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Family Road Trip Snacks
You have researched your family vacation destination and chosen a location within driving distance. You made the accommodation reservation, planned activities for the trip, and packed clothes and toiletries for your entire family! The kids have toys and books to keep them occupied during your journey. Now it is time to get this vacation started. But wait, what about road trip snacks for the kids during your family road trip? Before you hit the road you need some quick and easy kid friendly snacks for your road trip.
Family road trips are flexible, allowing you to go directly to your destination when needed. Or you can stop and experience fun things along the way. There’s so many wonderful memories to create on a family road trip, and it goes much smoother when you have a selection of road trip snack for kids (and the adults). Certainly everyone is much happier and willing to ride for longer if they’re not starving! This post is about the Best Road Trip Snacks for Kids. It includes a FREE printable download below of our Road Trip Snacks List. These are our favorite family snacks, which your kids will LOVE!
Use the Table of Contents below to quickly skip to any section of this post.
Road Trip Snacks
Sometimes it feels like the front seat of the car may as well be a full-service restaurant! Having multiple kinds of snacks for hungry or bored kiddos is necessary for everyone’s happiness and helps reduce the number of annoying stops just to grab a snack. We are sure to include some snacks packed with protein to prevent hangry kids or so we can all hold out for that cool place to stop just one more hour down the road.
Even if you don’t end up eating everything you packed while on the road, you can have those snacks and use them for the duration of your trip. Furthermore, I always prefer to carry snacks for the kids, instead of buying something while we’re out! So packing plenty of snacks really is a win-win situation!
Road Trip Snack Hack:
We love the convenience of ordering a Prime Pantry box, when we are preparing to head out of town on a family vacation. A few minutes online can save you hours in a grocery store or two.
If you have an Amazon prime account or sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime here then you can have a Prime Pantry box delivered for free with only a $35.00 purchase.
We have included handy links on all the recommended items below to make your shopping fast and convenient.
Download FREE Printable Road Trip Snacks List
Here are our favorite kid-friendly snacks. You can get access to our FREE Family Road Trip Survival Bundle which includes the printable list of snacks to take on your next family road trip.
The Best Road Trip Snacks for Kids
We have included more details, photos and handy links below to the items listed. Feel free to use the links below (assume all links are affiliate links that we earn a small commission). Using any of the affiliate links in our posts will not cost you anymore than not using the link. However, using affiliate links in our posts are a huge help in resourcing this blog. 💖 Thank you BE Family! 💖
Trail Mix
Take a healthy nut snack and spice it up with dried fruit, some chocolate, or yogurt covered raisins. Our kids love dried raisins, cranberries, cherries or apricots. We make sure to pack individual servings in a small reusable container.
Pre-packaged snacks are also a handy solution when all there’s time for us to throw together an Amazon order.
Fruit
Pre-sliced apples, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, oranges. Think fruits that can be eaten with your hands. Pre-wash and pre-slice before you leave, and with kids under the age of 5, skip the grapes.
Nuts or Nut Butter
Nuts are a healthy snack packed with protein. Our kids love peanuts, whole almonds, sliced almonds, pistachios, cashews or pecans. I typically opt for roasted or unsalted nuts, to avoid the unnecessary salt making us thirsty. Nut Butter (such as peanut butter, almond butter or sunflower seed spread) in individual serving sizes are great to dip with sliced apples. Obviously, if you have young children or a child with a nut allergy then avoid these options.
Granola or Protein Bars
We keep granola bars and protein bars on-hand for family road trips at all times! Our family can be picky about the fast food and restaurants where we choose to eat during family road trips.
Kids and adults alike can make it that extra hour to the food destination we somehow all agreed on when you’ve got an extra granola bar for everyone.
- KIND Bar Mini’s
- Larabar snack bar variety pack
- MadeGood Granola Bars/Minis 7 Box Variety Pack **Allergy safe option**
Drinkable Greek Yogurt Drinks / String Cheese
These are another easy way to pack protein for the road. We always carry a small cooler and these take up very little room.
Snack Size Sandwiches / Wraps
Being able to grab one more substantial meal while still driving down the road gives us flexibility as well as a healthier option for one meal. We pack sandwiches cut into quarters and wraps cut in half for small meals as we drive.
Veggies & Hummus
Cut up some veggies and pack single serve hummus or ranch dip. Some of our go-to vegetables for road trip travel are baby carrots, sliced cucumbers, snow peas, red, orange, and yellow peppers.
Road Trip Hack:
You can use a traditional school lunch Box like shown in the picture for separating out your veggies and sandwiches for each child.
We prefer a Bento Box, which allows a lot more flexibility for separation of dips, vegetables, sandwiches, and even sliced up fruits.
They come in different colors. So grab the one that suits your fancy. Click here to see all the Bento Boxes for Kids
Applesauce or Fruit & Veggie Pouches
Young or old, this can be a lifesaver for when veggies just get missed on the road.
Crunchy Snacks
Goldfish, veggie straws, pretzels, animal crackers, mini rice cakes, tortilla snacks, mini graham crackers, Chex mix in a handy snack catcher.
- Pepperidge Farm, Goldfish, Crackers, Classic Mix, 29 oz. Variety Pack
- Annie’s Variety Snack Pack, Cheddar Bunnies, Friends Bunny Grahams and Cheddar Squares
- Popchips Potato Chips Variety Single Serve 0.8 Ounce Bags
- Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straws
- Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzels Variety 100 Calorie Pack
- Nabisco Fun Shapes Cookie & Cracker Mix, Variety Pack with Teddy Grahams, Chips Ahoy! Cookies, & Barnum’s Animal Crackers
- PopCorners Snacks Variety Pack
- Chex Mix Brand Snacks Variety 12 Pack
Download the FREE Printable Road Trip Snacks List
Popcorn
Easy, non-greasy, and healthy, popcorn is an easy road trip snack. You can pop your own or purchase it ready to go.
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Sweet Treats
We aren’t fond of giving our kids a bunch of sugar in the car. Let’s face it, asking a kid (or even us!) to sit still in the car after a bunch of sugar just seems downright impossible. But what’s better than a small sweet treat to celebrate the halfway point of the trip? We usually stick to something we need to order beforehand with less sugar, like organic fruit snacks or gummies or a lollipop. And on occasion we’ll enjoy one of my childhood favorites – a Rice Krispies Treat! We all love chocolate in our family but keep in mind it must be packed in the cooler to avoid a mess!
- Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks, Variety Pack, 12 Pouches, 9.6 oz Box
- YumEarth Organic Lollipops, Assorted Flavors, 12.3 Ounce (Pack of 1), 50 Lollipops per Pack
Water
And what about something to drink? Water is always an easy option. Packing water in a reusable container means you can refill your container along the way.
We love the Thermos Funtainer for Kids, which is a 12 oz container available in MANY different colors and character designs. It is an insulated 12 hour cold drink stainless steel thermos, and the BEST part… it does not sweat when filled with ice!
Another great option is the Thermos Foogo Vacuum Insulated Straw Bottle, which is also stainless steel. It is slightly smaller, at 10 oz, so this may be easier for your toddler to hold. Either way we love both of these water bottles and have used them for years.
Keeping kids regular while traveling
Let’s talk about the scoop on poop!
When any of us sit for the majority of the day, things can stop moving so well. There are some tricks to keeping things moving.
Likewise, watch for too many binding foods. There are so many common kid favorites that can be binding. Be sure to not allow too many on road trip day. Particularly binding foods are bananas, cheese, and sugary snacks.
Also, fiber is your friend. This is where fruits and veggies come in.
Our kids love hummus with their veggies and this gives them an extra boost of fiber. There are also other ways to incorporate fiber on road trip day.
Popcorn is an easy one and granola bars can be great too. Veggie pouches are a sneaky addition for even the pickiest kid.
Furthermore, regular 15-minute breaks with a short walk throughout the day.
Unless someone has to sprint to the bathroom as soon as the car stops, take a few minutes and stretch your legs before heading to the bathroom. This can often help move things along and make it much easier for kids to poop while traveling. The whole family can benefit from these breaks.
Family Road Trip with Kids
A road trip with kids means being prepared for messes! Therefore, napkins or paper towels and baby wipes are handy for sticky hands or a bigger mess. Also, hand sanitizer is a must with all of the eating that happens on a road trip. We prefer to use one that doesn’t seem to leave a taste behind. A few plastic bags are handy for trash, to wrangle a big mess, and just in case of stomach upset. For helpful tips for preventing or dealing with Car Sickness in Kids read this post.
Planning a family vacation doesn’t have to be stressful if you prepare ahead of time. So, before your next family road trip make sure to read our complete guide with everything you need to know about how to Simplify a Road Trip with Kids.
And check out our posts about home vehicle maintenance to learn how to get your car ready for your next road trip or about traveling with a potty training toddler or Strategies to Stay Healthy while Traveling with Children. Plus the best family travel games to find games to entertain the kids on your next road trip.
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The Road Trip Snack Wrap-up
We know that taking these kid friendly road trip snacks will help to reduce your stress and bring peace to the backseat. We would love to hear from your family about your favorite road trip snacks.
And remember, let’s BE Family so you can enjoy the journey.
Until next time,
💕💖 Ruth
BE Family Products Inc., or (BE Family Travel) participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Using any of the links on this website does NOT cost you anything but does help us continue to create content on this blog. Thank you so much for your support and for partnering with us. Let’s BE Family.
Ruth Hutchins grew up in England and now lives in North Carolina with her husband, Doug, and their two young daughters. They always loved to travel, but once having children everything changed because family travel is more complicated. Traveling with a baby may feel overwhelming to new parents. Travel with a toddler can really test your patience, and traveling with kids can lead to utter chaos. However, travel with your little ones doesn’t have to be that stressful or exhausting. On the BE Family Travel blog Ruth shares her parenting wins, and even epic failures about traveling with kids. She provides resources to help you feel empowered to plan a family vacation and travel with your children.
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