooler (thanks for giving me the size -- that made it easy to find!) for $127/free shipping on Amazon. Looks like the little fridge that he had borrowed once before. If he gets this job, that's the one I believe I'll get for him. And what types of meals does your wife freeze beforehand? I've never tried that, so I don't know what freezes/defrosts well without compromising the taste or textures.

I would also like to know how you deal with the dirty containers? (There is no way Brian is gonna be washing any dishes on the road.) Last time he was out I was wrapping individual portions of cooked meatloaf and chicken breast in plastic ziplocks and packing the wrapped foods in plastic containers. He took a loaf of bread with him and used the cold cooked meats to make sandwiches. It worked pretty well, but I need to find more variety for him. I will also be sending him a salad in a ziplock for each day.

I'm starting my Wish List, and I have Gloria's power strip and Matt's 40-qt cooler at the top of it. Again, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU !!!

 

Once again, Matt, you come through with gems of wisdom for me -- many, many THANKS !!!

Hopefully within a few months I'll be putting the excellent advice I've received from you and some others into practice. I just now finished submitting his application -- I started the process 12/28, but every time I thought I had all the info I needed, another question that I didn't know the answer for would pop up. That meant waiting until the next day to ask him about it so I could get it rolling again -- *whew* !!!

Thanks again, Matt!!!

 

Hey, Guys --

Brian just intimated his greatest concern to me -- I had no idea, because he simply is not a worrier. He is afraid that they won't like his age (58 -- he'll be 59 in March).

I spoke to Recruiting about it and I was told that "Walmart doesn't discriminate against people's ages, nor do they have mandatory retirement. She said that as long as drivers continue to pass the physicals that there's no problem.

I'm hoping that they will look at him in a positive light -- as having paid his dues with 36 years experience instead of "You're gettin' old, buddy ..."

 

What you were told by driver recruiting is true. You can continue as a driver as long as you maintain a current CDL and DOT medical certification. The average age of drivers here is like 46 years old. There are drivers still working here who are in their 70's!

 

Thank you, Tom -- I will tell him that, and I'm sure that it will make him feel better about it!

Are those Freightliners you guys are driving?

 

Mostly Freightliner and Peterbilt these days. It varies by DC as to what trucks are being used.

 

Thanks, Tom --

He's a Pete fan -- likes the power