A Wicker Basket is Better Than the Golden Arches

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This is a guest post by Susan


Through the years my family has spent a lot of time on the
road.  From swim meets to dance
competitions to 900 mile journeys to grandmother’s house, we have spent hours
riding, sleeping and of course, eating in everything from a Honda Escort to a
Chevy Suburban.  If we had run through
fast food drive thrus every time we were hungry or thirsty, we’d probably be
in the poor house.
  Instead, we learned
the joy of the in car picnic.  Here’s how
it works:
  1. Start
    with a large picnic basket that will fit in the back of your van or
    will work as a game table for two kids sharing a seat.
  2. Keep the basket stocked with items that you pick
    up inexpensively
    on sale and/or with coupons. This includes paper cups and plates, napkins or a
    roll of paper towels, granola bars, packages of cheese and crackers, bags of
    chips, small cans of fruit, etc.
  3. Keep this basket in your car at all times.  Then, when you’re out and about and someone
    gets hungry, you can let them choose something small from the basket.
      On the other hand, if the entire family is
    peckish, you can open up a full bag of chips.
  4. On the morning of a long trip, add fresh
    fruit.
      I am a big fan of seedless grapes
    because they are often on sale, they have no peelings to get in the way, and
    they can be little mini thirst quenchers. 
    If you pull them off the stem ahead of time and pack them in a zip top
    bag, then you won’t even have to deal with the stems.
  5. For short trips around town fill everyone a lidded bottle of water. For longer trips, Freeze a jug of water (tilted on it’s side with the lid off) the night before you leave. Then top it off with water just before leaving.  Wrapped in a towel to catch
    condensation, it slowly melts throughout the day, providing ice cold water at a
    steady rate.  You could do the same thing
    with individual juice boxes. You
With a little bit of forethought and preparation you can save your family a lot of time and money, plus get rid of the whiny cries of “I’m hungry” from the back seat! :-)
Susan Mathis is a black belt tightwad with more than 40
years’ experience getting $1.50 out of every dollar. She lives outside
Washington D.C. with her husband and two youngest children. She is a
regular contributor at TheCouponCupboard.

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