Let’s be real for a moment. No self-respecting road tripper hits the road without a boatload (or, dare I say, carload) of snacks. And whenever I hear a story from someone reminiscing about a family road trip when they were young, it always includes a detailed description of the snacks they brought on the trip. My own husband can’t even think about hitting the road without canned cheese because that’s what they used to bring as a special treat for a long car trip. I think canned cheese is disgusting; but, for him it evokes the memories spent as a child happily traveling with his family. I say, to each their own. Keeping that in mind, I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer for what snacks to bring as long as you bring them. With kids though, there are some rules involved around snacking.

Choosing the Snack

Ben is six. When he started kindergarten he packed a mini homemade banana bread loaf for school snack each day. At least until he was made fun of for bringing a homemade snack. So then it was chips. Poppables. He doesn’t even like chips, but that’s what other kids were bringing. We went through a few other snack iterations before finally finding something he actually enjoys eating. So now every day he packs a single-serve bag of Cheez-Its in his backpack for school snack. Every day for more than six months now. We cannot deviate. And we don’t dare run out of Cheez-Its.

I think this illustrates “six” in a nutshell. They like routine. It’s safe and can be counted on to be the same each day. And then flip the coin. They change their minds like the direction of the wind. Especially when there’s a “hangry” storm brewing or something disrupts the safety zone. For our road trip, it has been determined that a variety of choices is the name of the game.

You name it we’ve got it. Cheez-Its, fruit snacks, chips, pretzels, peanut butter and crackers, Rice Krispie treats, animal crackers, I can go on and on and on. Again, it’s all about what you like and what makes you happy when you travel. Which brings me to the second key to selecting snacks: letting Ben be a part of the selection process. Never assume that just because you’re raising him and know EVERYTHING he likes and dislikes that he will be happy with the snack choices YOU chose on his behalf.

Snack Presentation

The next rule of thumb around snacking in the car really has to do with accessibility. Now that we have a million different choices how do we best present them so Ben can help himself when the snack bug bites? The vending box!

Just a simple box organized into snack sections so that Ben will be able to see all of his choices and easily reach into the box to make his selection. I created a much smaller version of the vending box for the Lincoln Highway warmup trip and it worked great. So much so that Ben didn’t even ask if he could have a snack. He just reached in to help himself on a whim. I will say it was one of my favorite moments in the car. We had just finished that huge breakfast at the Omni and were on our way home. Not even 30 minutes into the ride we start hearing the rustle of a Rice Krispie treat wrapper being opened. I looked over to Tom and we smiled to ourselves with delight.

Making Snacks an Event

Snacks not only keep things calm and even keeled between meals on the road, they can also be fun when we’re not on the road. It will be summer when we hit Route 66 later this month. And many hotels now offer outdoor fire pits to enjoy during your stay. While most are powered by gas as opposed to your standard wood fire, it’s still just as fun to sit around and make s’mores. The fancy resorts often provide roasting sticks and marshmallows. But I say why take the risk? Bring your own tackle box full of s’mores supplies and guarantee yourself a few nights of snacking events!

There’s a place for the marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers and, our telescoping roasting sticks! Of course you’ll also have to bring your own spooky story to round out this full camping experience.

So that’s it on snacks. Maybe we’ll talk coolers later. Or fun car activities. Or bringing along some of the comforts of home. So many topics and only 19 days of prep left!

traveling with kids