80+ Good Road Trip Snacks: The Key to Any Successful Road Trip!

Are you looking for road trip snack ideas? Look no further! We’ve compiled a list of good road trip snacks to keep on hand during your next adventure to fend off hunger and its more aggressive neighbor, hanger.

These healthy road trip snacks will keep you energized and excited for what’s next on your adventure vs. filling up solely on junk food or fast food. Let’s dive right in!

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase.

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Good Road Trip Snack Ideas

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Planning a road trip means it’s time to select the best road trip snacks! Selecting healthy food for on the road with help you look and feel your best. After all, travel is already hard on your body. Don’t give it any more reasons to act up. Feed it the fuel it needs to maximize your enjoyment of your trip with awesome road snacks!

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Healthy Road Trip Snacks

Having healthy snacks for road trips keeps you from pulling into the fast food drive through anytime hunger strikes. Instead, reach into the cooler and pull out some of your favorite road trip snacks! Bring on the happiness while decreasing the hunger.

To stay on the healthy side, carefully check the packaging of all pre-packed foods, like protein bars, to verify the ingredients list. Sometimes they sneak all kinds of ingredients in that take these healthy road trip snacks and turn them into essentially candy bars or sugar bombs.

To make them even cleaner, consider making your own perfect road trip snacks! This way you’ll know all of the ingredients and keep your sodium, sugar, and chemicals all in check.

• Fresh fruit: Blueberries, bananas, apples, grapes, cherries, etc.

• Dried fruit: Apples, mango, apricots, banana chips, etc.

• Apple slices and peanut butter
  Road Trip Snack Tip: Grab a jar of peanut butter or the single serve packets for less mess!

• Applesauce in single serve cups

• Veggies: Cherry tomatoes, sliced bell peppers, snap peas, etc.
  Road Trip Snack Tip: Bring some single packs of guacamole to spice it up a bit!

• Carrots and celery with hummus
  Road Trip Snack Tip: Buy shelf-stable hummus in individual packs for maximum flexibility.

• Nuts: Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, etc.
  Road Trip Snack Tip: Try almond butter covered almonds from Trader Joe’s for an even bigger taste explosion!

• Trail mix

• Pumpkin or sunflower seeds

• Baked chickpea snacks

• Dry roasted edamame

• Granola

• Coconut chips

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More Substantial Snacks and Food for on the Road

Road trip food should not exist purely in snack form. You’ll need to eat some meals along the way, and that doesn’t have to mean fast food. Whether you’re just trying to stay healthy on your road trip or are in the middle of nowhere with limited options of where to eat, here are some of the best road trip food options to keep handy in the car.

• Peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and banana sandwiches

• Lunchmeat alone or as part of a sandwich

• Canned or packaged tuna on crackers

• Pre-made overnight oats

• String cheese or Babybel cheese

• Beef Jerky

• Avocado and crackers
  Road Trip Snack Tip: Pack Everything but the Bagel spice to elevate the taste! Just be sure to shake it outside the car so you don’t have seeds and spices lingering in your car seat.

• Protein bars or other healthy snack bars
  Road Trip Snack Tip: Check the labels as not all protein bars are created equal, or speed up your search with Larabars, which often come out on top as a healthy snack idea!

• Homemade no bake protein or energy balls
  Road Trip Snack Tip: There are plenty of homemade road trip snack recipes out there, and some of them, like these, are quick and easy to make!

• Hard boiled eggs

• Greek yogurt

• Muffins or banana bread
  Road Trip Snack Tip: These can range from healthy treats to sugar bombs. Make your own before you leave for your road trip to know they’re full of nutrients!

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Junk Food: Plus Healthy Road Trip Snack Alternatives!

No road trip snack list is complete without junk food. After all, junk food is typically prepackaged and meant to be eaten with your hands. It’s practically designed to be eaten on the go as a car snack!

Just make sure not to sustain yourself solely on junk food as you may end up nauseous or feeling extremely lethargic. It’s meant more to supplement your healthy road trip snacks than to serve as your end all be all.

To help you make good choices, there are some awesome healthy road trip snack alternatives listed as well!

• Crackers: Cheesits, Triscuits, Wheat Thins, Goldfish, etc.
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Opt for Whisps! They’re essentially dried cheese crisps that have the crunch of crackers!

• Chips or Pringles
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Switch chips out for a healthier car snack option, like Hippeas or Bada Bean Bada Boom.

• Slim Jims
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Try Chomps Grass-Fed Beef Jerky Sticks for a healthier road trip snack.

• Veggie straws
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Veggie straws are often masked as a healthy snack, but they’re only one step above a chip. Switch them out for Harvest Snaps Green Pea Snack Crisps instead!

• Bagged popcorn
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Select Boom Chicka Pop or pop your own before you hit the road.

• Pretzels
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Try peanut butter stuffed pretzels for a special treat which also adds some protein. Make sure to eat them in moderation!

• Fruit snacks
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Make healthier road trip snack selections with Annie’s Organic Fruit Snacks or fruit leather made entirely from fruit.

• Cookies: Oreos, oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies, etc.
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Consider fig bars as a slightly healthier road trip snack option.

• Candy: M&Ms, Sour Patch Kids, Sweet Tarts, Twizzlers, Gummy Bears, etc.
  Road Trip Snack Tip: While there’s not a great replacement for candy, just make sure to select a single serving size vs. a family size. It can be really easy to just keep snacking on them as you drive!

• Mini donuts
  Healthier Road Trip Snack Alternative: Make some muffins or homemade bread to substitute out the donuts.

• Dry cereal: Cheerios, Chex, Cocoa Puffs, etc.
  Road Trip Snack Tip: Portion out your cereal so that you don’t eat the whole box in one sitting.

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Drinks for a Road Trip

Staying hydrated, and caffeinated, is critical on a road trip! This could be as simple as keeping water handy, or you may want more exciting drink options. Here are some top considerations for drinks to take on your road trip.

• Water

• Sparkling water or La Croix

• Coffee / Tea

• Energy Drinks

• Coconut water

• Pop / Soda

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Items to Avoid as Road Trip Snacks

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We’ve taken a look at a lot of awesome options but not all things make good road trip snacks. In fact, there’s a number of snack foods that should be avoided in the car. These range from those that could potentially leave you sick to ones that can be difficult to eat on the go. Here are some pointers to help you avoid potential car snack disasters!

• Chocolate (Unless of course you can keep it in a cooler to keep it from melting!)

• Items that need proper refrigeration

• Messy or gooey foods

• Foods that may permanently stain your clothes or car’s upholstery

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Tips for Keeping Your Road Trip Snacks Fresh

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While many road trip foods don’t need to be refrigerated, others might. Additionally, a nice cold drink is an awesome reward during your drive. With just a few preparations, you can keep you and your road trip snacks ready for anything.

• Take a cooler to keep your road trip snacks cold and fresh.

• Pack a travel mug to keep your tea and coffee hot longer. Yeti’s are awesome for this, or you could opt for a car mug that plugs into your cigarette lighter to stay warm!

• Take a refillable water bottle, like a Nalgene, to avoid using too much single use plastic, which will also result in a lot of trash/recyclables.

• Pack a set of silverware to open up your road trip snack options.

• Take some ziplock bags for leftovers, sandwiches, portioning out your car snacks, etc.

• Keep napkins, paper towels, or wet wipes on hand for any necessary clean up after eating in the car.

• Throw a pack of water, or a gallon of water, in the trunk in case of an emergency.

• Freeze water bottles to keep your road food and drinks cold as you drive. It won’t take up extra space in your cooler, and it will give you cold water throughout your drive!

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Continue Planning Your Road Trip

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Now that you have the low down on over 80 good road trip snacks, let’s take a look at some other parts of road trip planning, like how to plan a road trip and a full road trip packing list! Packing is another step that can make or break your adventure.

Read the Step-by-Step Guide to Planning a Road Trip

You can also get great ideas on awesome road trip routes here, like:

• Epic Denver to Moab Road Trip with 9+ Amazing Stops!
• Road Trip from Raleigh to New Orleans: With 8+ Amazing Stops!
• Ultimate Denver to Glacier National Park Road Trip Itinerary: With 10+ Stops!
• Raleigh to Asheville Road Trip: See the Best of North Carolina

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Have additional road trip snack ideas? Drop them in the comments!

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