Simple Tips & 10 Best Meal Ideas For On The Go

It’s the new year, and many of us are searching to save a little money. The best way to save money with our food budget is to take meals with us on the go instead of stopping at the fast food drive-thru. Stopping at the drive-thru can cost anywhere from $30-50, but eating to-go meals from home can cost less than $20, which adds up fast. I get it after a long day; the last thing you want to do is meal prep. Not only do we eat more healthy meals this way, but we also save money, and it doesn’t mean boring old lunchmeat sandwiches all the time.

Grab your meal planner, plan some of these simple recipes, and add the ingredients to your shopping list for your next meal plan. You might even find a good idea or simple tricks you’d never thought about before for your next quick meal.

10 Best Meal Ideas for on the Go

Make it in a Muffin Cup

One of my kid’s favorite easy meals is this egg stuffing bake. Rather than cooking it in a 9×13 pan, spray a 12-count muffin pan with cooking spray, evenly place the ingredients in each muffin tin, and bake. The egg bake is easy to take with you on the go, and the eggs are a great protein source.

Don’t want food waste? I saute produce like onions, green pepper, spinach, and mushrooms up as they are going bad and put those in the muffin cups to sneak in some extra healthy food into our diets.

Skewer Your Food

Take slices of fruit and skewer them onto bamboo or disposable skewers to take with you. You might even like the chicken breast skewer recipe that’s perfect for on-the-go, detailed in our Simple Purposeful Kitchen cookbook. You can even skewer vegetables with salami and cheese for a charcuterie stick to go. The options are endless. What can you skewer and take with you? Add some ingredients to your meal planner (get yours here) and grab them at the grocery store.

Try Food in Mason Jars

What can you put in a jar and take with you? Not only is it easy to take with you, but you can also pre-prep it for the night’s when you don’t have much time. You’ve seen easy salads in a jar and overnight oats in a jar. You can even check out this post detailing my favorite meal prep smoothies.

We have been on a yogurt parfait kick recently, and those would be perfect to pop in a jar and take with you on the go. They don’t take a long time to meal prep. Add in your favorite yogurt. We like Greek yogurt, then add on your favorite toppings like fresh fruit and granola. Yogurt parfaits also make great healthy snacks. When you get home, it’s easy to clean up. Just rinse the mason jars in cold water and pop them in the dishwasher.

To-Go Containers

If you asked my daughter what her favorite food in the whole world is, she’d say Lunchables. We don’t get them often because I can make a charcuterie box for a fraction of what Lunchables cost. Grab a to-go container with charcuterie or “Lunchable” type foods.

From crackers to cured meats, cheeses, nuts, favorite fruit and vegetables, pretzels, and a little dessert. You can even include a dip like peanut butter or hummus to dip your cracks or fruits and vegetables into. Grab your water bottles, and you are ready to go. If you need more ideas, check out this post.

Want to try something fun and different? Try a charcuterie tray in a muffin tin or ice cube trays. Each ice cube section could be a different item. Kids love it when you mix up how they get their food. Even the pickiest eater will be excited about dinner. Pssst…need more picky eater tips, check out this post.

Wrap It Up

A boring old lunch meat sandwich can be given new life simply by wrapping it in a regular or whole wheat tortilla. One of our favorite wraps is the chicken Caesar wrap, where you take a bagged salad kit, whole-wheat tortillas, and some cut-up air-fried chicken nuggets. You can find the full recipe in our cookbook here.

Mix up the chicken nuggets and salad and wrap it up. Wrap it in a paper towel, and you are set to go. Don’t forget about warm wraps, like homemade breakfast burritos that you can make ahead and freeze, then pull out, warm up, and take with you.

Want to listen to the tips? Listen to the podcast!

Finger Foods

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. What kinds of foods does your favorite fast food place serve? Can you air fry some finger foods like chicken nuggets, fries, or hot dogs and take them with you?

One of the easiest ways I have found to get my “fast food fix” because I love a good french fry is with an air fryer. Hands down one of my favorite kitchen appliances and great for cooking up some quick food to go or rewarming leftovers.

Pizza to Go

The pizza place isn’t the only one that can perfect pizza to go. Check out these crescent roll pizza roll-ups. They make a good snack, too. My kids also love frozen pizza, so I turned a frozen pizza into a pizza sandwich by folding it in half. Just allow the pizza to cool a bit, then cut it in half and slice.

It’s like a calzone meets a sandwich; my kids love to eat pizza like this on the go. Plus, very little prep time is involved because I know no busy people have much spare time.

Ready to add these ideas to your meal plan? Grab our 52-week meal planner and spend less time asking, “What’s for dinner?” and more time enjoying dinner!

Make it a Bowl

If you are a part of our online community on Instagram (join here), you know we love a good bowl for dinner. Check out our favorite burrito bowl recipe here. I share some of our favorites in our cookbooks, including the mashed potato bowl and Greek chicken bowl.

Grab dishwasher bowl-type plastic containers and load them up with your favorite ingredients, from whole-grain pasta to grain bowls. All your favorite foods can usually be turned into a bowl. We just had sushi bowls the other night; they are a new favorite, too.

Make it A Pocket

Speaking of calzones and pizzas, I loved a good hot pocket when I was a kid. They aren’t the most healthy option, but you can make your own. You can wrap up your favorite ingredients into a crescent roll – think lunch meat ham and a half of string cheese for a hot ham and cheese roll-up.

Grab some refrigerated pizza dough and fill it with toppings of your choice. A pocket makes a great meal to go.

Warm Sandwiches

One of my favorite simple meals is to grab a rotisserie chicken, pull all the meat off, and coat the warm chicken with my favorite BBQ sauce. Place the mixture on some Hawaiian roll sliders and take it with us. It’s so good. You guessed it, this recipe is also in our Simple Purposeful Kitchen cookbook, which is perfect for simplifying the cooking process and food preparation while still getting delicious food on the dinner table, whether that’s at home or on the go.

How Do You Keep Warm Food Warm?

I get it; these ideas all sound great, but you have to get from point A to point B. Of course, you can use a thermos. To keep it extra warm, boil some water fill the thermos, and let it sit with the boiling water for a minute or two, then dump out the water and carefully wipe it dry. Then, place the warm food inside and seal it.

You can use a stainless steel cup or mug if you don’t have a thermos. It keeps your drink warm, it will also keep your food warm. I did this trick the other day with pizza rolls. I cooked up a bunch in our air fryer, popped them in the stainless steel cup, and served them on our car ride to a basketball tournament.

Lastly, wrapping food in foil and placing it in a cooler will keep your food warm while you travel. If you are worried about sogginess, wrap the item in a paper towel to wick away the moisture and then wrap it in tin foil. Placing it in an insulated lunch box or cooler will also help insulate it.

Just Remember…

A busy schedule doesn’t mean you can’t meal plan some simple recipes to take with you on the road. It might take a little practice, and skipping the drive-thru and taking a meal from home will be a new habit that will take some getting used to, but the money savings will add up quickly, and honestly, it doesn’t take much more time, especially if you meal plan ahead and know what’s for dinner.

I can’t recommend our weekly meal planner enough. It’s helped thousands of busy families like you take the stress out of what’s for dinner, eat more healthily, waste less food, and save a whole lot of money. I hope these simple hacks and meal ideas will inspire you to skip the drive-thru and take a meal from home to go.

Make sure to check out the podcast!