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If you are seeking for the most effective healthful road trip snacks for children and toddlers, you have come to the suitable location. From homemade car or truck snacks for children to grab-and-go travel snacks for toddlers, this list has lots of wholesome (and scrumptious!) selections to pick out from.
So, you are ultimately taking that a great deal-required family members trip you have been waiting for. As thrilling as that can be, traveling extended distances with children can be stressful. To assist make certain a smooth(ish) journey, healthful and filling snacks are important.
However, lots of parents are not positive what to bring for extended car or truck rides with children. If you have been racking your brain attempting to believe of healthful snacks for the road, worry not. I’ve compiled an substantial list of my preferred road trip snacks for children and toddlers.
From grab-and-go snacks like fresh fruits and pretzels to healthful snack recipes that are one hundred% kid-authorized, I assure you can obtain some excellent alternatives for your next road trip on this list. Did I leave out your preferred healthful road trip snack? Let me know in the comment section beneath!
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Tips For Packing Road Trip Snacks For Kids
Before you start out selecting the most effective road trip snacks for children and toddlers, hold these valuable ideas in thoughts:
- Opt for properly-balanced snacks. When arranging out your kids’ snacks, attempt to make positive you have some fresh create, protein, and a entire grain. This is the most effective way to hold your children feeling happy on a extended road trip!
- Bring a trusted set of snack containers. Imagine packing the most effective healthful road trip snacks for your children, only to have them wind up coating the floor of your car or truck mainly because the bag or container broke. Avoid this ‘oops’ moment by packing reliable containers or these reusable ziptop bags for your car or truck snacks.
- Pack a range of textures. Keep snack time thrilling by bringing along a range of yummy textures for your children. Soft fruits, crunchy crackers, and creamy nut butter… See what I imply?
- Incorporate lots of colors. No matter how old you are, we all consume with our eyes 1st. An straightforward way to make positive tiny children delight in their road trip snacks is by incorporating a range of vibrant colors. (This indicates lots of fruits and veggies!)
- Switch up the flavors. Variety is the spice of life! Even if your kiddos live and breathe for all factors sweet, they’re bound to develop tired of their car or truck snacks if every thing is a sweet treat. Make positive to have a very good balance of each sweet and savory snacks on hand for the extended trip.
- Don’t overlook reusable water bottles. It’s super vital for the entire family members to keep hydrated on extended drives. You can simply fill them up along the way at a rest quit, gas station, or speedy meals restaurant.
Best Homemade Snacks For Road Trips
Have a tiny additional time and want to make your kids’ snacks from scratch? Check out my prime picks beneath for healthful travel snacks for children and toddlers that you can make at property. All of these kid-friendly snack recipes are vegetarian and produced with clean, all-natural components!
1. High Protein Granola Recipe – This straightforward and healthful homemade granola is produced with rolled oats, nuts, seeds, almond butter, honey, and coconut oil. It’s packed with protein, carbs, and healthful fats for a tasty and kid-authorized road trip snack.
2. No-Bake Peanut Butter Balls – These scrumptious peanut butter power bites are produced with just 5 straightforward components, not to mention they’re loaded with protein and healthful fats. What kid does not like a bite-sized treat produced with chocolate chips and peanut butter? They make the most effective travel snacks!
3. Homemade Lara Bars – Ready in just 10 minutes, these no-bake healthful date bars are produced just with dates, almond butter, cocoa powder, and macadamia nuts. They’re sweet, scrumptious, and vegan-friendly!
4. Vegan Baked Oatmeal Bars – This scrumptious baked oatmeal with berries recipe can simply be sliced into bars for a great grab-and-go solution. Just let it cool, slice it into single-serving bars, pack your oatmeal bars into an airtight container, and hit the open road.
5. Nut Butter and Banana Stackers – Hands down one particular of the most effective toddler road trip snacks, these scrumptious stackers are generally just toddler-sized open sandwiches. All you have to have is sprouted-wheat bread, peanut butter, and banana slices.
6. Vegan Chocolate Truffles – I in no way knew healthful snacks could be pretty so decadent till I produced this recipe. Made with quinoa, nut butter, dates, and chia seeds, these vegan truffles do not have as a great deal sugar as regular truffles, and are excellent kid-friendly snacks for young kids and older children alike.
7. Banana Breakfast Cookies – Don’t let the name fool you, this specific treat is not exclusive to breakfast. Easy to make and low in sugar, these scrumptious grab-and-go cookies function mashed banana, pumpkin puree, bran cereal, and rolled oats.
8. Pumpkin Seed Butter – You only have to have two components (pumpkin seeds + salt) to make this scrumptious nutty spread. Pack it into a jar and use it as a healthful dip for apple slices or crackers!
9. Vegan Graham Crackers – These homemade graham crackers make a great option to the unhealthy shop-purchased version. Pair them with some fresh fruit and nut butter for a scrumptious healthful road trip snack that your children will like.
10. Parmesan Kale Chips with Garlic – Looking for a healthful car or truck snack on the savory side? I’ve got you covered. These crispy kale chips are straightforward to make, scrumptious, and kid-authorized.
Cooler-Safe Road Trip Snacks For Kids And Toddlers
These are some of my preferred healthful road trip snacks that you can simply shop in a good quality cooler with ice packs. All of them can be brought along for a quick ride without the need of becoming stored in a cooler, but I hugely advise bringing a cooler for longer trips to make certain freshness — specifically when it comes to meat and dairy merchandise.
Raw Veggie Snack Ideas For Kids
Super healthful, straightforward and kid-friendly veggies assist to give children the range and nutrients they have to have although traveling!
- Cucumber slices
- Celery sticks – excellent with nut butter!
- Carrot sticks or child carrots
- Snap peas
- Halved cherry tomatoes
- Broccoli florets – you can serve these raw or steam them for toddlers
- Bell peppers – sliced and served with hummus or yogurt dip
- Cauliflower florets – raw or steamed for toddler road trip snacks
- Believe it or not, child meals pouches produced for toddlers can also be a excellent, mess-free of charge way to pack veggies and fruits on a road trip!
Fresh Fruit Snack Ideas For Toddlers
I like selecting fruits that are significantly less most likely to bruise or spoil promptly when packing snacks for my children. My favorites consist of:
- Apple slices – in an airtight container, they will final for a couple days prior to receiving brown.
- Mandarin oranges – like cuties – straightforward to peel and straightforward to consume!
- Bananas – I only bring these along if I have a very good way to shop them so I can make certain they do not get mushy.
- Grapes and blueberries – these shop properly, but you will have to reduce them in half if you have toddlers to prevent a choking hazard
- Strawberries and raspberries – these are very good snacks for a shorter road trip, but they have a tendency to get mushy promptly so I wouldn’t advise them for a longer trip.
- Dried apricots and freeze dried pineapple – these will final forever, and children like them!
Healthy Dairy Snack Ideas For Kids
Dairy is a excellent solution mainly because it packs properly, children like it, and it is super filling.
- Plain Greek yogurt – delight in with fresh fruit and granola or bran cereal
- Cottage cheese – excellent on its personal or with some berries and granola
- Cream cheese – pair it with cucumber slices, crackers, or an English muffin
- Cubed or string cheese – delight in on its personal or pair with apple slices or raw veggies and entire-grain crackers. Mild cheeses like mozzarella cheese or cheddar cheese are generally extremely kid friendly. Cheese sticks are excellent mainly because they generally come pre-packaged which cuts down on your prep time!
- Homemade smoothies – produced with low-fat or Greek yogurt. Whip ‘em up, transfer to a reusable water bottle, and enjoy!
- Drinkable yogurt (Siggi’s has a excellent one particular!) – a excellent option if you want a significantly less messy yogurt for your children to delight in!
Healthy High-Protein Snacks For Kids
While these snacks are perishable, they will all hold your children more happy and fuller longer, thanks to their potential to stabilize blood sugar and their higher protein content.
- Cubed meat – Chicken and turkey each work excellent. I advise cooking your personal at property and avoiding deli meats, which are generally loaded with nitrites.
- Hummus – Serve as a higher-protein dip for veggies, entire grain crackers, and sprouted wheat bread
- Beans – black beans, kidney beans, white beans, and edamame are all a very good supply of protein and will hold your children complete
- Hard-boiled eggs – Boil a large batch prior to the trip and let the children delight in on their personal or alongside some crackers and fresh fruit
- Cubed tofu – serve roasted or raw for a plant-primarily based protein snack solution
- Rotisserie chicken – shred and serve alone or with fresh veggies
Backpack-Friendly Snacks For Kids And Toddlers
Check out the healthful road trip snack tips beneath for my prime picks that do not need cooler storage. These are straightforward snacks for children mainly because you can shop them in a beach bag or backpack and shop them for the duration of your road trip!
Healthy Store-Bought Snacks For Kids
You can obtain all of these snacks at just about any grocery shop or at comfort shops – which tends to make them fantastic if you run out of snacks halfway by way of your trip and have to have to quit someplace to stock up once again!
- Healthy low-sugar cereal – dry cereal is a excellent car or truck snack for children and toddlers and can be mixed with nuts for a healthful trail mix solution
- Freeze-dried fruit – make positive to verify the nutrition label and opt for the ones with nothing at all but fruit on the ingredient list (no added sugar)
- Apple Chips – my children like these!
- Roasted chickpeas or Chickpea Puffs – an amazing mixture of protein and fiber to hold your children feeling happy on extended drives
- Whole-grain crackers – Mary’s Gone Crackers and Back to Nature are each excellent selections for organic crackers without the need of refined grains – I like them improved than animal crackers mainly because they’re reduced in sugar and can be paired with healthful proteins for a filling snack.
- Veggie Chips – I like these Off the Eaten Path Chickpea Veggie Crisps and these Harvest Snaps Snapea Crisps (so do the children!). Baked potato chips also make a excellent snack!
- Triscuits
- Rice cakes – excellent on their personal or with peanut butter
- Raisins
- Organic air popped popcorn – like Skinny Pop
- Mini Lara Bars – fantastic size for toddlers!
- Kind Kids Bars – 25% significantly less sugar than most kids’ granola bars
- RX Kids Bars – these kid friendly protein bars have 10-11 grams of protein per bar, which is a excellent way to hold tiny tummies complete!
- Perfect Kids Bars – these include peanuts, so prevent them if you have a peanut allergy in the family members
- Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars
- Whisp Cheese Crisps
- Bamba Puffs
- Applesauce – appear for the ones with no added sugar (apples are sweet adequate!)
- Fruit leather
- WildMade fruit roll-ups – no added sugar half a serving of fruit per roll
- This Saves Lives Mammoth Marshmallow Krisp – complete serving of fruits and veggies in each bar
- Boom Chicka Pop
Whole Grain Snacks For Toddlers
Healthy entire grains are a very good decision for a snack mainly because they’re higher in fiber and will hold your children fuller longer.
- Whole-grain toast or bread – pair with peanut butter and sliced bananas, or use as a base for a quantity of healthful sandwiches and lunch tips!
- Whole-grain pretzels – serve on their personal or with fresh fruit and nut butter
- Homemade granola bars – produced with nuts and seeds for lots of protein, fiber, and healthful fats
- Low-sugar cereals – Rice Puffs and Chex each make excellent entire-grain selections
- Muffins – obtain a low-sugar recipe you like that is produced with entire-grain flour
- Quaker Kids Organic Whole-Grain Bars
- Plum Organics Mighty Snack Bars
- Ella’s Kitchen Organic Nibbly Fingers – produced for toddlers with entire-grain oats and sweetened with genuine fruit
- Jif Power Ups
- Skinny Pop Mini Cakes – attempt dipping these in guacamole!
Healthy Nuts And Seeds For Kids And Toddlers
Nuts and seeds can make a excellent road trip snack solution considering that they’re super filling, fairly mess-free of charge, and most children like them! Depending on the age of your children, you could have to have to chop up the nuts to prevent a choking hazard.
- Pecans – packed with protein, fiber, and healthful fats
- Almonds – chop them up and serve plain or roast and toss them with cinnamon
- Walnuts – highest in healthful fats
- Peanuts – higher in protein, vitamins, and minerals
- Macadamia nuts – wealthy in fiber and healthful fats
- Hazelnuts – great power supply with tons of heart-healthful fats
- Cashews – a longtime preferred for lots of children!
- Pistachios – loaded with antioxidants, vitamin B6, protein, and fiber
- Pumpkin Seeds – a excellent supply of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants
- Sunflower Seeds – straightforward to obtain at any gas station or comfort shop, just be positive to verify the label for additives
Road Trip Snacks For Kids FAQs
Every healthful snack really should include 3 major elements: protein, fiber, and healthful fats. When this trifecta is present, the outcome is a healthful snack that will hold you feeling complete and happy for longer amongst meals. It’s also the essential to beginning off your family members trip as smooth as feasible.
Many folks be concerned that extended road trips with the whole family members imply loading up on processed snacks, speedy meals french fries, and a critical lack of nutrients. Luckily, that is so not the case! By arranging and preparing your snacks ahead of time, it is really extremely straightforward to consume healthful on a road trip. All it requires is a tiny additional time spent prepping!
There are lots of healthful snack selections that make excellent road trip snacks. Some of my prime picks for straightforward road trip snacks consist of fresh fruits, raw veggies, crackers, nut butter, granola, string cheese, nuts, seeds, cubed chicken, and difficult-boiled eggs. You can obtain lots more road trip snack tips for children on the list above!
What takes place if you run out of snacks on a family members road trip? You make a swift pit quit to hold the kiddos (and the parents) content! Surprisingly, you can obtain a decent quantity of healthful snacks for children at the gas station.
You will commonly obtain all of the healthful pre-packaged selections in the exact same region, so opt for nuts, seeds, and dried fruit or veggie chips. Many gas stations also present refrigerated healthful snacks like raw veggies, fresh fruit, and difficult-boiled eggs. Choose your favorites!
Supplies You’ll Need For Packing Road Trip Snacks
- Awesome bento boxes. I like these wheat fiber bento boxes that are leak proof, super sturdy, dishwasher and microwave secure!
- Reusable ziptop snack bags or reusable snack containers. Better for the atmosphere than plastic bags, and holds meals improved also!
- Leak proof water bottles – improved than sippy cups for young children, and can hold warm or cold beverages!
- Reusable travel cutlery! Easy to clean, straightforward to shop and excellent for tiny fingers to use. You’ll also want to pack some paper towels, napkins, or wet-wipes.
- Outdoor picnic blanket. A waterproof blanket can be a excellent solution if you are taking a extended road trip and have to have to quit for a meal. Easy cleanup and storage also!
- A cooler bag and ice packs if you are bringing any perishable snacks along. It’s also handy for storing trash as soon as all the meals has been eaten!
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there is seriously no shortage of very good road trip snacks to pick out from. You really should strategy for 2-3 snacks per day, so hold this in thoughts when arranging ahead for a extended car or truck ride. I advise spacing out your snacks 2-3 hours immediately after a meal. As extended as you have a mix of fruits, veggies, entire grains, and protein—you’ll be in excellent shape.
I hope you like these snacks as a great deal as my family members does! From private practical experience, I can inform you that getting a range of tasty snacks on hand is the most effective way to hold absolutely everyone in the car or truck content all through a extended drive.
It’s not difficult to obtain healthful snacks that children will like it just requires a tiny bit of arranging on our element. If you discovered this list of road trip snacks for children and toddlers to be valuable, do not overlook to let me know in the comments!
