happy meal

We do a 3.5-hour drive to Edmonton once a month - usually just for the day on a Sunday so my mom could go to her church there that she is so fond of (one of our negotiating terms when we were begging her to move with us here). Most of the time, we pack plenty of snacks for Gemma: fruits, cheerios, crackers, etc. But I find it is a bit harder to pack something more substantial for a meal - whether it's the fact that microwaves are hard to come by on the road or just that we don't have a cooler to keep it cold, etc. We try our best to time meals for when we arrive in our destination and most of the time, we arrive in Edmonton just in time for lunch, but supper is harder to time - we are most often going through Red Deer around suppertime. 

Unfortunately, stopping in Red Deer briefly means the following choices that are on gasoline alley: A&W, McDonalds, Wendy's, or Tim Hortons. Most of the time, we go to Tim Hortons and order a BLT sandwich with cheese for Gemma, then i take out all the bacon. Yesterday, we decided to stop at McDonalds because we had a few coupons to use and they had Kung Fu Panda toys that came with happy meals and so I got Gemma a happy meal... 

how terrible does that sound? a happy meal for a 17-month-old? but to make myself feel better, i got her the grilled chicken wrap with milk and apple slices (but didn't actually give her the apples due to the preservatives and she just had some fruit we packed instead). She got a Po toy which kept her busy on the rest of the drive home. 

i really want to instill healthy eating habits for Gemma and while I know i won't be able to keep her from eating McDonalds forever, i want to at least do my best for the first couple of years of her life. 

Does anyone have any good ideas for packed meals that are easy and not needing to be kept in a cooler? I can only think of PB sandwiches, but Gemma doesn't like PB. 

...don't judge me... LOL...