My husband is a truck driver and has to eat on the road, usually while driving. Does anyone know of any sandwiches or other finger foods that does not have to be refridgerated? He can't take a cooler with him as he doesn't have the room. He also needs to lose weight and doesn't have a lot of time to exercise. The only thing I can do to help is send his food with him. Thanks if anyone can help. annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), April 23, 2000

Answers

I don't know what kind of food he likes but this is always a nice change for us. I like a nice vegetable sandwich. Take a potato peeler and peel carrot slices on the sandwich, with cucumber,green pepper, tomato, lettuce, etc.. It really is good!! Then chop up celery, carrots, brocolli and cauliflower in bite size pieces, add fat free Itallian dressing and toss them in a snack, zip lock bag. It's a nice treat even by my computer, instead of the chocolate peanut m & m's I prefer. My husband used to drive city bus and he needed his hands free all the time for driving to. Anything different he enjoyed!! A thermos of ice tea or on hot days, cold orange juice. Watermelon or oranges already in bite size pieces, just ready to grab. Use your imagination.

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), April 23, 2000.

First of all, does he have room for a lunchbox? Because there are some small "coolers" now that are hardly bigger than a lunchbox, and you can put a small blue ice thing in with the food. What I do if I know I'll have to eat away from home, and can't keep the food cool is carry things like vegetable sticks, boiled eggs still in the shell (they won't spoil between morning and lunchtime, but if he's driving he wouldn't want to peel them), bread and butter sandwiches, crackers, granola bars, chunks of hard cheese and hard sausage (not good for dieting, though), cream cheese in a tub won't spoil that quickly --but again, not good when he's driving.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 23, 2000.

Those raw baby carrots are really tasty and will be fine for half a day without refrigeration. Also, celery stalks cut up to three inches long are easy to eat. Cherry tomatoes, radishes, grapes, figs, fresh shelled nuts like almonds, walnuts and filberts, peanut butter sandwich or with jelly on lite bread or rice cakes, fresh fruit such as apples, pears, peaches, and plums. I think one of the things is to have some things like these to nibble at all times. They don't add a lot of calories and they help curb the desire to be eating which I am sure is pretty strong when you are driving. It is part of dealing with the boredom. Also, even though it may be a pain in the butt for him to have to stop, it is important to drink a lot of water. This helps to feel full and it helps flush the toxins out of the body. I also liked to snack on air popped popcorn when I was dieting. You can eat quite a bit of it and it is not high in calories. If you have to use butter, use some of the spray, "I can't believe it is not butter". It tastes good on popcorn and it has zero in calories. This helped me lose weight when I was on weight watchers. Good luck.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), April 23, 2000.

Colleen already stole all my good answers: baby carrots are already peeled and washed, fresh fruit, an apple and a piece of cheese is very good and filling. Celery dipped in peanut butter(just enough for taste). LOTS of water, but that's hard when you're on the road.

-- Peg (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), April 23, 2000.

My DH is also a truck driver but he is allowed and has room to take a cooler with him but he tires of always eating sandwiches as they usually do not have time to stop or access to a microwave. another idea that my dh has used is to make soups and stews (low- fat) esp in the winter time for a different type of menu and a warm meal. Also things like jello and cottage cheese will also keep for a few hours. to keep gelatin firmer put one Tblsp in a 3 oz box when mixing it. One other thing that dh likes as a snack is homemade low- fat granola bars and also soynuts is a nice different taste for a snack. I don't eat also of sandwiches as I am vegetarian. Where do you write from?? I am in S Dakota and no my dh is not a oTR drive drives approx a 500 mile radius of our home so is gone 1-3 or 4 nights/week. Any other tips from a trucker's wife. Yes we feel like we are widow's at times, esp when it comes to raising a family but our daughters willing be leaving soon. Wait to hear your advice, Good eating in SD. God BLess, ckksdgal

-- ckksdgal (ckrein@taz.sdsmt.edu), April 28, 2000.