Surviving My 1st Year

#1: With a truck fridge you have it made. To stay healthy, try "salad kits" - yep, all the fixings in one bag. I found they are tasty, and sort of healthy. If you can eat the same thing for a few days, check them out. Keep a large plastic bowl and a metal fork (so you won't toss it away). Wash them off in the truck stop restroom.

#2: I figured out a simple way to heat canned goods - soup, chili and such. Find the bunk heater vent, probably on the floor. Get a can-size box. Put your can dinner in the box and set this open end toward the hot breeze from the heater. Dinner in ten minutes.

#3: Be sure to call your honey every evening. You know the rest of this.

#4: Check with your DM , see if there's any regional , dedicated or line haul jobs at your local terminal. These drivers often get home weekly.

Like Errol said, you have a great advantage if you have a fridge. You only need a 12V cooler for extra capacity if everything won't fit in the fridge. Errol also mentioned the salad packs. Walmart has them and they are the best I've found. I almost always have one or two Walmart rotisserie chickens with me because I like cold chicken. If you catch it right, Walmart always marks these items down after a certain amount of time (I think after about a month or two, lol). Each salad for me is two meals (I always add chicken pieces to the salad). A rotisserie chicken may last for 5 or 6 meals. You can get a chicken and two salads for under $10. Snack on celery sticks, baby carrots, (what did the mother carrot say? "Please don't eat my babies!").

I'm going to say that if you put your mind to it, you should be able to eat well from your truck supply for as little as $5 per day, $10 max. Oh, and I also keep cans of Chunky soup with the pop top lids. Contrary to popular custom, canned soup doesn't have to be heated. I don't mind cold soup at all. One can of soup is a complete meal for me. About $1.50 per meal. You and the wife will come up with your own ideas based on what you like to eat. The point is that you can easily eat well and healthy on the road without breaking the bank.

Since you have a fridge you're covered on keeping things cool/fresh.

An option I haven't seen mentioned for heating food up is a 12v lunchbox stove. I personally have the roadpro one. Was about 30$ on Amazon. I use disposable cake pans to avoid having to clean the stove daily. 3 for 99c at Walmart. You can heat up a can of soup/ spaghetti os/ chilli whatever in about 30 mins.

I haven't done it myself but YouTube has plenty of videos of people actually cooking home quality meals, think chicken and veggies in the stove.

As Bruce mentioned a can of soup is like 1$?ish plus 30c for one cake tin and boom hot, healthyish food. Way way better then anything you'll get in a truck stop for way way cheaper.

Another thing that will save you several dollars is redeeming the points on the FREE fuel rewards cards that every truck stop chain has. Use these cards every time you get fuel for the truck. In less than two months, you should easily accumulate enough rewards points to get a lunchbox plug-in cooker/warmer for free. I save my bonus points for a long time and make large item purchases. The last GPS I got was over $400. Utilizing my free points (free $$$), I only used less than $75 of my money.

Another thing that will save you several dollars is redeeming the points on the FREE fuel rewards cards that every truck stop chain has. Use these cards every time you get fuel for the truck. In less than two months, you should easily accumulate enough rewards points to get a lunchbox plug-in cooker/warmer for free. I save my bonus points for a long time and make large item purchases. The last GPS I got was over $400. Utilizing my free points (free $$$), I only used less than $75 of my money.

Great point packrat. I've used these points for gloves, tools, that hose that let's you use your trailer air supply to air up your tires.. all kinds of stuff.

Darn right! It’s really free money. The trucking company pays for the fuel and the driver gets the points, plus free showers. Use those cards whenever you go in the shops for repairs while out on the road. Use them when you get roadside repairs for a flat tire, too.

I save my points by not showering. I'm a solo driver and who cares if I stink. Lol!

Actually, Schneider has many OC locations with FREE showers. Between showers, I use the WET ONES brand of BIG ONES wipes for sponge baths. 3 or 4 of these and I'm fresh as a flower in way less than an hour. I like to save my points for other things.

And parking. Finding free parking is a good skill to develop to save money on paid parking spots. But I don't get routed to the northeast very often, so no criticism aimed at those who find paid parking necessary. My belief is that every company should foot the bill for paid parking, not the driver. I think some companies may do this.

I save my points by not showering. I'm a solo driver and who cares if I stink. Lol!

Actually, Schneider has many OC locations with FREE showers. Between showers, I use the WET ONES brand of BIG ONES wipes for sponge baths. 3 or 4 of these and I'm fresh as a flower in way less than an hour. I like to save my points for other things.

And parking. Finding free parking is a good skill to develop to save money on paid parking spots. But I don't get routed to the northeast very often, so no criticism aimed at those who find paid parking necessary. My belief is that every company should foot the bill for paid parking, not the driver. I think some companies may do this.

CFI pays for drivers to park when necessary.

Also, hard boiled eggs are great if you like them. I usually boil up 2 dozen, put them back in their egg cartons and keep them in my cooler. When I open up a salad, I will add chunks of chicken and hard boiled eggs, divide It in half and store the second half. The salad dressing that comes with these kits is usually not enough,so I carry a bottle of oil/vinegar to use in addition. Store bought button mushrooms are cheap and a good addition also. If I add these things, I can usually stretch one $3.57 salad into 3 meals. Some nutritionists also claim that any kind of mushrooms will keep your healthy gut bacteria in tip top shape.

Of course, you could economize even more by becoming a dumpster diver driver. Hey, people throw away good stuff!