Snack-packing for road trips

Sandy's snack pack hack:

Car trips with an always-hungry 2 yo with food intolerances can get stressful. With food pickiness setting in, when we traveled last month, we certainly had to find hacks to match up. For snacks, I grabbed one of the plastic zip bags that his latest crib sheet came in, and stocked it with 4-5 different types of his snacks with about 5 of each type: peanut butter crackers, cheese crackers, rice treats and peanut packs. I had the small snack packs that come in larger variety boxes that we got at Costco.

They lasted the entire 5-day trip, including the car ride and 2 days at Disneyland for all 3 of us. If he did not always eat meals, I was not worried as he had not been eating junk food--just relatively healthier snacks.

For juice treats, I had about 10 Otter Pops popsicles snuck away and whenever I got a chance at someone's house, I froze them. They freeze quickly and stuck in the insulated pouch next to the milk cup, can serve for a short-term ice pack. And when melted, the little guy was still happy to suck the juice up.

You can also freeze juice boxes on tubes of yogurt to use this way -- works well in lunchboxes, too.

Tags: Family travel, Parenting

Comments

[Adrienne]

Sandy-

Thanks for the great tips. We'll use some of them for in-town travel as well.

adrienne

[VK]

I take annual 2- and 3-week car camping trips with my now 6 y/o son. One of our favorite snacks on the road is homemade Chex mix. We follow the regular recipe but omit the Worcestershire (sp?) sauce and garlic powder. I add a little bit of Splenda (since I watch his sugar intake) and raisins. Since he's snacking on fortified cereal, I don't feel nearly as bad.

[Christine]

Yes, snacks during a car ride are a must! I like to make home-made granola and toss it into a zip-lock baggie. Rice Krispy Treats are also a great snack!