The Best Healthy, Practical Car Snacks for Kids

Part of the fun of road trips is the snacks, let’s be honest. Alongside music choice it’s one of the most important facets of a good road trip holiday. And when it comes to choosing car snacks for kids, getting it right is key to a hassle-free trip.

Let’s face it: nobody wants a kid on a sugar high trapped in a car for six hours. And you also don’t want to face your child screaming because they’re starving hungry. So getting the right snacks is crucial. Almost as crucial as servicing your car and checking your tyres before you leave!

Healthy car snacks can be easy

Car snacks for kids are often tricky, especially if you have toddlers. You don’t want them eating chocolate and ice cream all day, but it can be hard to find healthy snacks that are portable and don’t leave your car seats looking like a sticky bomb hit them.

Luckily, we’re experts in road trip hacks. Not only do we have some great suggestions of games to play in the car, we’ve also put together some snack options to satisfy the children and keep your car clean. Although we won’t promise it’ll stay totally spotless. We’re not miracle workers!

But first – how to bin the leftovers

Before we get into the snacks, let’s tackle the rubbish. One of our top tips is to attach a plastic bag to a headrest to serve as a rubbish bin. That way you can keep wrappers, fruit skins, water bottles and more contained and can simply throw it out when you arrive.

Another option is a yoghurt container. If your house is like ours, it’s easy to go through a 1kg or 2kg container in a week. Clean it then pop it and the lid in your car for

And because space is always a problem, read our car storage hacks to make sure everyone has plenty of room.

Fruit and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are an obvious choice for healthy snacks to fuel up on during your road trip. But we all know they aren’t necessarily a firm favourite with the kids. Luckily, these ideas should keep both the adults and the children satisfied.

Grapes are easy to eat and no-mess. They’re lovely healthy car snacks for kids and they also taste great frozen, so you can transport them for something nice and refreshing for kids and adults alike. You can even use them to cool down drinks instead of ice and then eat them when they’re thawed out afterwards.

Just make sure you cut them correctly so they’re not a choking risk! Follow these tips.

Other easy-to-eat and minimal mess fruits include blueberries, bananas, pears, apples, and dried fruit such as bananas or apricots. Just remember that dried fruit is very high in sugar so you’ll need to limit the serving.

On the vegetable side of things, you can pack baby carrots or cut up carrot sticks, along with other fresh, crunchy veg like celery sticks, snow peas, and baby cucumbers. If there aren’t messy eaters around, pair them with hummus, tzatziki, or another dip. These make for delicious and filling car snacks for kids.

For the more taste-adventurous of children, you can also drain and pack some olives for easy, savoury snacking. Again, cut correctly for safety.

Protein-heavy snacks kids will love

Protein is key to satiety (i.e. feeling and staying full) and will help to balance blood sugar levels too. So it’s a smart idea to also give the kids car snacks that are high in protein.

This way you can make sure they get a balanced meal including sugar and carbohydrates from fruit, fibre from vegetables, and protein. Which means less crankiness and fewer fights (hopefully) and a reduced need to make lots of stops along the way.

Some easily transported options include:

• Mini frittata or quiche
• Meatballs, chicken rissoles or frikkadels
• Nuts and seeds, or homemade trail mix
• Hard boiled eggs (peeled and sliced)
• Peanut butter on grainy Ryvita or similar
• Beef jerky, salami sticks, or similar
• Cubed cheese (careful though, too much and they’ll get sick)
• Sliced deli meats like ham, chicken, or turkey

Here’s a video showing you how to make some really easy, portable frittatas. They’re really convenient, because you can use up all your little bits of leftover veg before you hit the road.

Other car snacks for kids

Sometimes you have to get creative with your car snacks for kids. Especially if they aren’t going to be impressed with a handful of carrots and an egg.

But that doesn’t mean you have to resort to KFC or bags of potato chips. Instead of chips and cookies, here are some kid-approved snacks which are better for them and better for your car.

All of them are easy to eat, easy to pack, relatively easy to hoover up with a handheld vacuum, and – most importantly – should help quell cries of “are we there yet?!”

• Popcorn
• Sandwiches or wraps
• Rice crackers
• Pretzels
• Rice cakes
• Cereal bars
• Roasted chickpeas

Even the pickiest eater should find at least one or two of these car snacks for kids to their liking.

Something else to consider

Kids love to guzzle juice, fizzy drinks, and more. And why not? They’re sweet, delicious, and always tempting. To limit the number of bathroom breaks and to reduce the likelihood of car sickness, it’s best to offer them only water. That way, your kids can stay hydrated without drinking way more than they need.

And whether you’re driving for two hours or 10, it isn’t just car snacks for kids that make the journey a little smoother. Having comprehensive car insurance gives you peace of mind that you’re covered in case of accident, theft or weather damage. Because if anything does while you’re on the road, the last thing you want to think about is money.

Holidays are expensive enough!