The big moving day is here! After months of careful planning, the boxes are packed, your mail forwarded, and your family is ready to hit the road. As soon as the movers close up the truck and leave, you’ll complete your final walk through, turn the house keys over to a new owner, and be on your way.
It is the “on the way” portion of the transition to a new home that has you most concerned. Given that it may be upwards of a week before the moving company arrives at your faraway new home, you and your family will endure several days of travel and the attendant accommodations and food choices along the way.
Those food choices may have you concerned, especially if you prefer to keep your family on a closely guarded diet. Meal after meal of fast food can cause everyone to get sick or at least entertain eating habits that are best avoided. Here’s how to make your move and maintain healthful eating habits along the way.
1. Do this first: Planning for food on the road begins well before you move. Your moving company probably advised you that food items do not ship, therefore you will either consume, give away, or transport the food items with you. This means carefully decreasing your food on hand to have only a small amount left when the movers arrive. If you have one or more family members on a strict diet, then save those food items for the move. Otherwise, consume or give away anything that won’t move with you.
2. Plan your meals on the go: Consider how your family will be eating while on the road. If your excursion takes you many miles or days away from your current address, then you’ll be eating several days worth of meals on the road. Where you stay can make a big difference on how you start each day. Specifically, if breakfast is part of the daily rate, then you have one less meal to concern yourself with. Most hotels provide a variety of food items, including such healthful choices as granola, low-sugar cereals, yogurt, and the like. Here, you’ll need to supervise your children (as you always do) in helping them make the right food choices.
3. Pack snacks to battle hunger: Invariably, someone in your car will get hit with the “hungries” while on the road. Typically, that will occur when you’re between meals and not in a position to stop. By thinking and planning ahead, you should have a cooler filled withhealthful snack items, such as water, cut vegetables and fruit, nuts, and other low-sugar and low-sodium choices. If your trip is especially lengthy, you may need to make a stop at a grocery store en route to replenish your supplies and prepare food in your room. A small cutting board and a cutting knife along with a cleaning agent and paper towels should be readily available to you.
4. Choose your restaurants carefully: Your children may want McDonald’s but you’re hesitant to make most fast-food meals a part of your daily regimen. Instead, consider the third point and make sandwiches in your hotel room for lunch and bring these with you. Then, find a rest area along the way and eat at a picnic table. If it is cold or the weather is inclement, then eat in the car.
5. Sit down meals are best: With breakfast at the hotel, lunch prepared by you on the road, then the only daily meal to be concerned about is dinner. Here, you’ll want to splurge a bit and choose a sit down restaurant for your dinners. Such establishments typically offer a better choice of food items, allowing you to customize your meals accordingly. A salad bar provides better balance and a broader selection of entrees mean your children can enjoy something more to their liking without you worrying that their diet regimen will be compromised. Skip the dessert and reward your children with a healthful dessert once you settle in to your hotel room.
A Healthy Move: Handle the food items carefully and your family will avoid the usual discomforts while on the road. Once you arrive at your home, then await for the movers to appear and you’ll be well on your way to completing the transition to your new home explains the Allied Moving Companies.
