Road Trip Travel

Love this post, @tinabialzik. I am following hoping to learn some good tips from it as well!

I know this may sound odd, but for simplicity, we have often taken a box of cereal that the boys just eat dry when they need a quick snack. We also love jerky, so that tends to make the trip. If we have a cooler with, string cheese is another easy thing to munch on.

For trips around 300~ miles, I pack sliced cheese, italian salami slices, crackers, or sandwiches, fresh fruit, olives. Feels like having a picnic in the car since we don't stop to eat food. I'm a big fan of fresh fruit-it keeps pretty well, doesn't necessarily require refrigeration (aka a cooler), low environmental impact, and healthy. Also consider cut fruit mixed together in one large container (watermelon, strawberries, pineapple). This could be served with bowls or cups for individuals.

I’m vegan so I make a lot of different trail mixes to carry with me when I’m in the car. I do a lot of dried fruit trail mixes, nuts, cereals, pretzels, etc. If you are carrying a cooler I take grapes and berries, sliced apples (I take peanut butter for dipping them in), slices of oranges and other fruits you enjoy. Even when I’m not traveling, just on everyday travels I always have something in my lunch bag or cooler bag to snack on so I won’t be tempted to get an unhealthy snack from the convenience store or restaurant drive thru. Hope you and your family have a great trip! Safe travels!!

I love this idea! Actually, one boy would be thrilled to munch on dry cereal the whole time. 🙂 Thanks, Treasure!

Part of our trip will be spent in Canada so I was a little nervous about taking fresh fruit and vegies across the border. I think we should be okay as long as I have the packaging along. I couldn't find anything specific about the packaging, but I think I will err on the side of caution. Like you, I love the picnic in the car idea. It saves time, money, and calories and helps entertain as well.

Thanks so much, Rhonda! I think I will pick up some supplies and let my boys make the trail mix. It will give them satisfaction knowing they are contributing in a food-fun way. They are pretty excited and have been researching interesting facts about the places we will travel through.

Pretzels, granola bars, fruits/veggies pre-packaged in snack size Ziplocs or containers, nuts, dried fruit/raisins, go-gurt. Ham sandwiches are our family's favorite. And, for last year's trip I tried out some wraps with tortillas. Hard candy has also been good - a bit of sweet but without the mess of chocolate. I do try to pack foods we don't typically have at home so it's a bit of a treat.

That said, we do a lot of road trips and, unfortunately, by day two we're usually tired of what we have packed. I'm not sure what your kids' ages are, but if making healthy choices when you do stop at a gas station or restaurant is important, maybe a Bingo-type game indicating various food choices would be a fun activity 🙂

We did wraps (soft shell with pickles, cream cheese and meat) cut into small sections. Fruit and nuts in take along containers, string cheese, etc. My favorite thing in the P3 protein packs. I get them near the Lunchables at Woodmans. Container with cheese, meat and nuts but they are sealed.
I love the Bingo idea!
Looking forward to hear how it goes Tina!

I love these ideas! My kids are 11 and 14, soon to be in sixth and ninth grade. They would love the BINGO idea. That would really change things up. The oldest actually created a trivia game to play periodically. (It's based on places we've been in the past.) Needless to say, anything that has a game theme is a hit! Thanks for this fun idea!

Hi Jan,
I love the wrap idea. We love these roll-ups anyhow, but I never thought about taking them In the car. Genius! I think I've pretty much picked up everything on this thread now. This is our biggest road trip yet. I think we are well stocked at least for a bit. Kids seem to get hungrier in the car so they could surprise me. 🙂

Thanks everyone! We hit the road at noon tomorrow. I'm pretty excited! Thanks for being a part of making our family trip fun and memorable. I appreciate it.