Travel Foods: Cars Snacks To Pack For The Adults' Road Trip

Planning a road-trip? If your passengers are under the age of twelve, read 'Packing Food For A Road-trip With Kids'. If you're a young adult, why are you reading this? You know what to pack, - Red Bull or its equivalent. If you must eat, don't waste time packing snacks. It's easier to grab something out of a rest area vending machine. Enjoy the fact that you can do this without considering consequences. But if you are the mature traveler who life's troubles and joys have taught you to plan, keep reading. This list of recommended car snacks for road travel is for you.

First, the primary principle regarding travel snacks applies. Avoid foods which are good dispersers of their content. By this I mean, don't pack crumbling chips, drippy ice cream bars or donuts that spray sprinkles or powdered sugar across the car's interior. (Oh, but you wouldn't have considered these; you are now a health-conscious adult looking for healthy snacks). But likewise, don't pack juice oranges, melon slices, ripe peaches, or the like. You can do grapes, but consider their rolling potential. Accidents have happened when adults have tried to retrieve a grape that has rolled between their legs while  driving. Bananas are okay, - you won't delight in squishing them between the cracks in the upholstery as you would have decades earlier. However, consider the banana peel perfume which will pervade the vehicle until the next rest stop. Perhaps this is a bonus however if you ate your cruciferous vegetables as your doctor ordered. Use your judgment. Click on "Continue reading... for more ideas for travel snacks.

I always like to recommend nuts. I enjoy nuts quite a bit. They are a nutritious snack, full of omega-3 fatty acids - the healthy oils that lubricate aging brains. The fat content will keep you feeling full longer. Plus, nuts are packed with protein, - great for maintaining deteriorating muscle mass. And nuts have great mouth feel, - both texture and crunch. Worried about salt? Hey, you're on a road trip, - live dangerously and enjoy the salt too.

I also like to pack dried fruits, such as cranberries, cherries, apricots. You can do prunes, but only if you call them dried plums, - otherwise younger passengers may tease you. Dried fruits give you the sugar perk but they also have fiber. As you've come to learn, fiber is a good thing. In fact, controlled processing of fiber may be something at which the mature traveler can now excel. Pass the dried fruit around the car and see which age group calls first for the rest stop. It's one of those travel games that keeps the road trip interesting.

Along the same vein, are healthy cookies. Yes, they can be crumbly, but that depends on the cookie. Test out cookies in advance of the road-trip to determine a cookie's dispersal quality. Granola bars can be an excellent road-trip snack. Snack bars come individually wrapped so you don't have to worry about uneaten ones going stale.

Jerky doesn't go stale; eventually it just hardens or turns green. Jerky, be it beef, elk, or buffalo, is a high-protein snack that gives your mouth something to do when the conversation lulls. Crackers with cheese and summer sausage slices are a tasty travel treat. But these require advance slicing plus a cooler to keep them edible. Still, I say "go for it".

Lastly, drinks. What drinks to take? Once again I recommend mineral or bottled water for the car because when they spill they neither stain nor stick. But stop often to buy and ingest fluids. Then stop again to give them back. When you unfold yourself from the car seat, be sure to stretch the legs and back. Blood has pooled in the butt and needs to be redistributed back to the brain. So intermittently get out, stretch, and enjoy the scenery. What's your hurry? You only live once. And remember, it's all a road-trip.

Comments

[Kaye Swain]

Hi, I came to visit from Boomers and Seniors: News You Can Use blog carnival. I really enjoyed the article. I like to take nuts and string cheese. And plenty of stops seems to make the trip itself go faster, just because I don't get as tired and cranky. The snack bars are a great idea also. :)

[Cristie Hurd]

Thanks for stopping by and idling to comment. Road Trip On, Boomers!