Eating while exploring

I am struggling with preparing grocery/meal lists for our 10 day trip to YNP (4 of those days will include traveling to and from home). 5 days in YNP, 2 in GTNP. I would love to hear some of the things that you have taken along during your driving tours/hiking adventures. I would like to come up with some variety, if possible, and not just have sandwiches every time. We will be staying in West Yellowstone, so won%26#39;t be near our accomodations the majority of the time. Which means we may also have to rely on packed food for evening meals in YNP. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Eating while exploring

Check out this inside page. You will find food suggestions as you scroll down. You have picked a good split of your time.

tripadvisor.com/Travel-g28973-c100586/Wyomin…

have fun!

Eating while exploring

Car camping and great meals can happen! We always carry a propane campstove/grill (Coleman makes some that are very portable). Also 2 coolers, one for drinks, one for food and a plastic storage container for all of our cooking/dining stuff. Ice is easy to get, we try to get block ice for food, seems to last longer.

At most of the picnic areas you can cook lunch/dinners. Our lunches are usually sandwiches, chips, fruit, just not in the mood during the day to cook.

Dinners consist of many different things including the usual burgers and hot dogs, as well as tacos, spaghetti, chili, soups, mac n cheese, hamburger helper type meals, beef or chicken stew, and so much more. Also take some Jiffy Pop popcorn along for a quick snack.

Enjoy.

My husband just reminded me about cooking fried chicken before you leave for picnics on the road. Much better than KFC! You can pick up coleslaw and potato salad or bring it with you.

Also while in Tetons, I will assume you are staying in the Jackson area. Get pizza takeout one night!

I have an item called a ';lunchbox oven'; that is about the size of a small igloo cooler (the kind that holds a couple cans of pop and a sandwich) and plugs into a 12v outlet. It gets up to 350 degrees inside. I like to put in eggrolls and let them heat up/cook for a couple of hours while I drive or have the car parked. It takes so little power that it won%26#39;t run down the battery while you are away. Other times I might put polish sausages or anything that can be heated and eaten.

You can see several different makes of them at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8%26amp;keywords=lunch+box+stove%26amp;tag=googhydr-20%26amp;index=aps%26amp;hvadid=3402950747%26amp;ref=pd_sl_885sbuq3yv_b

For extended road trips, we also take an inverter and plug a small crock pot into it to cook things while we drive. This takes a bit more power and must be unplugged while stopped, so it works best on long drives.

Nothing like having a hot meal at a picnic spot while everyone else is eating cold sandwiches.

I didn%26#39;t think about being able to cook in picnic areas! Thanks for that info. We have plenty of portable cook stoves down to a 1 lb backpack stove, so that isn%26#39;t a problem. Thanks for all the tips!

I don%26#39;t recall seeing any signs about it in Yellowstone, but some national parks forbid you to put your stove on a picnic table for cooking. They have had too many table tops burned from people using Hibachi grills and just don%26#39;t allow any stove now.

I doubt they%26#39;ll let you have an open fire in YNP.

As you drive through the park, you%26#39;ll see the damage from past forest fires.

Fires and charcoal stoves are allowed only in picnic areas with grates. Gas stoves can be used at any picnic area. Now of course if there are fire restrictions this could change.

www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/picnic.htm