Road Trip Snacks

Road trips are so much fun, especially when you get to pack your own snacks. Growing up, I have so many memories of summer road trips with my family. My dad would take 2 weeks off during the summer so that we could do a family vacation. As long as we could drive there, no place was off limits. One of our furthest drives was from Texas (where I’m from) to Canada to see Niagara falls. While I remember the road trips, what I truly remember is my mom packing a cooler so that she could feed her family of 3 girls on a budget and prevent us from having to make too many stops. She would pack the cooler full of “build your own sandwich” items, chips, dips, peanuts and so many other snacks.

Recently me, my husband and bonus son did our own mini getaway to Chattanooga TN and guess what I did? If you said I packed my own cooler full of snacks, you’d be right. Now, my husband laughed at me for packing a cooler because from Atlanta to Chattanooga it’s only a short 2 hour drive. However, we didn’t make it out of the neighborhood before my bonus son asked for something to eat. So, I’d say I made the right decision.

Given this was a relatively short trip, I didn’t have to pack several meals. Just enough for at least one meal plus a few additional items for our hotel room. Late night or early morning munchies can always get the best of anyone.

When I pack road trip snacks, I always start with my bonus son because he’s the easiest to manage.

Lately he’s been loving turkey and lettuce sandwiches, hold the mayo and mustard. So, I made him a half sandwich for the trip. While he’s not a huge fan of whole wheat bread, I still try to buy the best white bread I can. I added fruit snacks, goldfish and his favorite cheese stick.

In order to make it easy for him when searching for his food, I packaged all of his food in individual ziplocks and then put those ziplocks in one larger ziplock bag for easy access.

When thinking about what I will bring for road trips, I always think about ease and accessibility. Packing a salad wouldn’t necessarily make sense when trying to drive and eat at the same time.

With that thought in mind, I packed chicken BLT wraps for me and my husband. I started with a whole wheat wrap, and added the ingredients we love including:

Avocado
pulled chicken breast
turkey bacon
Lettuce

I normally add a dollop of low fat mayo and tomato to mine to add a bit more flavor. I season with salt and pepper and then get ready to wrap them.

There is nothing worse than having a wet or soggy sandwich or wrap. When the bread gets moist, it ruins the entire meal for me. In order to prevent the wraps from getting soggy from the cooler, I wrap them in parchment paper first. Next, I will wrap it again this time with foil. Lastly I place the wraps in a large ziplock bag. I’ve found this method to help in keeping the wraps from getting wet or soggy. If wraps aren’t your thing, this Panera inspired roasted turkey BLT sandwich might be up your alley.

Now that the actual road trip portion of the food was covered, I moved on to packing additional snacks for the hotel room or those in between meal times. Given my husband and I eat quite frequently throughout the day, I knew I should plan for us to graze on items at least 2 times throughout the day. I typically pack things that are portable, easy and that can mix and match to make into a complete meal.

Other road trip snacks:

Rice cakes
Tuna packets in water
Protein powder
Granola bars
Low Calorie popcorn

Rice cakes are the most versatile snack as it can be mixed and matched with several of these foods. They can be easily paired with protein powder for a quick and easy on the go meal. When doing this option, I normally find to-go peanut butter cups at the hotel to spread on top of the rice cakes. Alternatively, the rice cakes could also pair with the tuna for more of a crunchy tuna salad cake. Again, I will snag a to-go mayo from the local hotel to mix with the tuna.

Another option would be pairing the protein powder and granola bars together. This would make an excellent on the go quick snack.

Lastly popcorn is always one of my go-to road trip snacks to pack because generally every hotel room is equipped with a microwave.

I love these low calorie snack packs to help with calorie and portion control.

Planning your next road trip doesn’t have to be overwhelming or derail your healthy eating habits. With some proper planning ahead of time, you and your family can stay on track!