You know those days where things don’t go as planned? Sometimes vacations can be that way. We recently had to change our plans and figure out how to survive on vacation while eating foods from a convenience store! It was challenging but we did it!

Healthy eating on vacation with convenience store food - DaytoDayAdventures.com

I’m blessed to get to go away with my hubby on his continuing education trips. He has to go each year and prefers it if I tag along.

Time with my best friend.

No kids? Yeah its a vacation.

No way around that. Don’t be jealous.

We’ve been to Sedona, Hilton Head, Outer Banks, Colorado, Hilton Head, Outer Banks . . .

Are you seeing a pattern? He loves me and we often go to the beach because he knows I love it there.

I find nothing more restful than sitting on the sand with a book and a cold drink.

But on this last getaway to Boston it was a different kind of trip. Hubby was in more classes and I was doing lots of revamping and learning about how to run this blog better and be more organized in my life. Not as much relaxing and more work.

There was one other BIG difference that we hadn’t planned on. FOOD!

Our HEALTHY eating goal when we travel

We try to eat in more than we eat out.

The #1 way we do this is to get a hotel room with a kitchen. It costs more money but the benefits pay off BIG time for us. The hotel room price cost is offset by the eating out that we avoid.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love eating out but if we do it for 7 days in a row x 3 meals a day then I start to miss my own cooking and I my body REALLY tells me about it.

After some diet changes 2 years ago, I know what makes me feel good.

Eating out doesn’t help me feel healthy at all!

Costs of eating out

Feel gross(bloated, grumpy, thirsty from salty food)
Gaining weight
No energy for fun

In Boston, we had a room with a refrigerator, microwave & stove top. Just enough to make our own meals. Or so we thought.

No car meant no grocery store

Every other prior trip we’ve been able to find a grocery store close by or had a car that allowed us to go looking. On this trip we were in the city(which was beautiful) and the only stores close were convenience stores. Mainly snacks, liquor and cold drinks.

So needless to say we had to adjust our plan.

Frustrating but still do able.

Enter PLAN B!

Breakfasts

The hotel provided this so we had no changes there. I ate oatmeal several days to get my E meals because it was hard to find an E meal at a restaurant.

I also made sure to grab an apple or orange from the breakfast bar for my afternoon snack. Got to keep those E meals on the menu. They also had low fat cheese sticksand Greek yogurt so that provided the protein to go with my afternoon fruit snack each day.

Lunches

Instead of making our own lunch in our room, we ate at the convention center. Not cheap but we had salads so it was still fairly healthy.

After one sightseeing walk, we went out to a little diner. We grabbed some wonderfully cheap friend chicken and steamed veggies there!

The other time we ate out was at Cheers! Very nostalgic for us(are you signing the song yet?).

I had a Joseph’s pita so my sandwich fillings went into that and I discarded the bun provided.

The perfect adjustment to make my lunch fit the THM requirements.

Supper

We were still able to cook in the room for 4 nights. Thankfully the convenience stores we visited carried vegetables & fruit.

Our biggest challenge was finding our protein source. After our sightseeing walk we found another convenience store that had a small deli which carried meat. Finding pork chops, hamburgers & chicken breasts made these suppers doable.

Pork chops with sauted peppers & onions
Chicken breasts with salad & steamed broccoli
Meat balls with sauted peppers & zucchini
Hamburgers with salad & steamed broccoli

I know it seemed repetitive but it actually simplified things to have a limited availability of foods. Sometimes cooking is overwhelming because I have TOO many choices. This trip was easy in that way.