Trying to make a big vat of slop to sustain me on the road so I don't spend a ton of money on glorp and fast food.
That’s like the worst road trip slop. Beans are basically bacterial culture medium and rice goes insanely bad without refrigeration.
Peanut butter is a good one, bread will keep pretty good in the car. Store bought jam will last a surprising amount of time outside the fridge.
A bag of apples and a jumbo can of creamy would be my go to though. Have some m&m style candy and raisins to put in there once it gets about halfway empty.
E: if you have oatmeal, I’d recommend the good and cheap granola bars. You can make em with anything really.
E2: take a whole ass read through all of good and cheap because it’s free and has plenty of batch recipes that you can probably make.
Had no idea beans went bad that fast wtf! I was thinking how in 'The Crossing' by RIP McCarthy, some families give them some old beans on the road and it's alright to be ate. In retrospect probably not the best way to plan my big decisions.
Those granola bars look stellar, though. Thanks for the idea!
Now if you got some canned pork and beans or whatever those are solid to store at room temp indefinitely and eat straight out of the can.
In fact, if I had to make an impromptu trip and had no chance to get the whip set up to live out of my happy ass’d be hittin the discount grocery and getting a weeks worth of prepared meals in cans. All that nasty stuff, spaghetti-os, chili, non condensed soups.
I’d be shittin weird but I’d be eatin’.
E: even condesed soups are fine as long as you make absolutely sure to drink a shit ton of water.
My thought is that I have an instant pot and hella dry goods already. I have been adequately scared off rice but I have some mason jars that fit in there and I'm going to prepare a few days of beans and make the granola bars someone else suggested. My grandparents are emptying out there pantry and will have plenty I can take away from them.
I could probably afford to spend more money than I'm planning to, but I don't have the biggest margin for the Summer and have historically been really bad at budgeting.
As a fellow instant pot canner: I always add acid to my low acid foods when using it. I’m using the max which seems to have more facility for holding temp.
Just for safety, I’d add sugar and vinegar to my beans if I were canning them in the ipm.
Lil brown sugar and acv and you’re almost canning baked beans!
Gotta get that remote thermometer so I can start recording recipes with some surety.
Oh you know it! I was gonna make refritos with a lot of hot sauce and garlic. Luv beans. Luv Acid. Luv sugar. Ate botulism. Simple as.
And salt. Salt is the most important thing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_activity
Ayyy just wanted to say I hunted down this post so I could make these granolies again for another trip and they are so good. Appreciate it!
you need a cooler. old people have them if you can ask to borrow, or go thrifting.
like the worst thing that can happen on a roadtrip is to get food poisoning don't fool around
Rice can cause food poisoning if not refrigerated. I would suggest something that travels better.
Badly. Peanut butter is better for a no refrigeration situation. You could add crackers to make it more interesting. Health-wise... you should try to eat vegetables regularly either way.
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, you can “spice” it up with fruit like bananas and apples.
Got a cooler, or can you borrow one? Just keep it cold and it'll be fine.
My go too road trip snack are yogurt or chocolate covered pretzels and trail mix, idk if you have like bulk options near you but that's how I stock up on the low.
Just hit up pizza and donut chain Store dumpsters along the way and eat more than you could ever imagine for free!
I see. Not sure how you’ve made it this far without starving to death in amerikkka but carry on soldier. Good luck on the road trip. o7
Most grocery stores will have scrap bread that they sell for real cheap in the bakery section. Better than the processed stuff, but can be crumbly for your car so use at your own risk. As well, if you do buy nuts or granola, don't buy them in prepackaged amounts, go to the bulk section and buy them from there (unless you are in really really poor and rural areas that don't have that convience). Otherwise, all the other advice I:ve read here has been solid.
Get some dehydrated refritos, a plastic container like an old peanut butter jar, taco seasoning and chips. You can add cold water, shake it up and then eat it in like 15 mins. Mashed potatoes and anything you can think to add in (like fried onions) also works well. Oatmeal (quick oats) can also be made cold on the road. Getting nuts and such from the bulk food idea can be good, they seem expensive at first, but it's a lot of calories and wont go bad.
As for your original question about rice it actually does cause food poisoning more often than people think from not reheating it :( I don't think the rice is worth the effort just get some cheap chips and eat the beans with those. You can also add some oil for more cheap calories, but don't overdo it (no more than like an oz per meal).
