Grain Free Summer Vacation Food Plan

Going on vacation for my family has always meant eating at restaurants.  Usually we made unhealthy food and drink choices. Camping for my family has meant “traditional family camping food” again usually unhealthy food and drink choices.  Both vacation and camping eating usually result in low energy, bad digestion, leading to more unhealthy food choices. Also eating fast food and at restaurants is expensive.

After a year of practicing Whole 30 and feeling great, I decided this vacation we would take our camper and stock it with healthy choices.  I would know that all of the food I ate would make me feel great. My family knew we had good tasting food in the camper, so they wouldn’t be tempted to eat fast food or other unhealthy choices.

The trip was for 6 days.  I selected 5 salads. Our vacation was planned for the end of June.  The weather was 80 to 90 degrees. I didn’t want to do much cooking inside the camper for our dinners due to the heat.  All 5 salads included meat protein. We were going on a physically demanding vacation with hiking and stand up paddle boarding adventures and needed to have lots of energy.

I selected these salads for their ease and their great taste.

BLT Salad. Meals Made Simple pg 104

Asian Sesame Chicken Salad  Whole 30 Cookbook https://www.whole-sisters.com/asian-sesame-chicken-salad/

Warm Taco Salad with Creamy Avocado-Cilantro Vinaigrette Meals Made Simple pg 102

Beef and Broccoli Slaw Lettuce Wraps Whole 30 Cookbook pg 48

Six Ingredient Chicken Salad Whole 30 Fast & Easy pg 22

I completed a shopping and preparation list for the trip which is available if you contact me by email.

I cooked the meat portion of the salads during the 2 weeks before we left.  I made double recipes of the meals we ate during those 2 weeks. I froze the meat in ziplock bags for our trip.  I purchased the vegetables for the first 2 dinners because the camping fridge isn’t very big. We shopped at the local grocery store to purchase ice, lunch meat, and the next 2 days vegetables for dinners.

For breakfast, lunch and snacks, I followed the Whole 30 travel guide, https://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-travel.pdf.  Our cooler included boiled eggs, canned tuna fish, cooked bacon, canned olives, whole 30 compliant condiments, dressings and fresh produce.   I kept a copy of the Whole 30 seasonal fresh produce guide https://whole30.com/downloads/seasonal-produce.pdf in my purse for my shopping trips to keep my costs down.

I felt great the entire trip.  My energy was great. I was up at sunrise every morning.  My family enjoyed the flavorful meals. They also enjoyed the stocked fridge whenever they were hungry.

My family’s favorite part of vacationing with the camper was lunch time.  We would stop to fill up with gas. Move to the side of the truck stop to make our lunches in the camper.  Everything they wanted or needed was right there. They had a great lunch and we all felt great after eating it.  Lunch time was fast, fun and cheap.

Whole Food Diet on a Budget

Eating a whole food diet can be expensive.  I learned some cost saving tricks. With my son in college, my daughter going to college in the fall, my family follows a food budget.  The tricks I learned allow us to eat healthy and stay within the budget.

These tricks can help you eat healthy without busting your budget.  I will post these tricks on this blog to share them with you. My money savings ideas are for Missoula, Montana grocery stores and a couple on-line stores. The concepts can be applied to your town grocery stores. Research your store’s sales and coupon systems and with planning these tools should work anywhere.

Free-range eggs are a big part of my family’s diet.  Our favorite brand cost $5.49 a dozen at most grocery stores in Missoula.  At the Missoula Natural Grocers I signed-up for {N}Power, the in store discounts program.  The free-range eggs through {N}Power pricing are $1.99 per dozen. We usually get 3 dozen a week. That would be $16.47 at most grocery stores.  At Natural Grocers in Missoula, the 3 dozen eggs with the {N}Power program are $5.97. That is a $10.50 savings every week or a $40 savings for our monthly budget.

Saving in areas like this where I can, allows my family to continue eating a whole food diet within our budget.