'Simply Food'

Simply Food – Tracking down decent food on the road



I usually make some sandwiches to take out with me but my main problem is time. I work unusual hours so it’s hard to prepare any decent meals because of the uncertainty. If I make sandwiches and leave for work in the early hours, by the time I eat them they will be all soggy, crushed and horrible. If I buy sandwiches or other food on the road it either costs a small fortune or tastes disgusting. When I then get hungry I’ll go for chocolate bars and sugary foods like wine gums to eat throughout the day that give me a short burst of energy. Healthy food costs more on the road so most of us make do with junk.



I usually take my breaks on a motorway if I can because I can at least use the toilet facilities. If I’m lucky I will find a ‘Simply Foods’ from Marks and Spencer, then I can usually afford to get myself a small lunch of a basic sandwich and a desert. I usually buy a bottle of their water as well.



I have a small problem with ‘Simply Food’ though and that is, they are not always simple to find. The signs are huge. But the shops can be difficult to track down. Take this one I was looking for on the M6 near Lancaster. I saw the massive sign emblazoned across the footbridge and thought ‘great, bottle of water and a cheapish sandwich, maybe even some mints.’



I followed the sign.



And found…



Another sign…



And another sign…



And so on.



And so on.

And so on



I eventually arrived but it was a long way away from the lorry parking area. It started me thinking about our food options out on the road. We only get a 45 minute break and some of us are advised to split that into one 15 minute and then a 30 minute break.



I didn’t work on Monday or today so I spent some time looking at diets. Not the losing weight type of diet but what sort of food I regularly eat. I do always think about what I eat, it’s just that I don’t do anything about it. It’s not a problem exclusive to me. A lot of lorry drivers are running serious health risks every day by not being able to buy, cook and eat healthy food. It’s a national problem.


I usually work a day job with the very occasional night out, but a lot of drivers live in the cab all week and have to rely on their own cooking skills and the in-cab facilities to rustle up a half decent and healthy meal. There are lots of reports around that list the health risks of being a lorry driver, and after a few of my close friends were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I have been thinking more carefully about my eating habits. I found very little literature in the UK on the subject of eating well on the road.
some articles I found feature here but might be a little out of date.
and another here
and another here which seems like clearstone nonsense.

I did find a brilliant book and a great website in the USA called ‘Roadcookin': A long haul driver's guide to healthy eating’. I met the co-author Don Jacobson on Twitter; he follows my blog. I asked him if he would be interested in helping out us truckers across the pond and he said he would be delighted.




I offered to place a link to his book on the UK Amazon website on my main blog page because he doesn’t ship it out of America himself. In return he will give me a weekly recipe to post on my blog. I have ordered his book and I will also post with his permission any recipe ideas I think might translate well over here. Don did say we would have to adjust the portion sizes to suit the UK!



I have also ordered a new book called ‘The Lunch Box Diet’. For those drivers like me who usually do get to sleep in their own bed at least some nights of the week, this system involves simply making a healthy lunchbox the night before, like a chicken salad for example, and grazing on it through the day. You would also eat a healthy breakfast in the morning and a good meal at night. I haven’t spoken with anyone connected to this book or the website, it’s just a book I have bought, but I will keep you posted as to how I get on.




I’m keen to raise awareness of this issue and have found some research into the problem of lorry drivers’ diet in the UK, but it seemed to be a few years ago. The web pages I have read can be found here: insert links …



We need our own Jamie Oliver to stand up for us and do something to improve the availability of good food on our roads, but I think we are pretty much in the back of most peoples' thoughts as usual. We can all start to improve our own health by at least thinking about what we eat and trying to improve our diet. I have noticed our European cousins cooking at the side of the road while my fellow countrymen stand in line at the Burger King or McDonalds. It seems to be a cultural thing, and just like our children are being re-educated in our school dinner halls , we might need to be re-educated in the lorry cabs across Britain.