Lunch on the Run

Have you ever been away from home and hungry? Perhaps you don't know the area you are in or don't feel comfortable eating out.

I always advocate having food with you (in a purse, backpack, or briefcase). However, the contents of my purse last week consisted of various Hershey's kisses and fruit snacks. Not exactly a healthy lunch for a mommy and two little boys.
After shopping (while quite aways from home), we stopped in at a grocery store to go to the bathroom and get some lunch. We got a bag of Calidad tortilla chips, some sliced cheese, and some thin-sliced, pre-packaged turkey (we also bought some napkins, but we needed them at home anyways). We spent under $10 (pretty reasonable for an adult and 2 kids). After we started eating them, Braden said "Hey! This is just like a lunchable!" Yes, my dear, that's what Mommy was going for. It went over well, filled us up (with lots of chips to spare, and we left the extra meat at the fire station when we stopped to see Andy - but we wouldn't have had extra if the store had had the little packages of Buddig meats).

While the chips do tend to get little bits on you when you bite into them, it is an otherwise non-messy meal in the car (except for Carter - but he actually works hard to become messy). Some variations: grab a bag of pre-washed, fresh spinach (you can even skip the tortilla chips) or prepared salad greens; experiment with different meats and cheeses. How about roast beef and mozzarella cheese wrapped around a sun-dried tomato?

If you can get to a grocery store, you no longer have an excuse to go hungry. Life is good (it just takes a little bit of work and creativity).