Have you checked out the previous {Kids on the Road} posts? You can find info on Planning Your Trip, What to Pack, and How to Pack it in the previous posts.
Welcome to another installment of {Kids on the Road}. Today is snack day. One of the most important things for us to have in the car is food! And not just junk food. If you saw the What to Pack post, you know I mentioned our family’s “hanger” – hungry anger (not that thing people hang clothes on) – problems. Junk food just gives everyone headaches and that brief sugar rush. I’m not sure which is worse: my kids bouncing off the walls while strapped in their car seats or the sugar crash and whiny tantrums that follow. So, we tend to steer clear of candy and the like, especially in the car. So, here is what goes in our typical Food Box:
1. Crackers. Many, many kinds of crackers. Peanut butter, cheese, goldfish, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Club and Ritz are a few of our faves. Bite-size pieces are the best, as it minimizes crumbs and mess, but they can be a little more spendy. For some reason, it seems to be harder to get the same thing in your mouth multiple times, but a one-time straight shot is usually more successful. Sometimes a little convenience is worth the money.
2. Veggie Slices/Dices. Carrots, fresh green beans, sliced bell peppers, broccoli pieces, cucumber sticks, grape/cherry tomatoes. avocado slices (stored in a small snapware container with a pickle fork), celery sicks with peanut butter and pickles are big hits at our house. I would much rather my kids eat this stuff. They are happier and fuller for longer.
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3. Fruit slices. Apples, grapes, bananas, peaches, mangoes, apricots, oranges, and just about any kind of berry make our family’s top faves list. Firmer fruit, like apples and oranges, can be stored in zip top baggies. I usually store our softer fruits in small snapware containers. If you want to avoid the hassle of keeping track of your plastic storage, you can find cheap containers at the Dollar Tree. If they come home, great. If not, no big deal. Or you find that empty, sealed, super moldy container that was lost on your trip… just pitch it. No sweat.
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4. Cheese slices and string cheese. We LOVE cheese. LOVE. So, we will buy 2-3 bricks of different kinds of cheese and slice it up before our trip. (Brie is my favorite!) We can then snack on it with the crackers or alone. Of course, my kids love string cheese and we usually take some of that too. There are also individually wrapped cheese slices available for purchase in lots of stores. Not the fake cheese, the real stuff. That’s an option as well (and there’s less prep time involved).
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5. Water. We take a case a water on just about every trip we go on. Warm water is better than thirsting to death… or that’s what I tell myself. Ick. It’s incredibly convenient to not have to remember to grab water every time we go and do something though… beach, park, swimming, or anywhere else.
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6. Beef Jerky. Both my kids and Mr Napping love beef jerky. We ration it out a little at a time to the boys. I will often take the jerky beforehand and cut it into small pieces that my boys can handle without it being a choking hazard. Be sure to store it in an air-tight container.
7. Dry Cereal. My kids, specifically Monkey, will eat dry cereal all day. In fact, that’s usually how he eats cereal, even at home. We choose varieties low in sugar and somewhat healthy like Cheerios, Chex, Kix, Life, and Frosted Mini Wheats. Occasionally, something like Fruit Loops or Corn Pops shows up in our box… but I have no idea how that happens.
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8. Granola bars. I like to have snacks that are a little more substantial when we are traveling and miss a meal or what something besides fast food. Granola bars work well and my boys can feed themselves. You can find low-calorie varieties if you prefer.
9. Fruit Cups and Applesauce Cups/Pouches. We love applesauce. Monkey can eat a whole bottle by himself in less than a week. Applesauce pouches are incredibly easy and convenient and even Gator can (sorta) feed himself. He’s still mastering the whole “don’t squeeze it” concept, but he usually does pretty well. My boys also love fruit cups, but this requires a little more help. These are good for quick pit stops.
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Target has a system where you can fill your own pouches. I really like these; however, the whole system is kinda spendy. Mr Napping rigged up a little contraption for us using one of the pouch lids and a pastry bag. The pouches screw onto the pastry bag and make it easier to squeeze the pureed fruit and veggies into the pouch.
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10. Treats. Sitting in the car, strapped in a car seat for hours on end is incredibly monotonous. Offer a little reward or incentive for good behavior. Some of our favorites include: Pringles, Cheetos, Pirate Booty, fruit snacks, fruit leather, and the occasional fun size candy bar.
I use a large-ish cardboard box (usually a diaper or wipe box, we tend to have those around pretty much all the time) to store everything in. It sits on the floor within reach, is easily contained and it’s easy to take inside when we stop. Cold items are stored in a (or some) small, soft-sided coolers on top of the box. This works for us… for now. Someday the boys will be in charge of their own snacks; I can’t wait to stop being the food police on road trips.
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