Road trips and summer travels are usually plagued with junk or fast food. Why? Because they're easy to eat in the car and kids enjoy them. That said, they also enjoy healthy options too, you just have to spice them up a little. Here are a few car-friendly food prep methods that are going to have your kids asking you to pass the celery half way to Wyoming!
Over at Choose To Thrive they've been doing a bit of traveling and although fast food and gas station snacks are easy, they aren't exactly satisfying and it's easy to watch the bills pile up in your wake. Instead, try bringing healthier options that won't leave your kids with rumbly tummies.
Carrots, celery and apples are all great options, but the selling point for all of them are dipping sauces. This may not seem like a good idea for the car, but like the apples above you can see how much fun they really can be. These apples are stored in a sour cream container that has a full size yogurt container inside for dipping. It's perfect for containing spills and sure to have them asking for more.
Check out all the car friendly dipping snacks at Choose To Thrive
(Image: Choose To Thrive)
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My mother would bring a cutting board, knife, apples and cheese on road trips and dole out freshly cut slices from the front seat while my father drove. Probably not the safest option, but definitely tasty and healthy!
My mom always popped several bags of popcorn and dumped it all into a (clean, brand-new) trash bag or giant zip-top bag for road trips and especially for family outings to the drive-in theater. We were never allowed to buy snacks from the concession stand.
She also packed a cooler for road trips. We had sandwiches, fruit, cold drinks, etc.
The link doesn't work :(
I pack a small folding cooler all the time in the summer, even if it's just a long day out. Pop, water, gatorade for me and hubby plus juice, milk, p&j sandwich, string cheese, cut up fruit for son. Also have small plastic container with low sugar animal crakers, gerber puffs and cherrios.
on another note the apples and dip are great. Does anyone else find it annoying that fast food healthy option is apples with carmel sauce? Wouldn love to see a cream cheese or yogurt option.
These are great snack ideas for kids, but in my family growing up (and I plan with my kids) we didn't eat junk normally so we knew road trips meant fast food and sodas/candy in the car. That was part of the appeal we looked forward to.
Such great ideas! I don't have kids but everyone could use these ideas when food gets a little messy on car trips.
it is yogurt not caramel sauce. and if you go to the image link it takes you to the right page.
i love this idea! Am going to use the container-in-container idea for veggies and dip!
@ellenpasta,
http://choosetothrive.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-road-trip-1-car-snacks.html
Love the celery in the peanut butter jar trick!
For the link, this will get you there:
Choose to Thrive - car snacks.
Are there any good ideas for snacks when going on a longer road trip (2 weeks)? I'm trying to come up with some healthy, fun ideas that will keep for a while (we could stop at a grocery store once or twice, but can't stop all the time).
@everythingistaken, when we've taken long road trips, we'll use up our home prepped perishables first and then move on to whatever pantry items I've packed and whatever we can snag at grocery stores along the way.
My emergency non-perishable stash for a quick filling meal always included a can of vegetarian refried beans, a jar of salsa, a lidded bowl big enough to hold both, and some tortilla chips. Mix the beans and salsa for a filling dip.
On those trips, we packed a hamper with both fresh and dried fruit and veggies, peanut butter, canned tuna, nuts, protein bars, jerky, granola, and bread (pita is packable and sturdy). The hamper also included can and bottle openers, cutlery, a knife and cutting board, a few condiments, salt and pepper and a few other spices (cinnamon is great for subpar road stand coffee). If you'll be using a cooler, you can add hummus, hard boiled eggs, yogurt (great with the granola and fruit), cheese, salami, etc.
My husband does most of the driving and, since I was self-appointed in charge of food, I would hold a few treats in reserve to surprise him when the driving became tedious: his favorite dried pineapple or chocolate covered expresso beans.
We have had many an impromptu roadside picnic and have been saved having to find a place to buy a meal when we were driving in the middle of nowhere late at night with everything closed.
We never did road trips longer than a day or two. Now we take the train. Monkey bread or any twisted bread that can be pulled apart by hand is always popular.
For college trips with our outdoors club, we were all given a bag of trail mix/gorp for the week. It made great car food, and was a high-energy snack to have throughout the trip.