Eating at Home on the Road
As you may have read, eating on the road has been a bigger adjustment than I had anticipated. The longer we are on the road the easier it becomes or perhaps it’s just that we’ve been in Florida where there is a year round growing season. Either way, I thought I’d share some of the more unique places we’ve stopped.
Before we headed out of Tennessee we stocked up at Trader Joe’s. (I know Trader Joe’s isn’t unique but I sure do miss it.) It wouldn’t be accurate to say we don’t buy any processed food at the grocery. I do my best to cook most of our food from whole food ingredients but sometimes this momma is tired and cranky so I figure a quick curry dinner that uses a pre-made sauce is better than a stop for fast food. These are my favorite convenience foods and Trader Joe’s staples.
Meow Cow says, “What’s for me?”
I had no idea that Trader Joe’s had started carrying coconut oil!!! Either I missed it in California or it is a newer item.
I found the Market at Washington and High through Eat Wild.
We stocked up on local grassfed ground beef. This sign at the top of the meat case is a picture of the butchers that says, “Tennesseans process this meat.”
I love visiting small local grocers.
I also love trying local chocolate now that I’m eating sugar again. (BTW it’s going really well. Maybe I can get around to writing some more about it later.)
We were so busy traveling for a few weeks that we didn’t have time for any more local stops until Port Charlotte where Brent and I had a date at a Farmer’s market in Punta Gorda and then recently at the Alliance of the Green Market in Fort Myers.
We heard about the Green Market through my friend Rhiannon. I met Rhiannon on the phone when I bought a Bodybugg a few years ago. She was my “Bodybugg Coach” and we ended up keeping in touch. How cool is that!!! We met at Bennett’s Fresh Roast, a local coffee shop, with our families before we went to the Green Market.
I have to admit I was tempted to get one of these “maple bacon doughnuts” but decided against it. We had a long day ahead of us and I didn’t want to feel sick.
Back to the Green Market. We left with a good amount of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Including starfruit!!!
Salmon patties, starfruit, and salad with sprouts. Love alliteration!
Then the other day, we stumbled on this gem, Robert is Here, a fruit stand in Florida City.
It was a blessing. We hadn’t planned well (imagine that) and needed some things before heading into the Everglades for a few days. We had already passed all the conventional grocery stores so seeing Robert’s fruit stand in the middle of the swamp was like finding an oasis in the desert.
Robert had a fantastic selection of fruits and vegetables.
And alligator jerky. I passed.
Robert still runs the stand over 50 years later! The story goes he set up a stand to sell cucumbers when he was 6 years old but since no one knew he was there he didn’t sell anything all that Saturday. So his dad put out a sign that read “Robert is Here”. That was in 1959! Cool, right!
I was so happy to meet Robert and support “stand”. Everything we bought was delicious. We even stopped again on our way back out of the Everglades.
Well, I know we haven’t shopped at as many local markets as I would have liked but we’re trying. It’s been a challenge and an adventure. One I’m grateful to take on!
Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn
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This is my (almost) sane quest for insane health. Let's 
I can’t imagine this is an easy thing, you really do a great job at making it work! I think the part I would love the most is visiting new grocery stores all the time
Thanks JB. Visiting new grocery stores is fun! What I love the most about our lifestyle is that everything, including grocery shopping, is an adventure!
“Robert is Here” I wondered why it was called that. Great history.
It was funny because Robert was checking me out and I didn’t know it until Brent says “thanks Robert.” Then I’m all acting goofy yammering on about “you’re Robert? The real Robert.” He didn’t seemed phased when I asked if we could take a picture of him. In fact, he seemed happy to come out from behind the counter so we could take a picture together.
“checking me out” as in adding up all of our produce…
Good that you clarified, so as not to scare people away
You’re THE Robert??? THE THE THE Robert?? OMG! LOL I’d have done the same thing.
You are doing great! And I think making veggie curry with a bottled sauce is WAY better than eating out…
Well, at least that’s what I tell myself on busy nights… 
I think the coconut oil is a new TJ’s item; I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago.
Enjoy the produce in Florida!
Thanks Andrea! I miss TJs so much!!! I used to love looking at the new items even if I hardly bought them. I was so happy about the coconut oil!
Noticed the local bison on the marquis- mmmm!
Meow cow could have been indulged- they have quite a pet section at TJs.
I am also sooo happy to hear about your sugar-eating going well! For some reason I thought that you were going to go back to your previous system, but I’m thrilled that you are having success and enjoying what life has to offer- sugar and all.
I mentioned that I was thinking I should go back to my previous system when I first “relapsed”. However, it came down to not wanting to miss out on thing like beignets and key lime pie. So I modified a bit and eat really clean at home but enjoy treats out and about. It’s not been been a walk in the park b/c I get mad cravings afterwards but since I know that will happen I deal. So far I think it’s a good compromise and it seems to be working well.
PS I’m awesome at replying to comments. It only takes a whole week. 😉
I’m originally from Northern CA so I know what you mean about being spoiled when it comes to food. I’ve written about this a LOT in our blog.
But after five years of full-timing, for me, the biggest pleasures of full-time RVing involves eating local delicacies, like fried cheese curds in Wisconsin or Nan’s burritos at Stillwell Ranch in West Texas. Now, I’m a wanna-be vegan and many of these foods aren’t all that healthy, but I honestly feel that if I restricted my diet as much as I would if I wasn’t traveling, I would be missing out on so much.
So my culinary RVing adventures are a give and take. I don’t beat myself up for picking the meat out of Nan’s burritos, or chowing down on a Germane pastry from Nagelins in New Braunfels, TX. I just ENJOY IT, then move on and try to eat as healthy as I can otherwise later.
Today was a great example of that; we are in far West Texas where green vegetables are as rare as a rainstorm. I was bummed that I couldn’t even find collards here, but hey, it’s not forever right? As a full-timer, we have the option of LEAVING when we have a hankerin’ for healthier eats. So I did the “when in Rome” thing and bought frozen spinach, and a big jar of locally-made salsa and nacho cheese mix! Yum!
I totally get it!!!! Since I wrote this post I’ve also been putting in the effort to use localharvest.org (maybe .com) and eatwild.com to find more local foods. Although, I’m far from vegan (in fact I lean more towards paleo than anything) I do like as much as my meat as possible to be grass-fed/freerange/blessed-by-the-pope. IOW although I eat meat I don’t like to support factory farming. This weekend we “stocked up” with 10 whole pounds 😉 of high quality beef from a local farmer and went to two more farmers markets! Oh and I just had my first fried green tomato!!!! Yum!! And raw oyster. Meh.
In regards to west Texas – that was one of my favorite parts of our trip so far. Did you go to Marfa? The art/hipster/blue collar/western town in the middle of nowhere. It’s one of my favorite memories of our trip.
We are in NoCal and I still haven’t seen the Coconut oil hit the shelves in TJ. Maybe we can look forward to it in the near future!
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