A different take on meals on wheels

While many American workers shelter in place, the nation’s truckers have been in overdrive, delivering essential supplies to grocers, healthcare centers, and businesses across the country. But that can put the truckers themselves at risk, given the potential for exposure to unfamiliar bacteria and viruses during their travels.

So what can truckers do to protect themselves during an unprecedented health crisis? A recent blog post by ATBS, a Lakewood, Colorado-based tax and accounting firm for truck owner-operators, offered some advice in that regard, listing six tips for reducing their chances of getting sick on the road.

Most of it was the standard advice we’ve been hearing all along: wash your hands, get enough sleep, avoid close contact with other people, stay hydrated, and get the flu shot.

But one that caught our attention was “cook in your truck.” Noting that drivers risk infection by eating alongside other—possibly sick—diners at restaurants and truck stops, the company urged them instead to stock up on groceries and prepare meals in their own trucks—on sanitized surfaces, of course.

To help them get started, ATBS has shared a free online “Rolling Kitchen Cookbook,” filled with cooking tips as well as recipes that can be prepared with small appliances like a convection toaster oven, George Foreman Grill, microwave, rice cooker, or electric skillet. As for the kind of fare we’re talking about, sample recipes include easy chicken pot pie, Ken’s teriyaki pineapple bowl, trucker meatloaf, salmon and asparagus dinner, sausage and shrimp jambalaya, and parmesan roasted Brussels sprouts.

You can find both the blog and the cookbook by going to the “Knowledge hub” section of the ATBS website. Bon appétit!