Traveling Light with The Lion

Food Lion that is. My oldest is 14 now and we have tried every trick to making travels as hassle free as possible.

I've tried:

• packing snack bags for each child & stopping only at rest areas
• winging it with fast food joints
• shopping super frugal and bringing all our groceries with us
• splurging with pre-made entrees and spreads (think pimento, chicken salad, lasagna)
  

All these approached have different positives and some obvious negative (fast food, hello!)

But my Simple Solution to Traveling with a crowd this summer is Food Lion. Here's what I liked about this plan for our summer vacation:

• Food Lion prices are the same everywhere. I knew what to expect.
• The Lion is located in almost every community we passed on Hwys 52 and 74. About time for a break and just like the commercials say, Food Lion is in the neighborhood.
• The bathrooms are clean and not crowded.
• The walk from the car to the back of the store was "just enough" for a break.
• Everyone could pick out one piece of fruit for a snack and a individual juice (on sale!) near the milk section.
• No packing coolers and cramming the car.
• No hauling now crushed and man-handled food all the way back home.
• Most of the stores offer coffee by the cup!

Once we got to the Oak Island, the Food Lion there is super nice and clean. We bought what just we needed for the few days we were there and didn't bring back too much (laundry detergent and cereal).

The plan worked for us this great this summer and I think we'll try it again on our next trip.