A main disadvantage of truck driving on a long journey is the lack of a delicious home cooked meal. While most drivers have the to think strongly about the items, they pack in their cooler it can be difficult to think of out of the box meal ideas. With these simple recipes the average truck driver can get creative while cooking and still not worry about the lack of space to store the necessary ingredients. We are looking out for our drivers by coming up with some easy and tasty meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner that can be made from inside the truck.
Breakfast
Parfait– A parfait is one of the most popular items at McDonalds breakfast and the ingredients are quite simple. A parfait consists of three main ingredients, Yogurt, Fruit, and granola. A good parfait is made with equal parts of each ingredient. We suggest using dried cranberries opposed to fresh fruit as dried cranberries are a non-perishable food and can be enjoyed as a snack as well as mixed into your breakfast parfait. Granola is also non-perishable food so out of this breakfast meal only yogurt will need to be stored in your cooler. This simple meal can easily be enjoyed while actively driving or enjoying a thirty-minute break to avoid deadhead and as an added bonus the only thing required to enjoy this is a bowl and spoon!
Ham and Cheese Omelets:
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and often the most overlooked. To start a long drive after a hearty breakfast is sure to provide more energy for the driver. To prepare this simple meal only requires an electric skillet, eggs, ham and cheese. Mix the eggs in a bowl and pour into the skillet. I suggest using some basic fully cooked ham which can typically be found in the lunch meat section of your local grocery store. Cut the ham up into little pieces, pour in ham top with some cheese and flip. I recommend using cheese sticks for the cheese as they are a good snack and taste just as good in an omelet. Some might prefer a dash of salt and pepper; my recommendation is to grab a few packets at the gas station as the packaging is small and can provide seasonings for a few days without taking up additional room in the truck.
LUNCH
Rotisserie Chicken Wrap:
For a filling lunch we created a recipe that all drivers are sure to love. Easy to prepare and even better to enjoy. This simple recipe requires rotisserie chicken, string cheese, spinach and a tortilla wrap. If you want to get a little fancy with it you can use a plain low fat Greek yogurt which will tie all the flavors together and will guarantee a healthy and flavorful lunch using minimal ingredients. An added bonus is that there no needed cooking appliances.
Spinach and Chicken Salad with Hard Boiled Egg:
Being on long drives can create more of an opportunity for drivers to get into the habit of eating unhealthy meals. Being in a semi for 11 hours a day is not an excuse to eliminate veggies from meals. This simple salad requires only spinach, rotisserie chicken, hard boiled egg and string cheese. If you want to get a little fancy with it, I’d consider adding some dried cranberries to provide an additional dash of flavor. Best part is that no cooking is involved and we’re still utilizing the same minimal ingredients.
Dinner
BBQ Chicken Sloppy Joe
One of the best parts of using rotisserie chicken on a long drive is that you can turn the leftovers into a delicious version of sloppy joes. Since the texture is quite comparable there isn’t as much of a difference as one might think. The only thing required for this is a slow cooker, although you could probably use an electric skillet as a good option as well too. If you only have access to an electric skillet, I recommend throwing the remainder of the rotisserie chicken into the electric skillet and pouring BBQ sauce to help add flavor and thicken it up. Once the sauce has mixed into the chicken and it has a flavorful aroma coming from the pan. Turn it off and get those hamburger buns ready. This is a fairly fast meal to prepare and only requires three ingredients, rotisserie chicken, BBQ, buns.
On the road “Monte Cristo”
A Monte Cristo is a fairly popular sandwich usually made of ham, Swiss, turkey and cranberries. What we’ve done is taken the blueprint from this sandwich and transformed it into a trucker friendly sandwich using these same ingredients. You will need the electric skillet, hamburger buns, ham, string cheese and dried cranberries. Start with putting the ham and string cheese on the buns and toss in the electric skillet once the meat starts to sizzle and the buns look toasty time to take them off and finish with a dash of the dried cranberries.