The Best 11 Healthy Road Trip Snacks For Your Next Adventure (2024)

Is It Hard To Eat Healthy Snacks On The Road?

No, it’s not hard to eat healthy on the road if you know what to look for—in fact, eating healthy on the road doe not have to be a challenge at all. Following a few basic principles of good nutrition you can minimize the consumption of unhealthy food even when your options are limited like they are at most truck stops and rest areas.

How Can I Eat Healthy Snacks On A Road Trip?

Plan when and where to eat to get an idea of what options are available to you along your travels. Become familiar with the route and the area in which you will be staying to understand how much grocery shopping will be required, what snacks to pack from home, and how often you will be eating out.

Bringing food from home or going to a grocery store before setting off can ease the stress of eating on a trip both nutritionally and financially. This will also allow you to stock up on things you enjoy rather than settling for an unhealthy option simply because it is available. Plan your meals, plan your snacks, and know how to minimize hunger and cravings.

If this is not an option, you can get by without eating just fine. Hunger is not urgent and it only lasts 10-20 minutes. If you can tough it out until it subsides you won’t feel hungry again for a few hours. If it becomes such an issue that it affects your mood you can take the edge off by consuming a pinch of salt and a few big gulps of water.

This won’t eliminate your hunger entirely but will make it much more manageable. Caffeine also aids in suppressing appetite but should be consumed in moderation on the road, especially on an empty stomach. Caffeine can cause irritability, jitters, and lack of focus which can lead to serious incidents on the road.

What’s The Benefit Of Eating Healthy Snacks On The Road?

Manages Hunger: Healthy snacking has been shown to reduce cravings and keep hunger at bay for extended periods of time. It does this by stabilizing your blood sugar and keeping your mood and focus in check.

Keep Calories Reasonable: Any given fast food meal is clearing 1,000 calories. Consuming this many calories while on the road is not only a good way to induce fatigue and drowsiness but it also goes unused. You won’t burn 1,000 calories in the driver’s seat and since 1 lb of fat consists of 3,500 calories it is not difficult to see how quickly that would add up.

Better Hydration: Hydration is key to focus and stable mood and energy levels. Caffeine and sugar are the go-to ingredients in any classic road trip snack and both require more water consumption to combat dehydration. A 2% drop in hydration levels can lead to a 14% decrease in performance, meaning a 14% decrease in your ability to drive safely. When you risk dehydration you risk the safety of everyone in your vehicle.

Better Decision Making: Especially when it comes to future food choices, making good food choices early on will lend itself to better eating habits in the future. Every single good food choice you make is a step closer to better health, which is something that is difficult to achieve or maintain while traveling.

What Are The Best Healthy Snacks To Eat On A Road Trip?

The best healthy snacks are those high in protein and healthy fats, often with a bit of sodium. Based on these concepts we can put together a fairly thorough list of healthy snacks, which can be found below:

Beef Jerky And Other Dried Meats

Jerky is salty, full of protein, and highly satiating. Protein requires more effort from the body to digest meaning it keeps you full longer and with less. Although it can get pricey, the sodium and protein content of jerky and dried meats goes a long way to increasing the quality of your driving ability.

Hard-Boiled Eggs

Eggs come in natural packaging and are pasteurized at the factory. This ensures they are safe to eat right out of the shell. The benefit of hard-boiling the egg is that it will no longer require refrigeration. Eggs are great sources of protein and healthy fats and cholesterol, among other essential micronutrients like choline, vitamin D, and iodine.

Protein Bars

Protein bars can be tricky because many, if not most, are just candy bars with cheap whey protein. However, certain companies like Quest and Lenny & Larry’s are great options made with high-quality ingredients and are convenient to eat and easy to find. They even taste pretty good for a processed protein snack.

Protein Shakes

Protein leveraging is a great way to keep hunger under control. This simply means prioritizing protein, but protein is expensive. Beef jerky and protein cookies are often many times more expensive than their cheap, nutrition-free counterparts. Protein powder, however, is a great source of protein that will keep your hunger signals at bay and are arguably the easiest to consume.

With an endless variety of powders ranging from the classic whey to the more exotic beef and vegan powders, there is something out there for everyone but if you decide to explore this rabbit hole we suggest avoiding the inexpensive stuff as it is often just filler with no real protein value. Additionally, there are often little to no fats or carbohydrates in protein powder which can make it an incomplete snack for some.

Nuts And Legumes

Inverse to protein powder, nuts and legumes are high in fats and relatively low in protein. This makes it a good option to pair with a protein powder but they are almost too easy to eat mindlessly. We recommend portioning out servings or buying one serving packages if this is your snack of choice as nuts are high in calories and often times sodium, which can lead to bloat and an overall sluggish feeling.

Baked Chips

The baked counterpart to the classic fried potato chip contains far fewer calories and less sodium with a possible slight compromise on flavor. This reduction in calories makes it a great snack for the road, however, as your body will not have to work as hard to digest them on the road leaving more energy for focus and decision-making when driving.

Fruit

Everyone knows fruits are good for you, yet more people lean into processed packaged food instead when driving. Fruits give the body what it needs in the way of vitamins, fiber, and minerals that help to keep the body functioning the way it was intended to and to keep the mind focused on the task at hand: driving.

Sugar-Free Or Reduced-Sugar Vegetable And Fruit Juices

Juices are often marketed as being healthy alternatives to soft drinks but, in general, they are made with a similar mindset of “more sugar, more consumers, more money.” Sadly, this scheme works and works well.

For this reason, it is important to understand that even though the juice may have fruit in it, it is just sugar water with fruit juice coloring. Look for juices with more vitamins than sugar and juices with any added sugar should be avoided.

Cheese And Meat

Cheese and meat are often sold together in gas stations for good reason. They are full of good fats and protein with enough sodium to keep you full for long periods of time. These are also fairly inexpensive and easy to find, often right next to the hard-boiled eggs.

String Cheese

String cheese of any variety is a good source of protein and calcium. It is easy to find and provides probiotics that help to keep the gut biome healthy and balanced.

Yogurt

Yogurt is another source of probiotics, fiber, and protein. It is arguably one of the best foods to keep you full and it does not require a ton to do so. The biggest issue with yogurt is that it is not easy to eat on the road and any yogurt that comes in a tube should be avoided, regardless of how easy it is to eat with one hand.

Is It More Expensive To Eat Healthy On The Road?

It depends. With the average cost of a fast food meal clocking in at around $10 per person, the cost is basically the same. However, considering the implications of eating 1,300 calories of fat and sugar and sitting in a car for hours at a time, this is clearly not the best option. Beef jerky will be your most expensive healthy option with an ounce averaging $2.90 but it is more filling than fast food with 1/5 the calories.

What Should I Look For In A Healthy Road Trip Snack?

Good Nutritional Profile: Look for something high in fats, proteins, and fiber. Fat and protein are harder to digest than carbohydrates, making them excellent for keeping hunger at bay for long periods of driving and inactivity. Fiber does not digest and simply moves through the digestive system taking up space and keeping you from feeling hungry sooner than you should.

Higher Levels Of Sodium: Salt is not bad for you, what you eat with salt is. Salty fries and a burger are far less healthy than beef jerky and baked potato chips but both have high levels of sodium. Eating sodium helps greatly to curb hunger without adding calories to a meal. This should be approached with caution as some populations may be at risk of adverse effects from consuming salt.

Low Carbohydrates: That afternoon crash you feel after lunch? Carbohydrates did that. You don’t want that feeling while driving and fats and proteins are much better at keeping you feeling full longer.

“Normal” Palatability: Avoid hyper-palatable foods like fast foods, candy, and anything in the chips or cookies aisle. These foods are unhealthy and do nothing to keep you feeling full thanks to their absence of valuable nutrients.