Delicious and Nutritious Road Trip Snack Ideas

When you’re on the go, it can be easy to settle for eating whatever’s available at the nearest fast food joint or gas station, particularly when it comes to long car rides. Too often, road trippers are forced to choose between greasy food or sugary snacks that only weigh them down and make them feel tired. But it doesn’t have to be that way! These healthy, delicious, and satisfying road trip snack ideas should keep you from getting hangry, wherever you roam!

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Don’t Forget to Pack Some Adventures

When you’re hitting the highway, take along a copy of Adventures From Scratch. With both a couples’ edition and a version designed for the whole family, either one can be an ideal book for your next road trip. Each scratch-off book includes over 50 creative ideas for activities you can do just about anywhere. You and your travel companions will have so much fun revealing and conquering challenges together!

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Advantages of Bringing Your Own Road Trip Snacks

Road tripping can wreak havoc on a diet! By planning your snacks, you ensure that the food you take will be healthier than what you’ll be able to grab from a restaurant or rest stop. Pre-making snacks and a few meals provides other advantages, too!

• Packing homemade food for the trip can save you money.
• Preparing snacks and meals can save you valuable time, allowing you to cover more ground or spend more time at attractions.
• Planning snacks ensures that you’ll have things you enjoy eating.
• Pre-made snacks will keep everyone full between meals.
• Making snacks ensures that what you eat will be in accordance with dietary restrictions.
• You control what goes into the food you’re going to eat.

Even if you don’t make snacks, It’s still advisable to pack some road trip food before you leave home. By getting snacks in advance of your departure, you can make sure that you’re choosing healthier bites than what might be available along your route.

Homemade Road Trip Snack Ideas

If you make your own snacks, you’ll avoid consuming additives that are often included in store-bought items like protein bars that are marketed as healthy even though they closely resemble a high fructose candy bar. If you love sweets, you can rest assured that you can still satisfy your sweet tooth with homemade, healthier snacks instead of store-bought alternatives.

Nut Oat Squares

Nut oat squares are a wonderful alternative to manufactured nut bars and energy bars. Our nut oat squares are a breeze to make using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make nut oat squares:

• 1 1/4 cups chopped nuts, divided
• One cup regular rolled oats or gluten-free oats depending on your diet
• 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey, divided
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes, sweetened or unsweetened depending on your preferences
• 2 – 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt, to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a square pan with parchment paper. Combine the nuts, oats, and some salt in a food processor. Drizzle the olive oil and 1/4 cup maple syrup into the mixture while the processor runs. When the mixture looks like a dough of sorts, remove it from the food processor and press it into your pan evenly.

Sprinkle the coconut flakes and the remaining nuts on top of your spread dough. Put the pan in the oven for 12 minutes exactly. If your oven runs hot, you may want to reduce the bake time to 10 minutes. Your mixture will be done when the coconut flakes turn a delightful golden brown.

Once your mixture cools, remove it from the pan using the ends of the parchment paper. Cut the mixture into squares, drizzling some more maple syrup over each one if you want them to be super sweet.

Store your bars in an airtight container. The bars will be good for up to one week. They’ll last even longer if you freeze them.

This recipe can be used with just about any type of nut. Pistachios, cashews, walnuts, peanuts, or mixed nuts all work well given the other ingredients included in the recipe. If you’re using salted nuts, refrain from adding more salt to your batter and consider dusting the nuts off before you add them to the food processor.

Peanut Butter Cookies

If you’re going to make road trip snacks, we urge you to make some peanut butter cookies. This recipe has just three required ingredients:

• One cup peanut butter
• One large egg
• One cup granulated sugar

To make the cookie dough, combine the ingredients just mentioned in a bowl until they’re incorporated. If you want, you can add some chocolate chips, chopped peanuts, or chocolate bar shavings as well. Using a tablespoon to measure, make individual balls out of the dough and press each one until they’re flat on a lined cookie sheet pan.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Once the oven reaches the right temperature, put the sheet pan in the oven for 11 minutes. When the cookies are done, take them out of the oven and let them cool on the pan. If you attempt to remove the cookies before they’re mostly cooled, they will likely break, leaving you with tasty cookie pieces instead of whole cookies.

Do you want to make extra sweet cookies? If so, you should sprinkle the cookies with sugar before you put them in the oven.

After your cookies have completely cooled, store them in a sealable plastic bag. If you want a tasty, satisfying topping for a bowl of vanilla ice cream, you can crumble a cookie or two and sprinkle the remnants on top of your dessert.

Avocado Chips

If you’re worried about your carb intake, you may want to bypass homemade potato chips in favor of avocado chips. If you make sure they’re completely dry before you store them in an airtight container, homemade avocado chips can last up to three days when stored at room temperature.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make avocado chips that are simply to die for:

• One large, ripe avocado
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
• One teaspoon lemon juice, fresh or packaged
• 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, depending on your preferences
• Salt, to taste
• White ground pepper, to taste

It’s worth noting that you can swap out the parmesan cheese for another variety. Many people who follow a low-sodium diet find that using mozzarella or another kind of cheese works better for them given their dietary guidelines.

To make the chips, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until the batter has no avocado lumps. Preheat your oven to 355 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Take a tablespoon of your batter and press it into a thin circle on the baking sheet, repeating the process until you’ve used all your batter. Your batter should yield 25 – 30 chips depending on how big your avocado was.

Put the baking sheet in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the edges of the chips are golden brown. Let the chips continue to get crispy on the baking sheet for 10 minutes or so after you remove them from the oven.

Depending on your oven, you may need to leave the chips in for a bit longer for them to get crispy. Alternatively, you may want to bake your chips at a higher temperature, keeping a close eye on them as you do, or you might want to cook them in an air fryer.

Eggplant Veggie Chips

Do you like the idea of making chips, but simply can’t stand avocado? Consider making some veggie chips instead. While you might not realize it, you can make some yummy chips using an eggplant.

Gather the following ingredients to make eggplant chips:

• One medium eggplant
• Two teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoons each garlic powder, Italian seasoning, onion powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Depending on your preferences, you may want to peel your eggplant or you might want to leave the skin on. Your chips will be flavorful either way. Using a mandolin, carefully slice your eggplant into the thinnest rounds the device will allow.

Spread your sliced eggplant out on paper towels in a single layer. Lightly sprinkle the rounds with salt, let them sit for 10 minutes, and then repeat the process on the other side of the rounds. Salting the eggplant and letting the rounds sit will prevent your chips from having an off-putting bitter taste.

Put the rounds in a bowl and combine the other ingredients. Add the olive oil mixture to the bowl containing the eggplant. Toss the rounds in the mixture so they’re evenly coated. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with some parchment paper.

Spread the rounds out on the lined baking sheet so they don’t overlap. Bake the rounds for 18 minutes or until they’re golden brown and crispy. To cook your eggplant chips even faster, use an air fryer. Let the rounds cool completely before storing them in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.

Easy and Healthy Road Trip Snack Ideas

Some healthy travel snacks don’t require any prep work or require just a minimal amount of effort to prepare. For example, you can pack some single-serving applesauce cups. Load your cooler with some fresh fruit after you rinse these naturally sweet treats off. Dried fruit like apricot slices can be bought ready-made or dehydrated at home.

While you might be tempted to pre-slice the fruit you plan to bring along, you may want to hold off. Snacks like apple slices may take on an unsightly brownish color that will make them unappetizing. Unless you’re pre-scooping a cantaloupe or a honeydew melon or you’re preparing watermelon slices, it’s best to refrain from prepping fruits until you’re ready to consume them.

Nuts and seeds are always a treat! Trail mix can be made with nuts, sunflower seeds, and fruit snacks dried cranberries, raisins, or chopped and dried apples. Add carob or cacao chips to make this delicious snack mix extra appealing. Pack some nut butter into portable containers and spread it on rye crisps, crackers, or rice cakes.

Consider making homemade granola bars by combining your nuts, seeds, and dried fruit bits with oats. Crunchy or chewy, they make fantastic road trip snacks and can double as fuel for hikes or long days of sightseeing.

Finally, pack some grape tomatoes, snap peas, fresh green beans, or sliced veggies like cumbers, bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. Then pour dressing or hummus into reusable containers, and put everything in a small cooler. Guacamole also makes a great dip, and a thin layer of lemon or lime juice can stop it from browning. These high-fiber dipping snacks can be pulled out anytime while you’re on the road.

Manufactured Treats for Snacking on the Road

Unless you’re traveling in an RV or you’re going to stay in a place with a kitchen, you may struggle to keep some of your homemade snacks fresh, particularly if your upcoming family road trip is going to be on the longer side. You can still eat healthy by getting some carefully curated manufactured treats for you and your traveling companions to munch on.

If space is an issue for your vehicle, you may want to order some manufactured snacks and have them delivered to your vacation destination. In general, it’s wise to alert the manager of the property you’re heading to so the person can keep an eye out for your package and put it in a secure location until you arrive.

gomacro MacroBars

gomacro MacroBars are manufactured by a mother-daughter-owned business operating in a rural community. The company uses 100 percent plant-based ingredients sourced from non-GMO and organic certified farmers who adhere to sustainable practices. MacroBars are made using exclusively renewable wind and solar energy sources. The bars’ packaging is manufactured with recycled materials.

When you look over the list of ingredients for a MacroBar, you’ll recognize what you’re reading as things you probably have in your kitchen. gomacro MacroBars are wonderful snacks that won’t weigh you down.

MacroBars are readily available in a variety of flavors on Amazon. Here are just a few of the flavors you can choose from:

• Banana and almond butter
• Blueberry and cashew butter
• Dark chocolate and almonds
• Oatmeal chocolate chip
• Maple sea salt
• Sunflower butter

Nature’s Heart Crunch

Nature’s Heart describes its crunch products as “a protein-packed superfood cluster with yummy, globally-inspired flavors and no sugar added.” The company’s products are a great substitute for breakfast, a wonderful snack when you’re on the go, and satisfying late-night indulgence.

You have plenty of options if you want to try Nature’s Heart Crunch. For something that’s probably unlike any other snack food you’ve had, try the Smoked Habanero Limon Chickpea Crunch or the Churro Cacao Pecan Crunch. If you want something that might taste a bit more familiar, give the Everything Bagel Cashew Crunch or the Ginger Miso Edamame Crunch a try.

Crispy Green

Crispy Green sells individual packets of freeze-dried fruits. The company’s products include 100 percent fruit with no additives, fillers, GMOs, added sugar, or preservatives. Crispy Green packets are perfectly portioned, vegan, gluten- and dairy-free, and kosher. Every Crispy Green packet has one simple, all-natural ingredient, such as mangos, red apples, or pineapple.

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Frequently Asked Questions