Car Snacks - Packing Food for a Roadtrip with the Kids
Spring break is travel time! In 4 days, we'll be traveling to visit my family outside Chicago, and I'll be loading up the car with luggage, kids, toys, pets, and FOOD! Over the years, I have created a list of do's and don't's for packing car snacks. In the spirit of encouraging sane driving among fellow parents driving young kids to distant places, I am sharing my list. 
1. DO PACK SNACKS! And keep them in the car - always, else your headache will start when you're still minutes from home. Seat belts are correlated with hunger, and inevitably, some child will declare s/he is perishing from starvation (it won't matter that you fed them before you left). Pack the snacks in a plastic box with a lid so the dog won't eat them.
2. STRATEGICALLY POSITION THE SNACK BOX - Place the snack box next to the eldest child so s/he can pass snacks to the younger ones. If no child is old enough for this responsibility, then keep the box next to the driver's seat. In this case, pack snacks that make good projectiles so that you can easily fling them to the malnourished child. Aerodynamics needn't be overly considered. Just adjust your throw to the food type: A light toss backwards over the shoulder for thick, rectangular foods such as granola bars; a sideways flick of the wrist for flat foods like graham crackers. Don't worry, your aim will improve with practice and meanwhile you'll amuse your kids.
3. SNACKS SHOULD HAVE A RELATIVELY LONG SHELF LIFE - AT LEAST SEVERAL DAYS TO YEARS. If you pack fragile perishables, you'll be spending time you don't have re-stocking your snack box. 
- FOODS THAT CONTAIN MINIMAL LIQUID AND RESIST SQUISHING, such as dried fruits, nuts, granola bars, animal crackers, and fruit snacks.
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FOODS THAT CONTAIN MORE PROTEIN THAN SUGAR. When kids eat high-protein, low-carb snack bars they don't get sugar-buzzed, which means they don't scream and try to escape from their seats. Plus, the protein keeps them feeling full longer, and aids their growth. Cheese sticks and cheese curds are also good travel snacks, but lose points on the perishable scale.
5. FOODS TO AVOID - Don't pack the following unless you want to add pattern to the upholstery:
- CRUMBLY FOODS, such as muffins, sugar cookies, croissants, light, flaky crackers or chips, or goldfish (goldfish disintegrate on road-trips)
- FOODS WITH COATINGS, such as cheese popcorn, powdered-sugar donut holes, frosted cookies, anything with sprinkles
- FOODS THAT MELT. Of course, I mean the obvious, like Popsicles and ice cream bars, but even chocolates can be disastrous on a warm day.
Perhaps you are reading this list thinking, "I'd never pack those unhealthy foods. I'm a conscientious parent who only gives children wholesome foods. Plus, I have time to keep my box packed with fresh snacks." Well, perhaps you do. But let me warn you about fresh fruit.
First, fresh fruits rot fast when locked in cars in sunny parking lots. But if you live in Wisconsin right now, this is not a worry. So, on to point #2, consider the multitude of crevices within a car's interior into which a banana, strawberry, grape or kiwi can be squished. Yes, we all carry baby wipes, but how many is it reasonable to use on one road-trip? Conserving landfill space is everyone's responsibility. Yes, I too believe in fruit, yet in the car, I serve it dried, - dried apricots, dried peaches, dried bananas.
Just re-think the raisins! - especially when traveling with straws. In fact, all straws should be confiscated before the trip. No doubt, the apple that Eve plucked from God's tree in the Garden contained instructions for making and using a pea-shooter. And that's where all the trouble began. Any small, roundish food is workable ammunition for a pea-shooter. And I haven't met the child yet able to resist using one during moments of extreme boredom (such as riding in a car on a road-trip).
"But all juice packs come with straws!" you protest. True, and a full juice box that can be aimed at an unsuspecting sibling, and then squeezed so that sticky juice shoots from the straw and drenches the sibling's hair is just the start of a memorable road-trip.
That's why we pack water. A 12-pack of flavored mineral water perpetually resides behind the driver's seat. (Anyone shakes a can, and we pull over.) Besides not staining or being sticky or smelling sour (as milk does when it's forgotten in sippy cups) water does not get anyone sugar-buzzed and can be used as a solvent in a pinch. Throughout these 8 Wisconsin winters, we've had only one can explode, and even that was fortuitous. The frozen can rolled next to the heater, thawed, and exploded on the exact spot where Lauren had gotten car sick the week before. Thus, her car mat got an extra cleaning and a preferable lemon scent.
If you don't have children, you may be thinking mine are monsters. But to the contrary, they are angels, just young angels. And if our mini-van's packed with appropriate snacks, we're all on the road to heaven. Happy travels with fun food.
To avoid driving to the store to purchase travel snacks, you can order these and more from Wisconsinmade.com.
Organic Macrobiotic Snack Bars
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