Are you planning to travel soon and are wondering about vegan food on the go? Do you worry about finding plant-based options when you leave your comfort zone? If you think you might have to go hungry, you can stop worrying now. It is an easy problem to solve and you have come to the right place! The options are endless!
This post is all about vegan food on the go!
A lot of people worry about finding vegan food on the go, but the truth is that it is super easy! When hunger strikes on a trip and there’s nothing to eat, you either bend your principles or you bend your morale! With a little creativity, you can come up with great ideas. If you are not feeling creative, however, you can simplify your order by leaving items out. You can ask them to hold the cheese or mayo, or modify it in other vegan ways.
This post will give you some ideas about what to eat when you are presented with typical U.S. restaurant options. Not everything on this list is necessarily healthy or fully plant-based, but we just have to do the best we can. This is not a complete list, and I do not often visit fast food chains, so I welcome ideas. Traveling is much more fun on a pleasantly full stomach!
The Best Vegan Food on the Go
Some Foods You Can Pack:
* Veggies and hummus
* Fruit and veggies with peanut butter
* Nori seaweed sheets
* Nuts and seeds / trail mix varieties
* Whole wheat English muffins with hummus and tomato
* Bagels with plant-based cream cheese
* Veggies and hummus with taco shells or tortilla wraps
* Veggie sandwiches with sides of fruit or chips
* Leftovers in a cooler
* Frozen bean and rice burrito
Also, cold water in glass thermos, plates, napkins, silverware, moist wipes, and trash bags.
Fast Foods:
Subway:
* Veggie sandwich with all veggies on wheat bread. Hold the mayo, cheese, meat, and oil
You can add plant-based mayo, if you have any, as well as nutritional yeast. Mustard is a healthy addition. Dressings contain abundant amounts of oil, but some people don’t mind.
* Chopped salad bowl. If you add plenty of tomatoes, they moisten this dish.
* Subway used to have a tasty veggie patty but they may have discontinued it.
Taco Bell:
* Veggie tacos with hard or soft shells (sometimes even chalupa shells) with refried beans, lettuce, and tomato. Hold the meat, cheese, and sour cream. If you like pico de gallo, ask that your dish be prepared Fresco style. This substitutes pico de gallo for all dairy.
* Chalupas prepared the same way.
* Taco salad with beans. Hold the meat and cheese.
* Mexican pizza with beans instead of meat. Hold the cheese.
* A 7-layer burrito, Fresco style, or just hold the cheese and sour cream.
* Vegan at Taco Bell
* What to Order at Taco Bell
Pizza Hut:
* Veggie pizza with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, olives, and anything else. Hold the meat and the cheese. This dish is delicious as a pan pie but healthier when it is hand tossed.
* Bread sticks probably aren’t without animal ingredients, especially when topped with parmesan, but some people don’t mind making some exceptions.
* Salad bar
Pizza Inn:
* They will make a veggie pizza with no cheese for you and for the buffet if you request for them to do so.
* Spaghetti with marinara sauce
* Salad
* Various dessert pizzas (these may contain dairy)
Asian grills:
* Most Asian grills can prepare grilled or steamed vegetables with rice or noodles and these can be topped with any variety of sauces like soy sauce or sweet and sour.
* Sushi rolls: avocado rolls, sweet potato rolls, cucumber rolls, veggie rolls, etc.
* Some places can create huge nori rolls that are made with whole sheets of nori seaweed and contain rice and veggies and are then cut into halves. Dipped in light sodium soy sauce, it’s delightful.
* Some restaurants even have meat alternatives that are pretty tasty.
Chipotle:
* Veggie bowl with lettuce, beans, rice, corn, pico de gallo, guacamole, and salsa
Panera Bread:
* Mediterranean veggie sandwich with no cheese. Side of apple or chips.
* Avocado BLT with lettuce, onion, tomato, and brown mustard – hold the meat and cheese.
* Thai salad (maybe). Hold the meat.
Arby’s:
* Some of their sandwiches can be modified to contain only veggies.
Wendy’s:
* Plain baked potato. You can add salt, chives, vegan sour cream, and vegan butter.
* Salad
Japanese Express:
* Hibachi vegetables
Quiznos / Which Wich:
* Veggie sandwich with no cheese, meat, or oil. Some places have hummus as an option to add.
KFC:
* Potato wedges (batter may not be vegetarian)
* Mashed potatoes (contain dairy)
* Biscuits (contain dairy)
* Veggies that are not flavored with or contain meat.
* Their slaw is vegetarian, but likely contains dairy.
Chick-Fil-A:
* Fruit cup and salad with no meat or cheese
* It is not on the menu, but they will make a veggie wrap for you if you request it.
Dine-In Restaurants:
Indian:
* Most dishes at Indian restaurants are at least vegetarian. There are lots of plant-based options that do not include any dairy. One word of caution is that most dishes are very heavy on the oil and dairy, but you may be able to have them modify that when you place your order.
* Basmati rice (often has cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, and salt)
* Samosas (vegetables fried in a crispy shell)
* Dal soup (yellow lentil soup)
* Chana masala (chickpeas in tomato-based sauce)
* Carrot pudding
* Curried tofu
* Coconut green beans
* Potatoes and cauliflower
* Naan (bread)
* Tandoori vegetables
* …and much more!
Some Indian restaurants even cater to monthly community vegan nights.
Thai / Vietnamese / Japanese:
* Any vegetable sushi rolls, such as avocado, cucumber, carrot, or pickles
* Peanut, green, red, yellow, and other vegetable curry dishes (with or without tofu)
* Some restaurants have vegan pho (vegetable noodle soup) but you may wish to specify, otherwise they often are made with animal bones, meat, and broth.
* Sweet carrots (minus the butter, if possible)
* Fried rice or vegetable fried rice (hold the egg)
* Steamed veggies and rice
* Sweet and sour soup (tomato and pineapple), but recipes vary so you may wish to ask
* Coconut soup (Tom Kha)
* Veggie sliders (imitation meat or just veggies on several small buns with a sweet sauce)
* Bun Chay (Vietnamese noodle salad)
* Miso soup
* Lettuce wraps
* Edamame
* Tofu lemongrass stir-fry
* Tofu bean thread soup
* Pad Thai (hold the egg, and easy on the oil)
* Drunken Noodles (hold the egg, easy on the oil)
* Spring rolls
* Sweet and sour veggies (pineapple, cashew and tofu with sweet and sour sauce)
* Mango with sticky rice
* Fried bananas
* Fried tofu
*…and much more!
Mexican:
* Veggie tacos/burritos with black beans, lettuce, and tomato. Hold the meat, cheese, and sour cream.
I like to create my own by ordering a plate of lettuce and tomato, a bowl of black beans, and corn tortillas. (El Milagro is my favorite brand). Then I like to create the soft tacos, sometimes I add guacamole, and then I smother them with lime and extremely hot salsa!
* Taco salad with beans instead of meat. Can add guacamole. Hold the cheese and sour cream.
* Zucchini mole verde (zucchini with a green sauce)
* Veggie fajitas
* Chips with salsas of all kinds
* Guacamole
* Re-fried beans (ask if they are vegetarian)
Be aware that a lot of bean dips that are complimentary when arriving at the table do contain chorizo, which is a Mexican type of meat. Be sure to ask and if the server is not sure, ask him to consult with the kitchen.
* Rice (ask if it is vegetarian)
Italian:
* Spaghetti with marinara sauce
* Salad
* Veggie pizza with no cheese
* Eggplant parmesan, hold the cheese
* Minestrone or other vegetable soup
* Rolls (probably only vegetarian)
Example: Olive Garden, Maggiano’s
Middle Eastern:
* Rice-stuffed grape leaves (Dolmades)
* Hummus and pita points
* Potato & dill dishes
* Tabbouleh
* Baba ghanoush
* Lentil dishes
* Yellow rice with raisins, cranberries, and nuts
* … and more.
Chinese:
* Steamed vegetables and rice with soy sauce
* Vegetable noodles
* Potatoes
* Green beans with sesame seeds
* Sweet lotus roll
* Bok choy with shallots, mirin, and soy sauce
American:
Places like the K&W Cafeteria, Cracker Barrel, Golden Corral, Western Sizzlin’, Ryan’s, Denny’s, Shoney’s, etc.
* Any veggies without meat or dairy. Sometimes that includes black-eyed peas, broccoli, corn, okra, spinach, lima beans, pinto beans, green beans, fries, cabbage, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, potatoes, beats, coleslaw, wheat rolls, raw veggies, salads, and more.
* Cracker Barrel has delicious sweet potatoes that can be ordered plain and very tasty oatmeal that you can dress yourself, so this is a good option.
* Occasionally, you may come across a gem of a country restaurant that doesn’t season any of its veggies with meat. However, you won’t necessarily be able to say the same for butter. Make sure that you thank the chef for making vegan food available! They like the feedback.
Other Suggestions
You can always ask if the the restaurant has a vegetarian or vegan menu or any vegetarian food options. You can ask the server what he or she would suggest. If the person suggests something you dislike and you think it can be left off, go ahead and ask if that is the case. Most restaurants will do whatever they can to accommodate you!
This post was all about the best vegan food on the go!
If you are interested in more plant-based or vegan posts, see the latest posts here.
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