food on the road

[codemonkey]

My husbad and I will be driving from san diego to colorado this weekend to pick up our kids who've been visiting their grandparents. It's a 16 hour drive. We're still pretty new to vegetarian eating in restaurants and aren't sure what our options will be in the desert wasteland that is utah (there are nice, civilized parts of utah but we'll be driving through the crappy part.). Anyway, I was wondering if you could list some fast food or chain restaurants that typically have vegetarian meals. We know about the veggie burgers at burger king and chili's is pretty accomidating but I'd like to have lots of options just in case.

[IamJen]

There's always Taco Bell. :lick:

Actually, if you eat dairy, you can get something vegetarian in many places, I've found.

[Eclipse]

Your post make me think you were going to get road kill.

[purrpelle]

i travel -mostly driving- a lot, and as a vegan i found that the best places to eat are usually grocery stores. most have salad bars nowadays. I can never find a taco bell, ever.

one thing that saves me is soymilk boxes- half of one is good for coffee and cereal.

[faded_amaranth]

The first half of the book Meatless Meals for Working People tells all the veg*n options for most restaurant chains in America, if you order it from Amazon you could probably get in time. If you don't want to buy the book, here
http://www.vegcooking.com/VegFastFood.asp

[cftwo]

I often get a veggie sandwich at Subway. Taco Bell is my second choice. You can usually get a veggie pizza somewhere, too . Many restaurants have veggie burgers these days (I don't know the western equivalent of Eat 'n Park, but they have basic american food, a decent salad bar, a veggie burger, and spaghetti with marinara on their menu - someplace like that). I always pack Luna Bars, trail mix, those single-serving fruit cups, and bottled water in case I get desperate.

But grocery stores, and a cooler in the car are often the best (healthiest, tastiest, cheapest).

[codemonkey]

The first half of the book Meatless Meals for Working People tells all the veg*n options for most restaurant chains in America, if you order it from Amazon you could probably get in time. If you don't want to buy the book, here
http://www.vegcooking.com/VegFastFood.asp

Since we're leaving tomorrow, I won't have time to get the book, but that website is exactly what I needed. Thanks!

[codemonkey]

They don't have a veggie burger or veggie dog at sonic, do they? Their tater tots are the bomb.

[chiaraluna]

This one's good, too:

http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/OtherInfo/FastFoodRest.htm

[troub]

i travel -mostly driving- a lot, and as a vegan i found that the best places to eat are usually grocery stores.

qft.
ive made many a pit stop at grocers for snacks.

[rabid_child]

Any sandwich shop should be able to make a veggie sandwich. Places like Brueggers will make a bagel/hummus/veg sandwich for you.

[rabid_child]

Any sandwich shop should be able to make a veggie sandwich. Places like Brueggers will make a bagel/hummus/veg sandwich for you.

[surya]

Vegan lunchbox (http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/) is one of my favorite blogs, and you're in luck: the latest post is on road food!

[4EverGrounded]

This is very old information because it's been forever since I've been through that area, but:

It depends on which route you're taking. If you're going San Diego through Arizona and up that way, you might have a few options.

Rip Griffin's is NOT a good option, period. Unless you like white lettuce salads or veggies swimming in LOADS of butter. Love's truck stop has Taco Bell in it but there's not much in Buckeye itself. I've heard there's some new stuff near Jackrabbit road, but I haven't been back in there since it was built so I couldn't tell you what they've got there. Off of Litchfield and/or Dysart there's some good options as well for fast food and sit-down.

As you get more into Pheonix, there will be more options although it's pretty much fast food along the highways. However, if you're planning on taking the 101 loop to connect to I-17, I've heard there's a Mongolian BBQ somewhere in the Arrowhead mall but that's just a rumour (although there's some really good eating at Arrowhead to be found anyway and it's pretty well marked with easy on and off should you decide to venture there).

Once you get north of Flagstaff, there won't be that much at all that I remember, so taking a packed cooler wouldn't be a bad idea at all. IIRC, there are Taco Bells, McDonald's and maybe Subways up that direction but again, it's been forever since I've been in that area so memory is really fuzzy.

In Utah, I remember there's not that many vegan options but probably some duable veggie choices depending on where you are. In Utah, they're mad about pink sauce for their fries which is a mixture of ketchup and mayo so if you don't do eggs, you might avoid that condiment. Otherwise, the last time I was in Utah there were a lot of Mom & Pop places and it's really hard to tell what's duable and what's not without being there in person. Larger cities like Salt Lake City and Park City will obviously have more choicees, but I don't remember any of them right now. :(

Anything further than Utah, I have no memory of at all so you're kinda on your own there. :no:

Hope that helps a bit. :)

[codemonkey]

We're actually only going to be in arizona for a little while. We're going through las vegas and then up through a tiny corner of arizona and we'll be spending most of our time in Utuh until we get to colorado. We'll have to make sure we get plenty of munchies along the way so we don't go hungry driving through the desert wasteland. I actually knew about the fry sauce. I actually started avoiding mayo LONG before I went vegetarian so that's easy. Mayo is a heart attack in a jar.

[jonjan]

how about some fruits and nuts?

[codemonkey]

The trip actually went pretty well. One of the places we got gas had containers of fresh veggies for sale so those and some fritoes were our munchies for a big chunk of the trip. Burger Kings are plentiful so we ate a lot of burger king. The only place that didn't have very much veggie food was Estes Park in Colorado, which is kind of a lousy place for a vegetarian to visit anyway (every other shop was filled with leather and fur and stuffed dead animals.) We finally found a restaurant that had some good looking vegetarian stuff but it was a half hour wait for a table. And subway had a line around the building (I'm just not gonna wait that long for a veggie delight.) So we drove back down the mountain and ate at burger king again.

Oh, and greeley, colorado is kind of a lousy place for a vegetarian to visit too. An aweful stench hangs over the whole town from all the slaughterhouses nearby. Nasty. There was vegetarian food to eat other than burger king though. We've fallen in love with Noodles and Company. The in-laws were less enthusiastic.

[GNUmoe]

I just went on a trip. I brought unsweetened tea and larabars. :smitten:

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

I just went on a trip. I brought unsweetened tea and larabars. :smitten:

I guess that'd be great for a short trip, but um... most people (everyone) needs more nurishment than a couple larabars for the day.

[froggythefrog]

One thing I can recommend is making an icechest full of fresh spring rolls with tofu... Makes me wish I could just run over there and teach you how to roll them...

[Tesseract]

One thing I can recommend is making an icechest full of fresh spring rolls with tofu... Makes me wish I could just run over there and teach you how to roll them...
I'm making my next road trip with Froggy!! :bobo: While we're at it, let's make some veggie sushi and stick that in the cooler too, eh? As an added bonus, I already know how to roll spring rolls, tho I'm a bit out of practice...

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

...I'm making my next road trip with Froggy!!

As long as I get to come along too.

(For the record, Froggy makes amazing spring rolls)

[codemonkey]

Oooh, that sounds good! Ya got a recipe? The sushi I can do but I haven't tried making spring rolls.

[froggythefrog]

Pretty simple, actually. Use a peeler to slice some daikon radish and carrots into really small thin strips. Remove the stem from some leaf lettuce (don't try to use iceberg or any other round lettuce). Cook some rice vermicelli and immediately immerse in cold water when done (to keep it from sticking together in clumps), let it cool, then pat dry. Pull some fresh mint and cilantro leaves from the stems. Cut firm tofu into tiny rectangles. Take some spring roll wafers (Vietnamese Bangh Trahn, I think, which you can in at most Asian markets or possibly in an HFS... Albuquerque has a large Vietnamese population) and use a pastry brush to spread a thin layer of water on both sides of the wafer. Once it is soft and pliable, arrange ingredients all going the same direction onto the wafer. Make sure you've left enough space for folding the wafer. Fold the the top and bottom of your future spring roll over, allowing it to overlap your ingredients. Begin folding the spring roll from the side, like you're going to make a very tight burrito. Actually, roll it like you're rolling a sleeping bag for camping, only length-wise. Your final result should look like a translucent white spring roll. If it's holding together well, put it in a plastic container to go on your trip. If you mess up, and it's not holding together, go ahead and eat it. Bring some peanut sauce, or srirachan sauce along with you on the trip as a condiment.

[4EverGrounded]

*secretly puts herself on the "road trip with tofu, tess and froggy" list. :deal: