Snacks for Hitting the Road

By Julie

In the near future, my family and I will take off on a summer vacation road trip. Inevitably, this will involve many pitstops at McDonalds across the country, and as many local treats as we can find at any given time. But what to do about the in-between stop times, when you’re actually trapped in the car for miles on end?

My mother taught me well over the years, and as such, I always have plenty of road snacks available. My rules are simple: individual packages when possible (to reduce pouring and portioning), nothing that crumbles (I’m looking at you, innocent-looking cereal bars), and minimal meltables (I gotta have some chocolate, but I try to keep it to the least melty versions possible). I also look for things that don’t crush too easily, in case they get trampled or squished in our limited space.  My favorites are dried fruit mixes, yogurt-covered raisins (while still slightly melty, much less of a problem that the chocolate-covered variety), bags of goldfish or pretzels, and my beloved peanut/raisin/M&M trail mix. Hey, I never said road snacks had to be strictly healthy. It’s vacation!

What are your favorite travel snacks?

Comments

[emiliym]

My mom calls that the "bad bag" ...not healthy but necessary for roadtrips. But when we hear the words "bad bag", I know my favorite snacks are somewhere nearby. We always had red vines in ours. And goldfish but only the parmesan flavor because that is my dad's fave.

Man, now I want a road trip

[Carla]

We had good luck with pretzel goldfish, chocolate bunnies (small cookie type things), bananas, and snap peas. One thing to look for are foods that take a while to eat.

[Sasha]

Whenever I am driving, I try to avoid anything that's sugary or unhealthy... just because I get sleepy! So I usually stick to fresh fruits and veggies.

I like to get precut butternut squash (they sell them at WalMart as well as at my local grocery store). It's a great healthy snack that still tastes good!

Grapes, baby carrots, and blueberries are also good options.

When I'm not the driver, I love to stop at the gas station and find some sort of weird snack or candy that I don't usually buy when I'm at home!