Healthy Road Trip Snacks

Road trip and travel season has begun, don’t let hunger ruin a great trip! Sharing tips on how to create balanced snacks, as well as some of our favorite healthy road trip snacks to bring on your travels.

This post was originally posted to The Domestic Dietitian in 2016 but has been updated and reposted.

Travel Season

For many people, the holidays, spring break and summer often involve travel. Whether it be by plane, train, or automobile, a lot of people pack it up and take to the road to celebrate with family and friends.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average long-distance trip over the Christmas holiday is 275 miles! That is a long time to be stuck in a small space. Throw in traffic, holiday stress, people’s lack of understanding about personal space and cranky kids and you could easily have a recipe for disaster.

Spring break is also a big travel season and many people hit the road for a quick little get away with their family.

Healthy Snacks on the Go

One easy way to help ensure a pleasant road trip is to pack some healthy road trip snacks. Second only to great tunes, snacks can make or break a road trip.

Food options while traveling are sometimes limited to fast food or a lot of unhealthy pre-packaged items. Not to mention that purchasing snacks at the airport or on the road can get expensive. Packing your own snacks gives you some healthy options and as I can personally attest, can really come in handy to help resolve temper tantrums from little travelers.

While there is no shame in simply grabbing a sweet snack that sounds good to you and satisfies a craving you may be having, there is a handy equation for creating a balanced snack.

Fiber + Protein + Healthy Fat = Balanced Snack

We have a great collection of 25 Fast and Filling Mediterranean Diet Snack Ideas that are all examples of how to create a balanced snack.

Examples of healthy snack ideas for travel…

• Beverages: Water, Sparkling Water, Unsweetened Iced Tea, Iced Coffee
• Fresh fruit: cuties, apples, grapes, berries and bananas are all easy to eat on the go and provide fiber, which can keep you full longer
• Peanut Butter & Pretzels/Crackers, Beef Jerky, String Cheese, Hummus & Carrots are sources of protein that can be grabbed on the go
• Popcorn, Healthy Trail Mix, Nuts, and Animal Crackers can all satisfy the crunch factor
• Cranberries (unsweetened), Raisins, Applesauce Pouches and Dark Chocolate satisfy sweet tooth cravings or distract smaller travelers
• Mini Fish – spring water steel head trout in a handy pouch that is so flavorful and makes a great protein packed lunch or snack, especially while traveling.

Some of Our Favorite Snacks to Bring Traveling

In addition to the healthy snacks listed above, these are some of our tried and true favorite purchased snack items to bring –

• Kind Bar Minis
  • The perfect size for quick sweet snacks. We love that they use real ingredients like nuts, seeds and dried fruit for flavor
• Mavuno Harvest, Organic Dried Pineapple
  • This is the best dried fruit we’ve ever had. Plus we love that the only ingredients is…pineapple. No added sugar or preservatives
  • We get ours from Thrive Market
• Purley Elizabeth Superfood Oat Cups
  • Elevated and healthy instant oatmeal cups are great for travel. Just add hot water and you have a nutrient dense, flavor packed breakfast on the go
• Yum Earth Gummy Bears
  • Flavored fruit real fruit, these gummy bears are perfectly portioned for little travelers and taste great!
• Chomps Mini Grass Fed Beef Sticks
  • Sometimes on the road it can be hard to find good sources of protein for snacks. These mini chomps make it easy and the kids love them
• Memore
  • We always bring our memore with us when traveling because it’s an easy way to 1) add extra vitamins and minerals, dietary fiber, plant based protein and antioxidants to your day and 2) we don’t always eat normally when traveling so it helps ensure we kind of get in our daily greens
  • We have partnered with Memore and you can use the code “DomesticDietitian” to get 30% off your own order, click here to find out more
  • Full disclosure, as a partner with Memore, we receive a small commission for sales made through the above link. However our thoughts shared are completely our own and we thank you for supporting business that we trust and use ourselves.

• Biena Chickpea Snacks – so crunchy and so many great flavors to choose from! The Lil’ Bit of Everything and Bombay Spice are two of our favorite flavors.
• LivBar – ancient grain and seed bars that come in amazing flavor combos like Coffee Maple Cacao and Blueberry Vanilla. Plus their wrapper is 100% compostable, which means they are great for camping or hiking.
• Fix & Fogg Everything Butter – a staple pantry item and now staple road trip item in our house. It’s so thick and tasty!
• One Degree Organics Cereals – they have so many great tasting cereal options that are made with simple ingredients. My kids love them and I feel better about their breakfast when it’s a One Degree Cereal.
• Brami Italian Snacking Lupini Beans – snacking on beans might sound crazy but these are so flavorful and a great way to work in some dietary fiber and protein while out and about. The Salt and Vinegar flavor are a personal favorite.

Additional Healthy Road Trip Snacks Tips to Remember:

• Don’t forget to stay hydrated while traveling. Dehydration can lead to headaches and irritability.
• If you are traveling by car, consider packing a little cooler for items requiring refrigeration. Hummus, string cheese, and yogurt make great snacks.
• Ask your passengers for snack idea input to ensure you include their favorites

Happy Travels!