The Best Road Trip Snacks for Kids
/Are you looking for the best road trip snacks? In the last 12 months alone, we have road tripped more than 25,000 miles. We are the road trip snack experts and I pride myself in being prepared for any craving or taste bud. However, even with my expertise, I noticed we started getting burnt out on the same travel snacks. So, I took it to Instagram and asked my audience of over 18,000 for their suggestions on the family road trip food ideas.
I have broken the lists down for easier navigation. You’ll find road trip snacks for babies, road trip snacks for kids, and a category for healthy road trip snacks. We have many favorite road trip snacks, but for us; the easier, the better!
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I like to give everyone plenty of choices of snacks. I used one of these clear containers and fill it before we leave with everything from jerkey to pop tart bites. You never know what everyone is going to want; salty or sweet!
Table Of Contents
Here’s a list of the best Road Trip Snacks for kids!
Roadtrip Snacks for Toddlers
These road trip snacks are geared toward toddlers ages 2 - 3 years. They are the perfect road trip snacks for 2 year old and older! These travel snacks for toddlers are easy to hold, are mess-free snacks, and are easy for little ones to eat with minimal chance of choking.
Yogurt Pouches
Use THIS pouch cap to prevent spills and squeezes
Use THIS pouch cap to prevent spills and squeezes
Use a cup like THIS to keep spills to a minimum
Cucumber sticks (Peeled)
NOTE: Please use your discretion and always supervise young children eating in the car. Feeding a young child while you can not see their face is dangerous, so please monitor them at all times.
I like to use my “claw” to help me reach fallen object from the front seat
Roadtrip Snacks for Kids
Travel snacks for kids are life on a road trip. We have found many car snacks for kids that are easy to pack, as mess free as possible, and actually yummy to eat. On our trips I am not as concerned about nutrition as I am about having delicious and fun snacks for the kids because a road trip is a fun experience. However, I don’t love to load the kids down on sugar when we’re stuck in the car for 12 hours. So, here are the easy road trip snacks ideas we love and the snacks my Instagram followers love for family road trip snacks.
Granola Bars
Granola Bites
Cereal Bars
Fig bars
Chips
Gold Fish
Beef Jerky
Biltong (one of my absolute faves)
Yogurt Covered Raisins
Rains or Craisins
Dried Fruit (see Healthy Snacks)
Pretzels
Cereal
Cheerios (keep them occupied by including some string to make edible necklaces or bracelets)
Fruit Loops (Bring string!)
Fruit Snacks
On this trip I brought an actual plate ha! She liked having those snacks divided up
Fruit Leather
Popcorn
Veggie Pouches
Nilla Wafers
Oreos
Chips Ahoy
Nutterbutter
Nuts
Crackers
Graham Crackers
Ritz Crackers
Saltines (We love the mini saltines)
What Things
Triscuits
Whole Fruit (no prep)
Banana
Clementine
Oranges
Candy that won’t melt
Sour Patch Kids
Licorice
Nerds
Mints
Jawbreakers
Tootsie Roll
Hi Chews
Healthy Roadtrip Snacks
I am a firm believer that moderation is key to any food, but I did want to include a section for healthy road trip snacks for any families looking for a more natural route to their food. Instead of trying to define healthy travel snacks, these are just the snacks that require no processing or added ingredients. If you’re looking for healthy snacks for road trip, this is a good place to build the foundation, but I encourage you to take a look at the other lists for other healthy, low sugar ideas as well.
Craisins (dried cranberries)
Raisins
Dates
Dried Fruit, Dehydrated Fruit, or Regular
Apples
Peaches
Apricots
Bananas
Plums
Pineapple
Strawberries
Blueberries
Mangos
Pre-Cut Vegetables
Carrots
Bell Peppers
Cucumbers
Mushrooms
Broccoli
Biltong (one of my absolute faves)
Nuts
Nut Butter
Fruit Leather
Hard Boiled Eggs
the choome pouch cap covers are essential for any kind of travel with toddlers. they can not squeeze the food out of the pouch!
Cooler Snacks
All the other snacks on this list are road trip snacks non refrigerated and can be stored at room temperature in the car. These are the road trip snacks that need to be kept cool, so I recommend investing in a good car cooler that is easy to open in the car, but also can hold snacks and drinks and keep them cool for an extended period.
Yogurt Pouches or Tubes
Cut Up Fruit
Strawberries
Pineapple
Mango
Apples
Kiwi
Grapes
Whole Fruit
Blueberries
Blackberries
Cherries (bring a spare cup for the pits)
String Cheese
Babybell Cheese Wheels
Uncrustable Sandwiches
Ham & Cheese Wheels
Peanut butter & Jelly
Honey & Peanut butter
Fruit Smoothies
Homemade Sandwiches
Pickle packs
Hard Boiled Eggs
I opened the car door to find my 1 year old eating a giant bag of cheetos! He had grabbed them from the snack box in the middle seat
How to Store Roadtrip Snacks
Family Road Trip Snacks Storage: The best way we have found to store road trip snacks is in a basket or plastic container with an open top. I typically put it between the kids in the back so they can access it easily. I also found this awesome storage container to put between car seats in the car; it’s perfect for toddler road trip snacks or road trip snacks for kids. For individual travel snacks for kids, I like to use a Bento box or small container that the can hold and easy pre-portioned or pre-cut snacks.
Cooler For Road Trips: I like to keep a small, easily accessible cooler in the car. I personally like the Yeti and RTIC soft coolers because they keep things cool the longest, but the zipper can become cumbersome if you’re the only adult in the car. If you want a cooler that’s easy to open with one hand, I prefer the 16-quart Coleman. It’s a classic cooler for road trips. These little coolers are perfect for keeping refrigerated and homemade snacks for roundtrips cool on your trip.
Accessories to make Snacks for traveling with kids in the car easier: There are several accessories to make road trip snacks less messy and easier to clean up.
We swear by our car trash can. We used this for 4 months on the road in 2021 and still use it day to day! It stays in the back and the kids can throw away all of their trash. I dump it each time I get gas.
For little kids and toddlers, I always recommend the ChooMe soft tip pouch tops. These prevent kids from squeezing the pouch out in the car. It will really save you heartache and huge messes in the car.
Wet Wipes save lives on road trips. No, but seriously, this wet wipe pack fits into a cup holder and is the perfect addition to any family road trip. If you’re here looking for road trip food for kids, you’re probably used to messes, so snag some of these wet wipes to make you life and messes easier.
This summer we are headed out on another 6-week road trip that will take us over 4,000 miles, I plan to reference this list often to help keep our road trip snack ideas fresh and not boring.
As always, we love your feedback!! What are your favorite kids road trip snacks?
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