Healthy Road Trip Snacks

Healthy Road Trip Snacks – 15 best quick and easy foods to go that you can pack with you for easy travel trips – both homemade and affordable store bought food ideas to pack – with a video haul of even more snack ideas.

These healthy road trip snacks are all budget friendly, quick and easy to grab and go on the road. I always go on the road with plenty of snacks to prevent having to spend a fortune and know the family are enjoying nutritious snacks.

With store bought snacks, we have a few favorites which I either find cheaply at ALDI or keep an eye out and wait for them to come on sale at other supermarkets, then buy enough to last until the next time they are on sale.

Over the past few months I’ve also been slowly accumulating snacks to last the upcoming summer. Just an extra few Euro here and there and my pantry is stocked with plenty of snacks for the whole family for our next road trip.

While on a long road trip, I tend to avoid pricey gas station/rest stop food and fast food along the way and go into a local town and seek out an ALDI or supermarket to stock up on fresh healthy ingredients and snacks instead.

Depending on the best road trip snacks that you choose, some may be perfect to keep at room temperature for hours, others that need to be refrigerated may need to be kept in an insulated cooler bag with ice packs or small cooler (like these on Amazon) as an easy way to keep car snacks safe over long distances and longer trips.

1. Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Vegetarian grocery shopping list - fruit and vegetables

Whatever whole fruit and vegetables are in season tends to be cheaper at the grocery store. So, enjoy fruit and vegetables as a great option for a healthy snack on the go.

You can simply enjoy a banana or a handful of chopped fruit, make a fruit salad, enjoy apple slices or a piece of fruit with one of the other foods from this list for more substantial travel snacks.

Our favorite vegetables that travel well, especially through a long drive, are baby carrots, cucumber, celery sticks, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes.

Aldo – don’t overlook frozen fruit and vegetables for favorite fruits that are out of season. We always keep frozen berries in the freezer for smoothies, sweet treats and chia jam that you can enjoy with crackers or in a sandwich.

2. DIY Trail Mix

Store bought trail mix can be pretty pricey, so why not make your own to enjoy on a long car ride. It’s really easy and works out cheaper when you buy all of the elements in bulk.

Here are some ideas for foods to include in your healthy DIY trail mix that makes easy road trip snacks:

Nuts such as peanuts, almonds or cashew nuts
Seeds such as pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or chia seeds
Coconut
Roasted Chickpeas
Pretzels
Cereal
Popcorn
Chocolate Chips
Dried Fruit

Each family member can pick and mix to create their own personalized trail mix to enjoy through the road trip.

3. Popcorn

You can buy already made popcorn in single-serving snacks or easily make it yourself and then add all kinds of sweet or savory toppings to the filling snack that’s naturally high in grams of fiber.

I tend to make a batch the night before or quickly on the morning of a trip so we have freshly popped popcorn to enjoy on the road, which is one of my kids favorite things to enjoy on longer road trips.

4. Health Bars

I regularly make my easy 4 ingredient granola bars, or you could have a look through the stores and find one which is healthy to your liking and budget friendly too.

Our favorite store bought protein bars, energy bars, energy balls and health bars with whole grains are from ALDI and I buy a box or two a week for my kids as healthy grab and go snacks.

5. Nuts and Seeds

If you don’t feel like making a whole trail mix for the road, simply snack on a hand full of your favorite nuts or seeds that include healthy fats and elevated grams of protein.

Hunt around and you’ll find that buying in bulk tends to be the cheapest option – as opposed to those already portioned out small boxes.

You may also want to take along individual portions of peanut butter or almond butter (like these on Amazon) that you can just enjoy on it’s own or as a quick dipping option for fruit, crackers or even chocolate.

6. Dried Fruit

Dried Mango is our favorite dried fruit, it feels more like a sweet treat or candy than a piece of fruit.

Other dried fruit that are great ideas for snacks to add to your snack bag, to help to keep your blood sugar levels up include sultanas, raisins, dried blueberries, dried apricots, dates, apple chips or whatever other dried fruit you can find.

7. Dark Chocolate

When I’m craving something sweet but want to keep it healthy, I go for the 85% dark chocolate from ALDI. The good news is that It’s individually wrapped and a single row makes an indulgent snack that I find healthy too.

Just be mindful of the weather so you don’t end up with melted chocolate in mid summer while trying to satisfy your sweet tooth.

8. Yogurt

Lemon yogurt from ALDI has been our favorite yogurt snack lately. Usually bigger tubs tend to be more budget friendly, but I find that the smaller snack sized tubs to be decently priced at ALDI so have been enjoying those lately.

A tub of yogurt makes a healthy road trip snack or grab and go healthy breakfast that needs no prep.

9. Cheese

I’d snack on cheese all day as savory snacks if I could! Cheese usually includes only natural ingredients so makes one of the best healthy road trip snacks.

You can enjoy grated cheese, chopped cheese or a good idea is to put together a cheese platter with a mix of whatever cheese you like.

I’ll often stop in at a supermarket or convenience stores in the middle of long trips and seek out a small pack of cheese slices or even string cheese to share as good snacks with the whole family.

10. Hard-Boiled Eggs

Hard boil a pot full of eggs ahead of time so that you can enjoy a protein rich, healthy egg early on in your road trip day as speedy snack options.

You can simply enjoy a hard boiled egg as is or you can top it with salt. Other options are making an egg salad, egg mayo or even deviled eggs.

11. Tuna

My Husband and one of our kids likes to eat tuna straight from the can. I prefer to mix through sour cream or mayo and add a few shakes of salt for a quick and virtually zero prep fresh food snack.

A tasty snack I’ve been enjoying lately is mixing chickpeas, tuna and sour cream for a protein rich, nutritious snack.

12. Meat Snacks

Dried meat snacks such as salami, biltong and beef jerky make a high protein snack that’s easy to grab and go from the store and enjoy on your road trip.

You can also take along any leftover roast chicken or meat to snack on, or buy deli meats from supermarkets on the road.

13. Veggie Chips

Veggie chips make a healthier chip (or crisp) alternative when you’re craving something salty and crunchy.

We love the mix of sweet potato and beetroot veggie chips that’s perfect for road trip snacking without turning to potato chips.

14. Seaweed Snacks

My husband and one of our kids absolutely adores these seaweed snacks which are a crunchy, crispy snack option that’s nutritious and healthy too.

15. Dips & Coleslaw

Healthy road trip snacks - coleslaw and dips

You can enjoy ready made store bought coleslaw, egg mayo or tuna mayo by the spoon full or with bread or crackers is a great snack idea.

You can avoid messy snacks by simply taking along some travel cutlery and enjoying a snack like these dip options.

I hope that this post has provided you with great inspiration for healthy road trip food ideas that will help to keep you satisfied between meals and well nourished too.