Road Trip Snacks
Mostly Healthy
Having a car full of Snacks on a road trip is a must. Now everyone has different ideas of snacks they need. Here are some that we can’t go without. I have learned that having a plan is better than letting my dad loose in a grocery store. That’s never a good idea. He tends to throw a bunch of things in the cart some of which he will never eat he just has fun throwing things in the cart. I guess it is very entertaining for him to drive me insane. Now some things are a must and if I showed up on a road trip without these snacks I may end up getting left somewhere during the road trip. The other thing that might happen is he buy a bunch of junk at every gas station and it will cost me way more then just being prepared ahead of time.
Our families absolute must haves for road-trip snacks are
• Peanut Butter – It can be eaten in so many ways and so keeping it in the snack box can also provide on the go lunches or a dip for other snacks. Keeping your protein up can give you the energy to keep going
• Jerky – Again Protein is important to provide energy and keep you feeling full so you don’t get distracted by other food at gas stations. Buying a big bag of jerky before you go or make your own
• Popcorn – We love popcorn in our family and it is one of the healthier things that you can eat on the road. We make some popcorn up ahead of time and put in Ziploc bags. With popcorn you have a lot of options for flavors
• Nuts – I usually carry a mixture of them. I like to include Peanuts, Pistachios, Cashews, and Almonds. Sometimes I will throw in some walnuts but my dad thinks that these are horrible and considers them garbage because he is crazy.
• Fruit – Selection of Dried and Fresh fruit. Have to have kept the healthy snacks stocked up. Don’t worry we will have fun snacks too. I was raised in a home that grandma made a lot of things for us including drying fruit or making fruit leather. Dried fruit is great for a snack because it is sweet for when you are craving sweetness and you can feel good about it. Besides having dried fruit we like to include things like bananas, apples, and things like Halos. These travel well and are easy to eat.
• Corn Nuts – We love these for driving because they have a crunch that helps us stay alert. Plus we love the taste. I have to keep not only the car stocked with these but the house as well.
•Vegetables – carrots, celery, cucumber slices, salad in Mason Jars, and sweet peppers are our go-to veggies. I like to get them all cleaned and either put in mason jars or baggies. This makes it easy to grab a portion and may keep everyone from going to the not so healthy things.
• String Cheese – Simple, easy, healthy, low carb, and fun to eat. A bag of string cheese in the cooler can be a great road trip snack or it can be part of a road-trip lunch.
• Chips & Crackers – I don’t think my dad can go more than about two days without eating some kind of chips. We have to always have everything fully stocked in bags of potato chips. To try and control the eating of these I buy a mix of the smaller bags. Yes, he may have to take two bags of chips but that is better then him eating the big bag all by himself. We also like to take things like goldfish and cheez-its just because they taste so good. If I am having to plan meals for the trip I also will include other crackers to go with lunch.
• Granola Bars – I at least get the ones that are covered in chocolate and have things like peanut butter filled so I can attempt to pass these off as candy bars.
• Trail Mix – Having a fix of flavors and textures makes trail mix an awesome option for road trips. I usually like to make my own and it normally contains the normal stuff like nuts, raisins, and chocolate then I throw in marshmallows, Kix, PB balls, and pretzels.
• Candy – Last thing on the list has to have the unhealthy stuff. Although the argument can be made that even some of this category can be considered healthy. We must take licorice on our trips we are taking it because we love it and we love to eat it all the time. Did you know that Licorice is great from road trips because it can help keep you regular. So if you are taking a long trip where you are going to be sitting a lot, make sure that you grab one of those multi-packs of licorice and enjoy it. We will also grab some other candy such as gummy bears. Growing up it wasn’t a road trip unless my sister had a giant bag of gummies bears from Costco which she would put in the back window and wait till they all melted together into one big gummy and then she would eat it. If you are still trying to be healthy you can try making your own gummies just have to store them in the cooler.
Now that the car is stocked with all the essentials you are ready to hit the road. Keeping track of all your snacks is important to your sanity. Trying to organize them ahead of time to quickly grab what you are wanting. If you are traveling with kids or someone that may need a little help I recommend taking a plastic storage container that is split into compartments, load it up with a little bit of everything, This also works great when traveling in other ways where space may be an issue. It saved the day when we were at a an airport in Haiti and everyone was hungry. I had a few people very happy that I had packed snacks.
