Better Food Options While Driving OTR?

Buy an electric cooler/fridge, something portable. Also buy a lunch box cooker and a Hibachi grill. Tons of info on social media for cooking on the road. Get recipes and plan your meals. Start with easy meals until you get the hang of it. The grocery store is your friend.

 

Before I bought a big bunk truck I purchased a cube freezer
Between that and my fridge I had enough room for quite a bit of food
I would then smoke all sorts of food when home and seal a meal it in small portions
Then It was easy to microwave it and still have a better meal for less $$

I still smoke but having the truck I do it’s much easier to cook with a small kitchen

Just by staying out of the Truckstop and diners and eating before 6pm I lost 25-30lbs
Wasn’t heavy but time of meals. Quality of food made a difference

 

My advise is to move to Wisconsin or Montana. Kwik Trip and Town Pump are my favorites.

Other than that, stay away from the big truck stop chains and collect a list of the good independents that have decent food.

Access to good healthy food in trucking gets a solid D minus grade.

 

Like so many of us who started our careers OTR the focus was on learning the dark art of driving a truck. What's for dinner wasn't even an afterthought. I put on almost 50 lbs the first year between the sedentary lifestyle and lots of fast food.

The trick is to have options. That means stocking up on easy, healthy options at your local grocery store where they're cheap and plentiful. A combination of not wanting to be mistaken for a homeless person while washing dishes in public restrooms, not wanting to get food poisoning from using a dish that was cleaned in a public restroom and not wanting to wake up to dirty dishes that aren't going to clean themselves mean I deal exclusively with paper plates and bowls and plastic silverware. The only, "dish" I bother with is microwaveable bowl for heating water and cooking mac and cheese. Cleanup is two drops of dish soap when it's 2/3rds full of water. Boil in the microwave, wipe with a paper towel and rinse off with water. No public restroom required.

I like oatmeal, unsalted peanuts, cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs (use the microwaveable bowl), mac and cheese, Hormel compleats (store at room temp), Hormel Square Table (must be refrigerated). Since you're out for weeks at a time you may want to invest in a quality 12v freezer for your truck so you can store more food. You can also restock on the road sometimes. Truck stops are traditionally in the boondocks, but as suburban sprawl expands into once sacred truck stop areas there are many locations where you can park the truck and walk a block or two (uber if you're lazy) and be in a WalMart Supercenter. Love's in Springville, UT; Love's or Pilot in Oak Creek, WI; Flying J in Kearney, MO; Jubitz in Portland, OR are all examples.

 

I have a small fridge and a toaster oven, and every Sunday (I’m home on weekends) I cook food for the week and put it in plastic containers. I make several omelettes for breakfast, seven minutes in the toaster oven (in an aluminum pie plate with a piece of foil over it) and I have a tasty breakfast.

I’m trying to slim down, so I broil up some chicken at home and cut it up and add it to a salad with spinach, tomato, onion, and hard boiled egg. Add some vinaigrette dressing and it doesn’t need anything further in terms of prep in the truck.

Other times I’ll bring chili, or spaghetti, or lasagna, or something else that’s easy to reheat in the toaster oven.

I also buy a bag of oranges every week.

Sometimes on the road I’ll stop at a grocery store (Walmarts are often the easiest) and buy a pre made sub sandwich, or a bag of frozen burritos (they cook great in the toaster oven).

I also have a water kettle for boiling water, I make coffee with a stainless steel French press. I also sometimes make instant oatmeal for breakfast.

 

Some drivers posted they use a crockpot and George Foreman Grill.
Can cook a meal in a crockpot while you're driving. When you're ready to eat, just pull into a rest area or whatever, and eat your hot meal.

 

Crock Pot or instant pot for the win. I very rarely eat fried food but if you do you could get some kind of air fryer. I’ve also seen a buddy who’d boil hotdogs & sausages in an electric kettle and you could get a toaster oven. The question is, how much room do you have and what do you like to eat?

 

Any reason that you don’t restock at Walmart/grocery stores?