Road Trip Snacks

I have seen individual packages of apple slices in Walmart and Kroger similar to the apple dippers from McDonalds, minus the carmel and a bit cheaper.

Pretzels? My kids love pretzels and do well with that in the car. I also let them eat cucumbers (already sliced up and ready for them) and blueberries. But at 2.5 blueberries might get squished in the fingers.

Sometimes I feel like being a "nice mom" and get them Goldfish and/or CheezeIts. Also do some sort of cereal for them, usually Cheerios.

Have fun!

Pretzel sticks are great (and they double as a sword or wand, I swear, I've never seen kids play with food and enjoy it as much as silly pretzel sticks). Mini sandwiches or 'roll ups' are great (just roll turkey and cheese together). I know you said healthy, but lunchables are a great entertainment source as well, since they get to build their own snacks ;) Make fruit-kabobs... grapes, watermelon, honeydew melon, cantalope on a stick. Get one of those coolers you plug into the cigarette lighter, and put it in the back so the kids can kind of help themselves while you're driving. Bring lots of books, play ispy, and play the license plate game. Good luck!!

I get the individual bags of whatever at Costco (or even the grocery store, but Costco has a better selection). Those individual bags are a lifesaver in the car. We do pretzels, goldfish, dried fruit, even cookies and chips in moderation - you have to have a little junk on a roadtrip, right? Good luck and HAVE FUN!!

Oh, and suckers of all kinds are great for treats when you need to keep their hands and mouths busy for a little while. They always buy me a few minutes of peace :-)

Glad to see this question, I'm also thinking about what to take for an upcoming road trip. But we really do stop often enough that we can grab a drink and/or whatever someone wants at the time...so I go for a few snacks in the car--licorice, candy, cookies, bottled water, sodas, etc. Mostly junk--after all--it's vacation, right?

oooh chex mix!!!!

I also do my own version of trail mix - peanuts or some nut, chocolate chips or carob chips, pretzels, cheez it crackers....etc...and make a bag for each person traveling...

if cherries didn't have seeds - I'd say CHERRIES!! :)

celery sticks with cheese or peanut butter....

granola bars. gogurt. fruit rollups. caprisun. goldfish.

plan at least one mcdonalds playland stop. kids cannot be strapped down for 16 hours. sometimes they just need to run it out. in the old days, my mom would get a bucket of kfc and find a park half way along the way. We would have a picnic, run, play, and pee for 30 to 45 minutes then back on the road refreshed and ready for more.

Popcorn, cereal (Trix, Cheerios, Frosted Mini Wheats), granola bars, dried fruit (craisins, cheeries, mixed berries, apriocots), banana chips, sweet potato chips. My store also has dried veggies - salted and seasoned for taste - and they are pretty good. I put everything in a snack size bag.

You can get little packets of drink mix premeasured for an 8oz bottle of water, so ifyou get sick of water you can have a variety of color/taste - lemonade, gatorade, crystal light. And instead of juice boxes I bring the small boxes of Horizon milk (non refridgerated).

You don't have to refridgerate or prepare fruit like bananas, apples, and oranges.

have fun!

You don't say how old your children are...that would make some difference in what you choose. How about finger sandwiches...just big enough to be a couple of bites, so there aren't too many crumbs to deal with ( hopefully!!). Fresh fruit of any kind is always popular with our grandsons...also fresh veggies. Add some hummus dip to go with the veggies...yogurt to dip the fruit in. Bottled water with sports caps so they can easily be closed when not in use and the loose cap doesn't get lost in the car. Make your own trail mix...nuts, m&ms, raisins, etc...let the kids help you make it up then seperate the batch into small sandwich bags. Dry cereal is a nice snack too...and those 100 calorie snack bags of various types of snacks are wonderful for portion control and keeping things from going stale after the big bag is opened.

pretzels
rice cakes
freeze dried fruit (Trader joes sells them, and Costco carries boxes of individual-size snack packs of them)

and one thing we found helpful -save the plastic cups with straw lids that you get from restaurant kids meals at places like Applebees - makes a great snack holder that fits in the car (or carseat) cup holder.

Took a two day trip last summer to IL from NY and for the first day, I did things like making real sandwiches on frozen bread for lunch. This kept the condiments cold and the lunchmeats and made for an inexpensive lunch the first day (since I knew we'd be eating "junk" for the rest of the trip). I also made a pasta salad with lots of veggies in an italian dressing which I pre-packed in little cups. I used spoons/forks from Wendy's since they are individually wrapped and can travel easily. Snacks were mostly cut-up fruit coated lightly in OJ to prevent spoiling/browning - apples freeze really well.

Good luck and be patient!
Enjoy the ride.
~C.