Road trips can be super fun when you have your family around you. However, planning new experiences and things to do once you arrive is only half the battle. Stopping for food when you are on a time schedule can be hard, especially when you have a few hungry mouths to feed.

We know what your thinking, just grab a few bags of potato chips, and maybe some sandwiches and that should be enough to get us where we want to be. While this might be true, take a second to think about this.

If you have a younger crowd to cater to, snacking might cause some added stress. What will your car look like when you arrive? How bad will the clean up be? 

Fear not, for now, you have a guide to some drinks and snacks for car rides that are easy on the wallet and even easier on your car interior. 

Why Should You Plan Road Trip Snacks Ahead of Time?

When it comes to a road trip, planning ahead is a must in almost anything that you do. Some of the best road trip snacks can be found at gas stations along the way. However, the healthy road trip snacks are what will cut through the sugar and the grease. 

Snacks should be a part of any roadside emergency kit. Especially if you have children that will be accompanying you on your ride. If you are stuck on the side of the road, it is easy for children to get fussy and start to get upset.

Snacks are a good way to keep them occupied for a short period of time so that you can focus on how to get yourself out of the predicament you are in. 

Healthy Car Snacks for Road Trips

A lot of store-bought snacks claim to be trouble-free, but a toddler can make a mess out of anything if they put their mind to it. 

Fruit snacks can be good as a quick car trip snack, but drop one on the floor or seat and watch it get crushed into your upholstery and carpet with ease. Let’s not even touch on the subject of how much damage can be done with a single fruit roll-up. 

Snacks with a long shelf life may be perfect for long trips such as this, but that doesn’t mean that it needs to be MRE style survival food. Just making sure that you have a decent amount of food supplies to tide you over until you get to your destination is key.

Here are some snacks for traveling in a car that, not only can be found at any gas station but also have been found to be tough to turn into clutter. 

Fruits and Vegetables

One of the best car friendly snacks would be the simple fruit and vegetable option. Not only would they be good road trip snacks, but they are good for you in general.

Fruits and veggies are not only really healthy for everyone, but they are considered mess-free! However, you have to watch out for the type of vegetables you hand out. While the child in your car might really like avocado, it might not be the best car snack. 

The harder type of fruits and vegetables are easy to turn into a little snack. While some preparation might be in order, not much mess can be done with a carrot stick or an apple slice. 

Cut fruits and vegetables into smaller sizes, like sticks or slices. Not only will this make it easier (and more fun) to eat, but you will find that a single serving of apple could be a snack for two people if you cut it up the right way.

Dried fruits can be good as well, just be warry about how small they are. Bite-sized dried fruits can be easier to eat but have a very high “drop-ability” when it comes to any bumps in the road. You don’t have to avoid the smaller bits, but be aware of what can happen before you choose.

String Cheese

String Cheese is one of the easiest snacks to bring on your road trip. It is a protein-packed healthy snack that will make the ride easy, and fill stomachs easier. Just open and give to have an easy snacking experience. 

Protein-rich foods tend to fill the stomach, which will ensure fewer snack breaks and more time driving and spending time bonding. Which is why string cheese is one of the must-haves on any road trip.

Just be sure that you have a chilled cooler in your car so that the cheese doesn’t get warm and go bad. Serving food that isn’t at its best not only isn’t healthy for anyone but could also cause some serious food poisoning.

Beef Jerky

Beef Jerky is a good thing to always have on your long trips. Although they tend to be high in sodium, it is a good, cheap snack to store for when you need a little bit of a salty pick-me-up. 

They tend to be easy to store, and don’t have to be put in a temperature-controlled environment, so you can have it on hand at all times. 

The only thing that might be an issue is the hardness of the food. It might be a little hard for small children to eat, but if they have a mouth full of teeth, they should be able to enjoy it with ease. 

Granola Bars/Protein Bars

While granola bars and protein bars can cause a little bit of a mess, it depends on the brand you use. They are full of healthy fats and tend to not have a lot of added sugar, which will help keep the ride calm. 

They are normally held together with peanut butter, almond butter, or any other kind of nut butter, which gives it a nice punch of protein. They sometimes have an added hint of milk or dark chocolate, which helps to get rid of any sweet tooth you may have. 

Fruit Leather

Fruit leather, depending on the brand, can be considered good car snacks. Some brands tend to be on the dirtier side and could create a “sticky” situation. 

While not all brands are like this, this particular snack is a trial and error type. They aren’t going to tell you on the box that they are sticky, so testing them out before the car ride would be beneficial. 

This is why it is recommended to keep some type of wet wipe in your car to clean your hands when the snacking is done. The more you plan ahead for any mess that might come along, the more prepared you will be when it happens.

Nuts/Trail Mix 

Trail mix or mixed nuts is one of the most iconic and best car ride snacks. They can come in individual packets, or you can make them yourself for added fun. 

While this does have a higher tendency to get messy, it is an easy clean up with just a quick brush out once you get to the destination. For this reason, it made it onto the list of car friendly snacks. 

Car Friendly Drinks

Drinks are a little harder to deal with, as a lot of the drinks that the younger crowd want, tend to be very easy to spill. There are some easy workaround for this, however, such as Sippy Cups (for the younger crowd) and drink containers with a sealable lid or nozzle.

These containers should have a larger opening to enable for mess-free and easy filling. This way you can rest assured that not only will there be no mess when drinking, but they’re also won’t be a mess when refilling either.

Drink Recommendations

Less sugary drinks would be best to keep a calm environment. Drinks like:

• Water
• Unsweetened Iced Tea
• Certain Seltzers
• No Sugar Added Sports Drinks
• Certain Coconut Water Varieties

These drinks tend to be little to no sugar. This means there isn’t a reason why everyone should be hyped up other than for the events that will happen once you arrive. 

It is not recommended, but you can bring the large 2-liter bottles of any drink you wish, and repeatedly fill up the drink containers that are brought. 

Protect Your Family by Protecting Your Car

When you are driving on the road, you may be too worried about what is going on inside of your car to realize a problem going on outside of your car. Make sure you are protected if your car starts to overheat, your tire pops, or your car suddenly breaks down.

Having an emergency food kit for these kinds of situations will help to calm people down, but can only do so much to help put your car back on the road. 

A DriveSmart Auto Extended Warranty will help to protect you when something happens with your car. Breaking down doesn’t have to be hard to deal with. You have the snacks to keep everyone happy, just give DriveSmart a call. 

With complimentary roadside assistance, rental assistance, and even trip interruption, your trip doesn’t have to be a bust. Let us help and protected you before your car needs it, so you don’t have to dip into your emergency food storage.

Author: Brooke Lazar