Exactly when the sandwich tradition started, I’m not sure. Likely I was lagging behind schedule, imagine that, and my husband wanted to help us maintain an on time departure. Whatever the why, the decision was great.
Our family has traveled together often, even when our three children were very young. Airline employment and pass privileges contributed greatly to the opportunity, but more importantly, we enjoy visiting people and places and we’ve shared that fondness with our children. Given our financial circumstances, we learned early to live and travel economically.
Budgets are like diets, necessary, but not popular. I’m more successful managing money than food intake, but both need continual attention. When we were traveling as a party of five, it was essential to find ways to keep our spending in check. A three-hour layover in an airport, with hungry, thirsty children could use up a week’s worth of grocery dollars. Which brings us to the previously referenced sandwich tradition.
Once upon a time…airlines served meals to their passengers. We’re talking complete meals, sometimes with a choice of entrees, and typically with a salad, roll, and dessert. Hot breakfasts were served on morning flights. And then the meal gave way to the sandwich, and we snickered at having only a cold sandwich to eat. Eventually the sandwich was history and pretzels were served, and we regretted not being more appreciative of previous airline food. A handful of pretzels isn’t filling. And now we’re grateful just for a complimentary beverage.
Somewhere in those cost cutting phases, my husband and I started brown bagging it while traveling. I’m probably needier than any child. Just the aroma of food causes hunger pangs. And it’s an unwritten rule of the human condition: the pricier the food the more desirable it is. Hot dogs at the grocery store aren’t so enticing. Serve ‘em up in a ballpark or airport, and they’re delectable! For five hungry people, they become a line item in next month’s budget.
We were some of the first to carry our own food. Trend setters, I tell my kids as we laugh at all we’ve hauled. They use other descriptive adjectives for us, and they don’t fall in the trend setting category. No matter, the less we spent getting there, the more to spend once we got there. After awhile, my husband became the sandwich chef, carefully selecting the types of bread, the choices of meats and cheeses, and even a selection of condiments.
After the kids grew up and left home, we began traveling with friends. Most were novices about eating well for less while on the go. After our intro, we were unanimously chosen for sandwich detail. Our adult kids joined us again and Dad was in charge of the carry on food. Car trips with the grandchildren followed, and the sandwich tradition expanded.
Most recently, we drove to Nashville. My husband had to work that morning so I was in charge of sandwiches. Let me say, there is an art to those culinary skills, and I didn’t fare so well. Next time we’ll plan better so our resident chef can work his magic with the food to go.
I’ve grown accustom to first class “carry your own,” and I prefer to maintain that standard of dining.