I rarely hop in the car for a road trip without a bulk bought container of raw trail mix, Organic fruit leathers from Trader Joes, or home made fig bars. I assume that wherever the open road will be leading us will rarely provide a health food store or a vegetarian Organic café (at least not without pre-planning). Traveling as an eco-family can be, well…. hard, but not impossible. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I have been stuck in an airport or in a po’ dunk town with the only food to speak of consisting of Denny’s or Jack in the Box (or Jack in the Crack as my husband calls it!), and then I find myself staring down at a bowl of bland oatmeal and crappy coffee, or a lifeless salad consisting of wilted lettuce and carrot shavings (and definitely NOT Organic). And the kids are bombarded with horrible food like pancakes piled high with gelatinous strawberries covered in so much whip cream and syrup that their arms are swimming in it from the first bite to the last. I remember once when our family went to Denny’s the waitress was so excited to give our kids these funny flavor packets with cartoon characters on them, and told them to add it to their water. I quickly asked the kids to let mommy look at the packets first, and I turned them over to find the ingredients listing sugar (of course), chemical sounding ingredients and multiple color # ingredients. I gave the packets back to the waitress, with a polite, no thank you.

As Eco-parents, the ultimate goal is to provide our family with a healthy atmosphere and experiences that will teach our children how to live responsibly and care for our environment, but without removing the experience of living and in this case trav eling and seeing different places. We should be able to pack up the kids and go anywhere without being forced to eat chicken nuggets or drink sugary unhealthy drinks. It is actually pretty easy, it just takes some research beforehand and some creative thinking and planning.

So your takin’ a Road Trip:

There are a lot of resources out there now that give you a list by city of healthy vegetarian restaurants (even if your not a vegetarian you will find healthy food at these restaurants), health food stores, and in general healthy places to eat in their area. Here are a few:

www.VegDining.com

www.Happycow.net

www.Eatwellguide.org

www.vegetarianguides.co.uk (for Europe)

www.ivu.org

If you are visiting friends or family, a lot of times they will have heard of healthy places or business’ that provide a good eco-friendly atmosphere as well as possibly Organic Local foods. Some fast food restaurants that I personally recommend to try are Chipolte (http://www.chipotle.com) and Panera, both have good healthy foods that I have experienced. One of the quotes I like from the Chipolte website is “Since 2001, all of the pork served in our restaurants has been from pigs raised in this humane, ecologically sustainable way.” Chipolte offer’s a variety of burritos and tacos made with fresh ingredients and meat from humane and healthy farms. On Panera’s menu you'll find healthy sandwiches, soups, Crispani (flat bread pizza’s), hand-tossed salads, beverages and the Panera Kid menu, which features Organic cheeses and whole-grain breads. You can log on to Paneras website to help you locate one during your travels.

Even though eating is a fun and important part of a road trip, you don’t want it to become a hindrance to your trip, so it is important to be flexible and easy going, and be willing to be creative with wherever you end up. An example of this is, if you can’t find anywhere to eat but a Mexican restaurant, and everything on the menu doesn’t seem to fit your children’s healthy diet, why not just order a side of black beans and rice and some guacamole, and give it to the kids, they will love it!

Another very important part of a road trip is snacks. It can be quite the task to pack lightly when it comes to snacks, but I have a few suggestions for good kid healthy snacks.

You can buy this stuff in the bulk section at any health food store:

1. Trail Mix (w/ only dried fruit, nuts and/or carob chips)
2. Nuts and Seeds, such as pumpkin seeds, cashews, sunflower seeds, almonds, ect.
3. Dried fruit like apricots, raisins, mango, pineapple, figs, banana chips
4. Granola, any kind is good, I like the kind that looks like Grandma makes
5. Fig bars (they usually sell these in bulk if not Newman’s Organics makes a really good one)

Here are products to look for outside of the bulk bins

1. Wha Guru chews (look for these next to the power bars and such.)
2. Tofu Jerky
3. All fruit roll ups
4. Whole fruit like apples, bananas, oranges
5. Pita Chips
6. mini carrots
7. Zbars (made by clif bar)*fyi, don’t ever feed your children a whole clif bar, kids cannot digest them that is why they developed Zbars!
8. Soy milk or rice milk boxes, or Organic juice boxes (only for road trips as the packaging produces a lot of waste).
9. Stoneyfield Yogurt tubes (if you have a cooler)
10. Nori, seaweed strips. These may not look tasty to your little ones, but once my kids tasted it they loved it. It is a great alternative to potato chips and seaweed is extremely nutritious.

Here are some homemade things to bring along, you can find these recipes in my Eco-Kids recipe link.

1. Homemade Baked Tofu
2. Healthy home made cookies
3. Homemade fig bars
4. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches (of course!)

Here are some more tips and resources to think about and check into before your next trip.

• Some other places you might find healthy Organic foods and atmospheres are Bed & Breakfasts, Retreats, and Spas. For example the Stanford Inn by the Sea in Mendocino County, CA serves outstanding and nationally acclaimed vegetarian cuisine and will accommodate any dietary needs. www.stanfordinn.com And the Sweet Onion Inn, nestled in the Green Mountain National Forest of Vermont, boasts “Organic-Vegan Bed & Breakfast,” on their sign. http://www.sweetonioninn.com
• Buy the book Healthy Travel: Don't Travel Without It! by Michael P., M.D. Zimring and Lisa Ianucci, which lists healthy places to eat across the entire United States. You can buy it on Amazon for around $12.
• Think about a green travel company like the One Path Outdoor Adventure Hiking trips. http://www.onepathoutdooradventures.com They offer hiking trips and backpacking trips in California's beautiful wild places, specializing in Yosemite National Park and are experts in vegetarian eco-travel. Or the Green Tortoise Adventure Travel, they offer comfortable travel in their big green buses that is loads of fun for the whole family. One rider wrote on their site, Unbelievable! Amazing use of local, fresh produce in wonderfully tasty, healthy recipes. It's magical what is made from the side of the bus! They tour all over the US, so check them out at www.greentortoise.com