30+ Best Snacks on Road Trips (Plus What To Skip!)

Need ideas for snacks on road trips? After spending 8 weeks driving over 10,000 miles in one summer, we know a thing or two about road trip snacks that are healthy, convenient, and kid-friendly!

My family and I spent EIGHT WEEKS one summer driving over 10,000 miles, and then another 3,000 miles a few weeks later, and let me tell you – we know a thing or two about great snacks for road trips!

This doesn’t include the two times we’ve driven across the country, and the 50,000 miles we racked up traveling the West Coast!

CRITERIA FOR SNACKS FOR THE ROAD TRIP

The best snacks for the road trip have to meet stringent criteria. Something that’s:

• Light on your stomach and easy to digest, but still fills you up.
• You’ll actually WANT to eat, that tastes good yet is still on the healthy side.
• Easy to eat, doesn’t leave crumbs (like potato chips), and doesn’t require washing hands.
• Doesn’t smell overpowering in the cooler, lunch bag, or while you’re eating it (we skip the smoked salmon).
• Doesn’t require many utensils (if any at all) and doesn’t require reheating.

And on top of this, it needs to be something that you can easily throw together… because when you’re already packing up for a road trip, you don’t have much time to worry about snacks in the car!

Don’t worry – I’ve got you covered!

We’ve taken road trips with our kids since they were just 2 and 3 years old, so don’t think that the little ones can’t go along with you. They might require their own snacks, but it’s very doable no matter how young they are!

Also, a side effect of figuring out the best road trip snacks is learning the worst snacks for road trips, LOL. I included those at the bottom of the post, in case you’re curious.

BEFORE YOU PACK YOUR CAR TRIP SNACKS

Eating food in the car requires some extra planning since you won’t be able to easily or quickly pick up messes. Here are some lessons about car trip snacks I’ve learned that are worth sharing:

• Bring a dedicated trash bag. This can be a plastic bag from the grocery store, an actual trash bag, or a gallon-sized plastic bag. Have the kids (and you too!) put all the trash in the trash bag so it doesn’t accumulate in the car. Nothing is worse than having a sticky granola bar wrapper melt into the cup holder inside the car door!
• Bring baby wipes (or similar). You may not be able to wash your hands while on the road, so having baby wipes on hand is really helpful. This is WAY better than bringing hand sanitizer, especially when you need a bit of scrubbing power to get sticky goo off.
• Try not to bring utensils. Try not to pack foods that require utensils. I’ve found that spoons and forks can easily drop, and no one wants to stop the car to dig under the seats for a spoon over and over again.
• Packing snacks that work for YOU. Even though my whole family tolerates all these foods (i.e. we’re not allergic to anything on this list), we each had our own preferences as to which foods settled best in our stomachs. You’ll have to figure this out as you go, but it’s okay if each person has their favorites and they stick with it the whole trip.
• Pick 3-4 ideas to start with. Because each person will have preferences and variety can become expensive, pick just 3 or 4 ideas to pack in the car. See how they go and if they’re winners, stick with them. Wait until they’re gone before you try something new. This will help keep your budget down too!
• Make homemade road trip treats when possible. We made several of these ideas at home before we left for our trip, helping us keep costs down and control the ingredients. I highly recommend doing the same if possible.

20 BEST SNACKS ON ROAD TRIPS

These are what my whole family considers the best snacks on road trips. Everything on this list met all of the criteria above, and they’re all things we’d pack again.

Also, this particular list doesn’t require a cooler, which is a bonus if you’re just in the car for the one day!

1. Trail Mix (like our favorite Homemade Protein Trail Mix, which is a simple mix of dried fruit and nut,s or store-bought)
2. Single Serve Fruit Cups or Pouches (mixed, diced peaches, applesauce)
3. Pretzels (Homemade Pretzel Recipe)
4. Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels
5. Fruit Leather or Fruit Roll Ups
6. Nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts)
7. Meat Sticks (we love the meat sticks from Paleo Valley – the Turkey ones are my favorite!)
8. Jerky
9. Sliced Apples or Apple Chips
10. Easy-Peel Clementines or Mandarin Oranges
11. Snack Crackers (i.e. goldfish, Cheez-its, homemade or store-bought)
12. Popcorn
13. Peanut Butter Cups (from hotels) or peanut butter pouches with apples
14. Granola Bars without Chocolate (Homemade Granola Bars Recipe or store-bought)
15. Energy Bites without Chocolate (Peanut Butter Energy Bites or store-bought)
16. Protein Bars without Chocolate (anything with dark chocolate or chocolate chips just melts too easily!)
17. Larabars (Homemade Pumpkin Larabars or store-bought)
18. Sandwiches (ham & cheese, PBJ)
19. Muffins (Banana Bread Muffins are a yummy choice!)
20. Hearty Cookies

12 HEALTHY TRAVEL SNACKS FOR ROAD TRIPS WITH COOLERS

I put these travel snacks for road trips in a separate list because not everyone has a small cooler (we don’t!). These are great ideas too, but it just shows that you don’t HAVE to have a cooler in order to eat well on the road!

1. String Cheese Sticks
2. Homemade Lunchables (our favorite combo is cheese slices with crackers and pepperoni – easy to stack and eat!)
3. Hard Boiled Eggs
4. Crackers + Pepperoni (or Canadian Bacon, quartered)
5. Seedless Grapes
6. Yogurt Cups or Yogurt Tubes
7. Hummus Cups with baby carrots, cucumbers, celery sticks, bell peppers, pretzels, crackers (single serve)
8. Single Serve Guacamole Cups with carrots, bell peppers, pretzels, crackers
9. Dessert Hummus (like Chocolate Hummus or Cookie Dough Hummus) and crackers or apple slices
10. Peanut Butter Cups (from hotels) or peanut butter pouches with carrots or celery
11. Grilled Cheese / Quesadillas (if you don’t mind eating them at room temperature or cold)
12. Simple Leftovers (choose handheld items you can eat cold: grilled chicken or pancakes come to mind)

(NOT) GREAT ROAD TRIP SNACKS

I’ve read tons of articles about road trip snacks, and I’ve personally tested hundreds of them. In my experience, not all “great road trip snacks” are actually that good!

Some of them require a cooler, some are smelly, some are hard to eat, and many are just not fun.

Here’s my list of foods that are NOT good car trip snacks. Hopefully, you can learn from my experiences!

• Anything with mayo (mayo just doesn’t travel well)
• All fish and seafood (tuna pouches are easy to travel with, but your car-mates may not appreciate the smell!)
• Pizza (unless you like cold pizza AND have a cooler AND can eat it without making a big mess)
• Foods that require a spoon or fork (spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, etc.)
• Salad (hard to toss together, and easy to drop on yourself while eating)
• Soup (no way to reheat on the road, plus hit a bump and you’re going to have a lapful!)

HOW TO MAKE ROAD TRIP TREATS LINE UP WITH YOUR FOOD GOALS

Even while you’re on a road trip adventure, you can still stick with your food goals. Bringing your own road trip snacks is a great way to do that – you control what you bring AND you control the portion size.

If you’re trying to keep your sugar low, bring low or no-sugar snacks, or stick with the natural sugars in fruits.

Want to increase your protein? Bring higher-protein car trip snacks like beef sticks, nuts, hard boiled eggs, or cheese sticks.

Road trips and vacations are a great time to practice balance – real life includes special meals and treats (gas station candy?? LOL) while still consistently fueling your body well. We’re not on a diet here, folks!

FOOD ON ROAD TRIPS FAQS

MORE IDEAS FOR SNACKS AND TRAVELING