We’re hitting the road on Tuesday … along with millions of other Americans. We spend Thanksgiving down in Pennsylvania with Dr. G’s family, which means we have a seven hour car ride (if we’re lucky) ahead of us.
I admit, it hasn’t been too painful the last few years, once Buddy got old enough to work the portable DVD player on his own and discovered the beauty of headphones. Now Dr. G. and I can listen to a Pandora station up front and not be subjected to the soundtrack of Toy Story 3 for the umpteenth time.
But now we have Mimi. Last Thanksgiving, she was only six months old, so she (thankfully) slept most of the time. Ahhh, the good old days. She now hates the car and has a complete and utter meltdown after about 45 minutes in her seat.
This should be fun.
For me, one of the major issues of a long road trip is food. Because of our departure time, we’re forced to eat dinner on the road – which usually means some lovely fast food cuisine. (Random fact: For some unknown reason, we always end up at the same fast food joint located in one of the large trucker rest stops. The kind where someone can pay to take a shower and they call your number when it’s your turn. Totally sketchy.)
Anyway, since our dinner is not the most nutritious, I try to make sure we’re stocked with some relatively healthy eats for when we hear the inevitable, “I’m hungry!” whine from the backseat (or, in Mimi’s case, cries for “Crackers!”). Because maybe it’s just my kids, but something about being in the car turns them into ravenously hungry creatures who must eat thisverysecond. Usually just as we’re about to approach gridlock traffic.
Basically, when it comes to healthy road trip snacks for kids, it’s all about easy access: single-serving packages are your best friend. Trust me. Another plus? Having a selection of healthy eats helps you avoid that feeling of weakness when you pull into the gas station to refuel and that candy display (2 for $1!) is beckoning you (and your kids) from the window.
Here are my favorite kid-friendly road trip snacks that I’ll be packing up on Tuesday:
- Cereal bars
- Squeeze tubes of applesauce and yogurt
- Prepackaged almonds and trail mix (for me!)
- Teddy Grahams (which I put in one of those non-spillable toddler snack cups for Mimi)
- String cheese
- Raisins
- Bananas
- Grapes
- Mini bottles of water (which we freeze and put in the cooler to use as ice packs)
- Apple & Eve apple juice boxes
I also found these single serving pretzel and hummus containers from Sabra. Have you tried them before? They’re pretty good. I also usually end up picking up a few energy or Lara bars to have on hand, just in case.
Some other family road trip tips:
- Pack a plastic grocery bag in the back for the kids to use for garbage, so you don’t have someone saying, “Mom, here, I’m all done,” as they thrust a slimy cracker or a half-eaten tube of yogurt at you while you’re barreling down the highway. Another lesson learned the hard way.
- Keep a pack of baby wipes up in the front seat with you. You’ll need them. Really.
- Same goes for a roll of paper towels. Keep that in the backseat with the kids.
What’s your favorite road trip snack? And does anyone have any survival tactics for dealing with a car-phobic toddler? I broke down and got an Elmo and a Wiggles DVD from the library. Desperate times call for desperate measures.