Non too messy car trip snacks...

[Betty Rohrer]

My kids know the road trip rules. We only stop if the car needs gas. You may buy whatever junk you want to eat at the gas station when I stop. You must use the restroom when I stop. Do not ask me to stop to use the restroom - if we are not out of gas, we are not stopping. This means planning what you eat and drink accordingly.

Now my husband doesn't follow the road trip rules. So we tend to road trip without him, lol. He likes to stop and go in and eat ... blah blah blah ... then he has to use the restroom an hour or so later ... ugggghhhh ... adds way too much time to the trip.

you would not like me on your road trip because we would be looking at an ER visit for bladder infection because by Doctor orders I have to stop every couple of hours. end up loosing all the time you saved at the ER

 

[DisDreaming4116]

Licorice does well for us.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

I give my kids messy snacks - teddy grahams, string cheese, baby bells, peanut butter cracker sandwiches, goldfish, cut cup fruit, granola bars, nutrigrain bars and lots of juice boxes.

They wish I gave them fruit rollups. Those aren't messy. Love em.

 

[TwinkleKS]

you would not like me on your road trip because we would be looking at an ER visit for bladder infection because by Doctor orders I have to stop every couple of hours. end up loosing all the time you saved at the ER

Obviously we would road trip differently if there was a medical need to stop. My parents have to stop often if we travel with them due to various medications. My main thing is if we are driving to get from point A to point B don't do unnecessary things that make it take longer - like eating a sit down meal (which is what DH likes to do).

 

[NYCgrrl]

Obviously we would road trip differently if there was a medical need to stop. My parents have to stop often if we travel with them due to various medications. My main thing is if we are driving to get from point A to point B don't do unnecessary things that make it take longer - like eating a sit down meal (which is what DH likes to do).

We do stop to eat on the road if there is a regional specialty we wanna try but never for most interstate rest stop food because that you can get anywhere which is the appeal for most people but has the exact opposite feeling for me.

 

[North of Mouse]

Snacks that I would have suggested have all been listed so nothing to add there.

Will say that our road trips (journey) are just as important to us as the destination, so no rushing. We stop every couple hours (or as needed) and do some walking at rest areas (10-15 min). We always stop for meals - a much enjoyed break. Would not like to travel with some of the pp's. We got tired and we knew our kids did.

 

[Lizzie the Banker]

My kids tend to go stir crazy so we try to stop somewhere with a playground, chick fil a is a favorite. They play while we eat and then we get them food to go and that’s what they eat in the car.

 

[jtopp]

I agree with the non messy, non stain snacks. Most of the kid friendly choices have been mentioned. Now that they are older, we stop at the first rest stop in each state, and switch drivers. Everyone who can gets a chance to drive, and our two day trip becomes one long drive instead.

 

[QueenIsabella]

My family eats trail mix like it's going out of style. At least it's (reasonably) healthy. You can make your own, too, and put in what your family likes and/or what you feel comfortable with (i.e., I wouldn't want a toddler eating raisins while I'm driving, but maybe I'm paranoid).

We stick with drinking water in the car--everyone has their water bottle and a place to put it. I don't want them swilling down a ton of sugary juice. I find they have less if it's just water.

 

[loves to dive]

I would just take whatever your kids normally eat unless it's ice cream or chocolate. When we were kids (6 of us, it was the 50s and 60s when road trips were the thing) Mama would pack grapes, carrots, celery and cheese in individual bags for each of us. When my son was little he was into cheese crackers and grapes so I'd just take a box of cheezits and a bag or grapes. He drank those capri sun things back then. Now, our "car food" is usually a couple of the pre-package protein snacks you can get at the store (you know the ones with cheese, nuts, meat and crackers) and a bag or something crunchy and something sweet. He loves sour gummy worms and hot tamales so a couple of boxes/bags of those. As an aside, the reason he loves gummy worms is because when he was little and used to whine I would tell tease him and tell him he ought to eat worms, bad Mama I know. We take bottled water because I don't drink soft drinks and other than my morning cup of coffee or a refreshing adult beverage, water is all I drink. He usually takes a coke for the morning and then it's water for him too.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We make the 13-14 hour drive down to WDW yearly, our minivan packed with our 5 kids and DH and me. We have a little fridge/cooler thing that plugs into our car that we fill with lunchables, cut up fruit and drinks. Every stop we make everyone gets out and we do a “crumb check”. Also not ashamed to admit that I do keep a little (non chocolate for mess reasons) candy for bribery/rewards for emergencies. On the way home we’ll hit a target or Walmart to restock our car snacks. And we always stop at Cracker Barrel on both ways.

 

[Thing 1]

We try to only allow water in the car. Helps with bathroom stops and healthier too. Absolutely never ever chocolate milk. We allow less healthy on car trips. I try to avoid crunch too. Anything that can crunch has to be a one bite size. Teddy grahams, goldfish, mini cookies , oyster crackers work well. Cheese sticks and apple slices are good. Apple sauce pouches are good too. Always we have sugar free hard candy and gum and a bag of jelly belly candy.

 

[ahutton]

My kids tend to go stir crazy so we try to stop somewhere with a playground, chick fil a is a favorite. They play while we eat and then we get them food to go and that’s what they eat in the car.

That's how DH and I did road trips with our three. Some of the best memories were eating and watching them play! Then we got the least messy options we could and they ate for the first part of the drive, then we would break out a movie once everyone was done and cleaned up. I carry a box of trash bags so it was easy to collect trash and then dump it at the next gas stop. And we found until they were over about 7 that we did best if we stopped for meals and alternated a meal stop with a gas and potty stop; once they got to that age they were fine for longer runs and stops became gas and food all in one.

For snacks - gogo squeeze or equivalent fruit blends from the baby food section, puddings in similar pouches, GoGurt, string cheese, salami were our go to items - and always grapes. Those kids love grapes. And we drank water 99% of the time, with some sprite or ginger ale mixed in for fun.

 

[scrapquitler]

String Cheese, Slim Jims, Twizzlers, Peanut Butter Crackers, Ring Dings, bananas are all snacks that I often bring for road trips.

 

[Disneylvr1971]

We take snacks that are prepackaged (not necessarily the healthiest but it's vacation) any leftovers we can use in the room or the parks.

 

[jacksmom]

Great ideas! We usually go with the less messy options and bring blueberry mini muffins, cheese cubes, grapes, peanut Butter crackers, and trail mix.

 

[Hoosier John]

We make snackelboxes for our trips. Each kid (or adult) in the car gets to fill their own small plastic taklebox with the snacks of their choosing. Usually things like crackers/nuts/seeds mixed with candy like M&M's or gummy worms. ... The compartments can be adjusted to fit different size snacks, and each kid gets to build/eat their own so there is no fussing over who gets what.

My first thought was what about the "fishy" smell ... Then I thought Goldfish crackers!

My kids know the road trip rules. We only stop if the car needs gas. You may buy whatever junk you want to eat at the gas station when I stop. You must use the restroom when I stop. Do not ask me to stop to use the restroom - if we are not out of gas, we are not stopping. This means planning what you eat and drink accordingly. ...

But my car can go 700 miles and my bladder only 500

 

[MamaJessie]

We make snackelboxes for our trips. Each kid (or adult) in the car gets to fill their own small plastic taklebox with the snacks of their choosing. Usually things like crackers/nuts/seeds mixed with candy like M&M's or gummy worms. I saw the idea on line a few years ago and fell in love with it. The compartments can be adjusted to fit different size snacks, and each kid gets to build/eat their own so there is no fussing over who gets what.

I always see this on pinterest and think about how it would take my kids no time to spill that all over the car. But so many people post it that I must have the only clutzy slobs lol

We like jerky, banana chips, dried fruit, trail mix, cheese sticks, yogurt tubes, apples. At rest stops I have special treats like fruit snacks, dumdums, MnMs etc. for when it is time to get back in the car.

 

[PollyannaMom]

A cooler with drinks will really save on having to buy them at the gas station. Throw in some string cheese.

I like the string cheese idea, and my favorite "car pretzels" are the Goldfish ones - bite sized and sturdy, so no crumbs!

We make snackelboxes for our trips. Each kid (or adult) in the car gets to fill their own small plastic taklebox with the snacks of their choosing. Usually things like crackers/nuts/seeds mixed with candy like M&M's or gummy worms. I saw the idea on line a few years ago and fell in love with it. The compartments can be adjusted to fit different size snacks, and each kid gets to build/eat their own so there is no fussing over who gets what.

I always see this on pinterest and think about how it would take my kids no time to spill that all over the car. But so many people post it that I must have the only clutzy slobs lol

Nope, I totally agree! But maybe you could use baggies for "regular" snacks and then one of those oversize pill things - the huge ones, like this:

for random candy treats - because you only open one door at a time! It gives the "Pinterest factor" without the danger of spilling everything all at once. (And if you're feeling reeeeally crafty, you can re-label the days with times or miles traveled.)

 

[Sarah6342]

We drive down from Michigan so its about a 20 hour drive which we do over 2 days, we take trail mix, apple sauce pouches, granola bars, fruit snacks, Cheeze its, water, diet pop for Caffeine for the drivers, little Debbie Nutty bars. We also stop to eat lunch and dinner usually fast food and stop at rest areas as needed.