Top 10 snack ideas for kids on road trips

As we head into the festive holiday season, most families will undertake some long car trips. If your kids are anything like mine, they will tell you “I’m hungry” every five minutes during the drives.

As a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au I’ve had plenty of practice satisfying hungry kids on the road, so here are my top 10 snack ideas for kids on road trips.

If your kids are used to having a lunchbox for school or daycare then this is a great place to start. If they are familiar with the lunch box and its usual contents then you know they are going to be happy with that. Just make them a lunch box and let them work their way through it over the journey. A handy tip: take the wrappers off everything in the lunch box so they do not need to ask you to open packets while driving, and to save you later from picking up packets dropped on the floor, jammed between the seats or tucked into the power window controls.

Jerky is such a great source of protein for everyone and it’s so chewy it keeps everyone quiet for a while. It’s a good choice for the whole family. Jerky is available at all service stations and procuring jerky becomes interesting once you head off the beaten path; in the outback small independent jerky makers are located all over the place, with some quite creative branding. The taste and texture are always slightly different and jerky is great to try in all the different places you pass through on your road trip.

It can be hard to find a food all your kids will eat, let alone a food everyone in the family will enjoy – and it's even harder when you are on the road. We have discovered that you can get a sausage roll pretty much everywhere and they are a meal in one. You can get them in highway service stations, bakeries in small rural towns and in big cities. If we are pushed for time on a road trip, I can grab sausage rolls from a highway service centre and know everyone will be well fed and content for a long time so we can push on with our journey without complaints. However, flaky pastry is messy, so maybe eat these during a rest stop.

I am yet to meet a child who couldn’t eat their body weight in crackers, given half a chance. There are so many varieties available at the supermarket, favourites for our kids are Sakata seaweed crackers and Healtheries burger flavour ‘rice wheels’ or ‘potato stix’. Both of the Healtheries products provide fun facts or jokes on the front of the packets, and that is great for getting everyone talking on a road trip.

A good one for passengers big and small. Muesli bars are easily transportable and convenient. Packed with oats, nuts and seeds they tend to be quite filling too. Bars with a drizzle of chocolate on top are irresistible for kids.

My kids often crave veggies. They keep saying they’re hungry after they’ve eaten crackers but give them a tub of raw veggies to chew and they are sated a lot longer. We go for carrot sticks, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber. Raw fennel is a favourite for us too.

My kids LOVE berries. Small, soft fruits like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries are a good alternative to lollies. The last thing you want is kids eating lollies in the car when they’re sitting still for hours, unable to burn off all those calories. Instead, opt for berries as they’re sweet and delicious without the crazy behaviour.

Popcorn can be a great alternative to crisps and crackers. It’s available in savoury flavours like salt and vinegar or cheese, but my favourite is the Cobs ‘lightly salted, slightly sweet’ variety.

Available in little pouches that are super convenient, yoghurt is a great quick-serve protein source. You can also get yoghurt drops, which are dried, flavoured yoghurts that make great snacks for little ones.

If you buy a bead box and give it a good wash, you can use it as a variety snack box for road trips. Some people opt for a full snack box of various foods, popping something different in every compartment. It’s a great way for kids to see all their food options for the whole journey and to be in control of their food and eat it whenever they want it. Great options are sultanas and dried fruit, crackers and veggies, to name a few.

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