In A Whole Food Plant Based Road Trip Part One I shared about the food, products and other items we packed into our cooler and Subaru. One thing that got the most responses was the RoadPro Stove that plugs into the power source in the car. Since I packed so much awesome homemade food we only had the opportunity to use the RoadPro Stove one time but it worked incredibly well. I was so pleased with the outcome. When you are on a road trip you sometimes find yourself in the middle of no where at meal time with few or no options for a healthy meal that is also vegan. If you plan ahead a hot meal can be cooking while you are driving down the road taking in the scenery. How cool is that?
I bought this from Amazon and since we have Amazon Prime it was here in two days! We plugged it in prior to vacation just to see how hot it would get and we were pleased to see it really heats up! I learned about this from the Plant Fueled Trucker. He is an amazing roll model for following a whole foods plant based diet even though he has to cook his meals in his truck while he is driving cross country making delivers. If he can do it so can we!
You can purchase the small aluminum bread pans that fit inside the RoadPro Stove. We bought an extra set from Amazon but you can also purchase them at the grocery store, Walmart, Target and the 99 cent store.
The foil pans are bendable so hubby Tom kind of stretched it out and bent it to fit the inside of the stove. One of my favorite fast meals at home is to make a Mexican stuffed baked potato. Since I had all the ingredients with me it seemed like a good idea for the travel stove but this time I decided to make it like a casserole. The potatoes were cooked in the electric pressure cooker that we took with us. I took about 3 cold cooked potatoes from the cooler and diced them up along with some frozen corn we bought at a grocery store near the hotel. Be sure to pack a light weight cutting board and a sharp knife.
Then I added a box of black beans, rinsed and drained (I took a small colander with me) seasoned with some ground cumin and garlic powder and about a cup of low sodium salsa from Trader Joe’s. In baggies are fresh lime wedges and cilantro which we put in an insulated bag so we wouldn’t have to get back into the cooler for them at lunch time. We also had individual packets of Vegan Nacheez Sauce. They are a tasty flavor boost to have when you are traveling and can be used to dress up so many plain foods you might end up ordering in a non vegan restaurant. If you order steamed rice and veggies top it with Nacheeze. A plain baked potato or plain rice, a veggie taco all become more delicious with a little Nacheez. I love these packets! You can purchase them here at Nacheez Dairy Free Nacho Style Cheeze Sauce.
We covered the casserole tightly with foil. Closed the lid and it was ready to heat up. Only problem was hubby put the stove on top of the suitcases as he wheeled them to the car using the hotel rolling luggage cart and the stove fell off the suitcases onto the parking lot. The lid stayed closed but the contents of the casserole got a little tossed! No worries as it was still fine.
About an hour before we wanted to stop for lunch I plugged the stove into the cars power source. It heats up to about 350 degrees so I figured an hour would be about right. This is what it looked like when we opened it up. It didn’t look too bad considering it had been dropped! The Mexican casserole was piping hot and smelled delicious. It was too windy where we stopped to eat our lunch to sit outside so we made do eating in the car.
We had paper bowls and plastic forks ready as well as hand towels to spread across our laps to catch any spills. It was windy and chilly outside but here we were in our warm car enjoying a hot meal! We divided the casserole contents into two bowls, topped them off with our garnishes and dug in! Comfort food on the road and healthy too. I still remember how wonderful this tasted.
The RoadPro Stove is actually a pretty handy item to have for road trip travel if you are only feeding two people. One reviewer of this stove wrote that they found a metal bread pan that fit inside the stove so they didn’t have to buy disposable ones. That is thought – although I was happy not to have to wash a dirty dish!
I am really pressed for time but I have more to share about how I cooked in the hotel rooms and what kind of meals we pulled together using the food I brought along. I am in the middle of a huge painting project in my house so my computer time is limited these days. I will be doing yet another post about eating healthy while on a road trip. Stay tuned for part three!
Feel free to share any of your own tips and suggestions for how you eat healthy while traveling.
Happy Travels,
Tami
Sabine
That stove is an ingenious idea. You planned everything so well, Tami!
Tami
Thank you Sabine – the food worked out really well on that trip!
Laurie Thomas
What a fantastic idea Tami! I am in my little car though, so I don’t think plugging this in is going to be an option. Any ideas are welcomed though.
Joan
Tammi, you mentioned that you heated the good up to 350 but on Amazon it started that the road pro only heats to 300. Just wondering which one is correct.
Thanks for sharing all your tips about food for traveling. I really like your ideas.
Joan
Tami Kramer
I may have missspoken if Amazon says 300 degrees then it must be right. So sorry. It does make our sweet potatoes and they are so good to have hot on a road trip!
Joan
Hi Tami,
I looked up the Nacheez nacho cheese space and it wasn’t Abby available on Amazon and their personal website said it wasn’t available either.
Are you still able to get it?
Joan Asaad
Tami Kramer
I guess she doesn’t have a manufactorer for it right now so it’s not currently available. So sorry!
Joan
Hi Tami,
Enjoyed all your travel ideas and looked into the road pro over. Wondering about the max temperature because it said it only goes up to 300, but you mentioned it heated to 350??
Also I wanted to get that Nacheese Naco Style cheese but it said no longer available and Anazin didn’t have it.
Thanks for all your great ideas. I plan to implement some of them.