Road trip and/or quick and easy snacks!

[Shorty]

I am preparing for a road trip next weekend and I do not want to stuff myself full of junk. I've come up with a list of things to choose from to make beforehand that will be delicious and not necessarily health-conscious, but better than swallowing bags and bags full of Rolos and M&Ms.

I tend to not eat well at all on road trips out of pure laziness. It leaves me feeling sluggish and gross and awful by the time I reach my destination, and I decided I'm just not doing it this time. But I am pretty picky! I don't like nuts, so trail mix is out (I eat the M&Ms and throw everything else away), and I don't love granola bars that are full of nutty nut nuts, either. No to plain veggies, and dipping in ranch or hummus is out because that requires taking attention away from the wheel.

Some things that seem relatively easy and are safe enough to store in a cooler:

• cucumber bites stuffed with seasoned tuna
• mini muffins
• tea sandwiches
• string cheese/cheese sticks
• cheese and crackers
• cheese and ham mini toothpick kebabs
• sliced tortilla roll-ups
• frozen fruit smoothies
• pulled pork empanadas or sweet pork buns/dim sum
• peanut butter bars
• bunches of assorted chopped/sliced and dried fruits

I have been craving pork buns like mad and even though they are best warm, I think they would suit a road trip just fine. The rest are all fairly doable, with the mini muffins, empanadas and peanut butter bars as the most time-consuming, which won't be that bad.

I'm sure I won't be able to stay away from vanilla coke and some sweets, but atleast I'll have done my part. What do you snack on during road trips or what fingerfoods do you like to chow down on during snacktime?

[Pumpkin]

If you have a cooler, one of my favorite snacks is mixed salsa and shredded cheese and then I dip tortilla chips in it.

[Shorty]

Yep, everything I listed will be planted in a cooler. I do love chips and salsa, but I'm trying to steer away from (lol) dipping and driving as I think it's too distracting D:

[Pumpkin]

That's a good point xD. I didn't know if you would pull off for a picnic or something. I'll be going on a 2 day driving trip soon, there's a lot of good things you have planned there

[Shorty]

Ooh, nice! If you are the front seat passenger, you have a lot more room to wiggle, I guess.

For the smoothies, I'm going to freeze a couple of portions into paper cups so they can kindof thaw over time but still remain yummy. We have the plastic magic bullet cups, but mini paper-cup-sized portions are cute and dainty, and I don't want to swig an entire smoothie right away because braaain freeze.

[Calliope]

These are all good ideas! I would make tea sandwiches, falafel, grilled rice balls, fresh fruit, juice and chocolate milk.

During my work breaks I either eat a small meal (soup, salad, curry/chilli or beans & rice) or else fruit, granola, nuts, etc. People often say I eat like a bird, but I never believed them until I tried to eat my work snack from graze.com today:

[noxious.sunshine]

Man.

I don't even know what it's like to pre-package snacks and things... I srsly have never done it for a roadtrip. Ever. In all my time of being on the road this has never happened.

Beef, turkey, or bacon jerky (low sodium if you can find it) is a staple of mine. If you're feeling extra adventurous, you can make your own in your oven. Takes a long time and can be costly, though.

Airpopped popcorn (or at least healthier popcorn).. Get a jar of loose kernels - they're like $2 or $3 or less and you get way more popcorn than you would in prepackaged & buttered. Use olive oil with a little salt & pepper already mixed in (or any other seasoning you like- lemon pepper, salt-frew citrus fiesta blend, etc) to pop it in.. Just without the oil, 1 cup is only 20 calories.

EDIT:

0227.jpg

Make one of those.

25 Road Trip Snacks for Kids + Recipes

I found that, though, in all seriousness. Not all of them are necessarily driver accessible, but yeah..

Road Trip Snack Recipes - Allrecipes.com

and there's that!

EDIT 2:

This thread made me think of this song.. Couldn't find an actual video of the show and the characters dancing to this, but oh lord... When Parker was little, this song lived in my head for months.

[blackmage_nuke]

I usually get my front seat passenger to dip chicken nuggets in sauce and hand them to me. There might be a bit of problem with germs but either my hands are just as dirty as theirs or my front seat passenger is someone I have frequent physical contact with anyway so it doesn't matter. Also I keep antibacterial wipes in the car. I've never been on a trip that required more than 4 hours driving and I usually plan a stop at Hungry Jacks/mcdonalds half way.

Also I have Muesli bars for whenever I want to placebo myself into thinking Im eating healthy and getting more energy from it to drive.

[Jiro]

Yeah muesli bars are my jam. I carry them around all the time. They do nothing except make me hungrier though so I think I should stop.

Pork buns oh boy I gotta remember to pick me up some of those bad boys before class next week, promised them as compensation for skipping out on class. Worth, though.