Rest area lunch ideas?

Bethislucy

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 14, 2009
We are driving to the world on Thanksgiving Day and are going to stop at the Georgia welcome center and have lunch. We normally just hit fast food but this time we wanted to stop and save a little extra money. Other than PB&J what time of things, do you pack for a picnic lunch? We will have a cooler and the drive between stop times will only be about 4 1/2 hours from when we leave home.
 
I'd make a large sub sandwich. Bring along pop and chips and cookies. Any time you get fast food before then save the condiment packets to take along with you.
 
We just drove from PA & felt the same way - didn't want to stop for fast food. We always freeze water bottles to use as our ice packs in the cooler. The night before we left we picked up some hoagies from Wawa to put in the cooler for our stop - had them dry, no cheese even, just so they didn't get soggy. Had other stuff for earlier in the trip that didn't need to go into the cooler like granola bars & mini bagels.
 
We would probably bring some cheese and crackers, tortilla chips with the single serve salsa and cheese, vegetables and ranch dip, grapes, cut up fruit, stuff like that. I personally don't care for sandwiches that have sat for a while (and prefer toasted to just plan bread), so we would bring more picky snacks along with drinks and maybe some cookies or snack cakes of some sort for dessert. :upsidedow
 


We very rarely stop for fast food. I have celiac and getting something gluten free can sometimes be difficult.

We pack meat and cheese rolls. I simply take a slice of lunch meat and a slice of cheese and I roll them together. I make a few for each person. Add chips and cut up veggies, and it is lunch. We also pack soda and water.
 
Since you will have a cooler, the sky is the limit. Personally, I'd pack some bread, stick some lunch meat, cheese, condiments in the cooler, I rarely drink soft drinks so frozen bottles of water would be in there but a few cans of soft drinks if you want. In your dry goods bag, some chips, maybe cookies and what I call car food, things like trail mix or candy that is easy to munch on while you drive. I drive down and it's about a 7 1/2 hour drive so I just take car food and bottled water and don't stop to eat a real lunch. I leave super early in the morning and get to WDW around 2:30 or 3 so after I've checked in I head to a park for what we call lupper. lunch/supper.
 
Since you're driving down on Thanksgiving, I was trying to think of something festive for your lunch. Since you have a cooler, you could easily make a couple of cold salads (potato, pasta, etc.) and take them with you for a side treat. We learned the hard way never to pack baby carrots right on top of the cold packs in the cooler. (Our carrots would always freeze!) But I also like the idea posted above of some chips and dip, maybe pita triangles and hummus even?

And now for some strange reason, I'm having a craving for cold fried chicken... ;-)

Hope you have a great trip!
 


We get some chicken salad from the deli and put it in the cooler, cut up carrots and broccoli, fruit, chips that we normally don't have at home, deli meat and couple of different kinds of cheese, make a batch or two of cookies. When we drove to WDW last year, took these things for lunch on the road but also kept the leftovers in the fridge in our room. We had lunch in the room a few times when we had gone back to the room to change for a water park in the afternoon.
 
I just do not get it ....

Stopping for a rest ..... restroom stop .. And a bit of fast Food ,,,

Stop time approx. 45 min. COST $ 40

Yet you will spend $ thousands on Disney tickets & Hotel

STOP Take a Break Spend $ 40 & Enjoy
 
I just do not get it ....

Stopping for a rest ..... restroom stop .. And a bit of fast Food ,,,

Stop time approx. 45 min. COST $ 40

Yet you will spend $ thousands on Disney tickets & Hotel

STOP Take a Break Spend $ 40 & Enjoy
Because many people would rather spend that $40 at Disney, or not at all.

We stop. We have to. We need to use the restroom, get gas. But why should I spend $40 on nasty fast food?
 
I just do not get it ....

Stopping for a rest ..... restroom stop .. And a bit of fast Food ,,,

Stop time approx. 45 min. COST $ 40

Yet you will spend $ thousands on Disney tickets & Hotel

STOP Take a Break Spend $ 40 & Enjoy

Because many people would rather spend that $40 at Disney, or not at all.

We stop. We have to. We need to use the restroom, get gas. But why should I spend $40 on nasty fast food?

Right I'm not a big fast food fan, $40.00 is almost the total gas it takes for my trip. Also I didn't spend $1000s on my Disney trip.


Thanks everyone for the ideas. I like the chicken salad idea a lot.
 
My DH and I travel with our dog in the car (not to disney) about once a month (8 hour drive) so we cannot stop at a restaurant except in the dead of winter.

Our Disney drive is 9 hours of driving. Stopping for two meals as we did today going home added 2 hours to the trip.

Most people traveling 15, 16, or way more hours don't want to add hours to their trip stopping for meals.
 
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I just do not get it ....

Stopping for a rest ..... restroom stop .. And a bit of fast Food ,,,

Stop time approx. 45 min. COST $ 40

Yet you will spend $ thousands on Disney tickets & Hotel

STOP Take a Break Spend $ 40 & Enjoy

It isn't the money for us, we don't eat fast food if we can avoid it. The 2-3 times a year we end up having to, we remember why we don't.
 
I often take my lunch to the parks as I like to have good, real food that tastes good vs some crud that I might come across and have to buy when I am hungry.

Much of the food at the parks (QS) is sub par to McDonald's crud. Not all - there is some decent food available at Disney parks - but sometimes the lines are just too long to get it.
 
Most people traveling 15, 16, or way more hours don't want to add hours to their trip stopping my for meals.

This is why we packed our food this time(only second time driving). We have a 15-hour drive and didn't want to add to that time. With the kids, we do take breaks at the rest stops & stretch our legs. We stopped for "fast" food on the way home & it took forever to get it. Not to mention some of the places you may stop at could be kind of gross. At least I know what I have when I pack it.
 
We have a few "safe" pit stops on 95 (Sonic in Walterboro, Cracker Barrels in Lumberton, across from South of the Border, and Santee) but a lot of the fast food off 95 is kind of dubious. And the pickings can be quite slim on Thanksgiving Day, although Cracker Barrel serves a decent dinner. Anyway, a dollar saved is a dollar for Disney!

That said, how about antipasto trays, with Italian cold cuts and marinated mozzarella? Use divided paper plates, plastic wrap them, and park them on top of the drinks, etc. in the cooler.
 
We take items like cold cuts, cheese, raw vegetables (radishes, celery, carrots, or cauliflower), fruit (apples, bananas, oranges, cherries), pimento cheese, tuna salad, hummus, crackers, pita bread. This is pretty much what we keep at home for snacks. I might buy some chips or a candy bar at a gas stop if the mood hits me.
 
For our long car trips (and first night at the camp ground) I pack either a prime rib hero and season the bread with a lil olive oil, sea salt and pepper (learned this version from Eataly) or a muffuleta, filled with Italian coldcuts, cheese, and a bottle of giardiniera salad. The muffuleta can be made a day or two in advance and I wrap it in oodles of saran wrap to keep the olive oil dressing from leaking out. A weight such as a cast iron skillet does a good job of helping the bread absorb the dressing.

Here's a recipe for the muffuleta:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/02/classic-new-orleans-muffuletta-recipe.html

I use a big round of Italian peasant bread, cut across, to make one big ol' sandwich that can serve up to eight (normally at least 4 of us go camping). This gives us yummy leftovers for midnight snacking or breakfast the next day.

Like other posters frozen water is our way to keep the cooler cold and tastes delish when drunk; we aren't really soda drinkers. A supermarket container of sliced mixed fruit could make a nice dessert and it's not as messy as chips on the car's interior. Hummus is always loved on this end at some makers sell individual packs that include pretzel rounds for scooping.
 
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highway rest stops typically have BBQ grills

so I pack some charcoal and starter fluid

In the cooler are sirloin steaks and fresh asparagus ....

I pre season and tightly wrap in plastic wrap.

Don't forget some disposable tongs .... (not thongs)

pre packaged salads will be good for several days in a well iced cooler ..... and an unopened dressing bottle is totally safe.

Add a bottle of white wine, some plastic utensils and cups/plates and you have a road stop feast.
 

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