If you know how organizing stuff for a trip soothes me down to the depths of my soul, you’ll understand how I kind of love the task of packing and planning for vacation.
And after returning from a week in Colorado & Utah. I realized that I have not only hit on the perfect formula for road trips and vacations in general, but I have finally systemized my road trip snacks.
I know, you’re shaking your head and saying to yourself, “but half the fun of vacation is eating new things!” And I agree with you completely—that is a big part of the reason I travel.
But because of the other reasons I travel: namely, the less-populated places I visit, a breakfast and snack stash has become indispensable.
Cases in point: when you’re in more remote places like Utah and half the food joints in “town” aren’t open for the season, you might end up eating at the same place more than once.
Or you want a little reward when you reach the halfway point of your walk, especially when you were promised hot springs at the end of Hot Springs Canyon trail in Big Bend and the fricking springs are overrun by the muddy Rio Grande.
Or you need a tiny bit of energy to power through a shower after hiking the north ridge of Cadillac Mountain so you can head over to Geddy's and stuff your face.
Over the last few years, I’ve honed my snack list to a few regular items that meet the following key criteria: can be found at any major grocery store throughout North America, doesn’t need refrigeration beyond a hotel room ice bucket (if even that)self-sealed, so it can go into a saddle bag or backpack or get tossed into the back of a car without spilling.
You may wonder, why the heck am I buying packaged snacks instead of making my own?
Well, because as much as I love to make things from scratch, I’m not wasting valuable suitcase space baking and packing homemade treats for the trip. In the battle of warm layers of clothing vs. homemade snacks, warm layers always win.
The Three Road Trip Snacks I Always Buy When I Arrive
String Cheese
As Jim/my guy said on this past trip (after I steered him away from a Utah supermarket donuts in favor of splitting a meat & cheese stick), “you’re always right about protein.” String cheese gives you the perfect fill-‘er-up hit of protein that won’t make you crash an hour later.
It’s easier if you have a mini fridge in your room, but these most definitely can make it through a trip when moved from ice bucket to ice bucket.
Peanut Butter Crackers
I’m starting to believe that these might be the most perfect road snack in all of existence, and I think it’s because peanut butter toast is one of my top three comfort breakfasts.
As much as I would want to eat an entire box of Ritz or an entire jar of peanut butter, this works almost as well. And six crackers is the ideal number—how did they figure that out?
Bottled Water
Yes, I bring water bottles to fill and to refill daily, but it’s always good to have more water than you think you’ll need on a trip. Plus, bottled water makes the perfect self-measured vessel for your daily dose of lemonaide drink mix.
Optional Add-On Snacks to Buy
For snacking in the car during drives, or as accompaniments to my cards in the hotel room at night, (yeah, I know how to live on vacation, duh), there are three other things I frequently buy on my stock-up stop:
Cheez-Its or Goldfish—I tried some sort of off-brand whale cracker from the in Texas last year, and it was a misstep peanuts—again with the peanuts! Feel free to sub almonds or cashews if you don’t have this issue in your family. Beer—preferably two different sixers of local/regional beer so we can try something new
The Three Road Trip Snacks I Always Bring
along... Vitimum C drink. Whether it’s a placebo or whether it actually works, I don’t know and I don’t care. Gulping down an vitimin-C every day gives me peace of mind. Why do I bring these instead of picking up a few packets wherever we are?
Because for whatever distribution reason, I can only get my two favorite flavors—meyer lemon and coconut-pineapple. Cranberry pomegranate and tangerine, my runners-up, are sometimes spotted at Walgreens etc., but I like what I like.
KIND Bars
Yeah, I could buy these at any grocery store too, but they are virtually uncrushable in suitcases and saddle bags, so I always pack a small sealable bag with four or five of my favorite flavors.
One extra goes in the side pocket of my bag for travel delays and other potential travel issues. You can keep your other brands of protein bars—KIND are the only ones for me.
Protein Granola Bars
These are for me, because KIND bars are sadly out of the question. It took me forever to find a granola-style bar with enough protein to make it worthwhile and not just a sugar-and-carb bomb.
So if you’re ever meeting me along the wandering path of one of my road trips, I’ll be happy to join you for dinner and take a break from eating these snacks. I might show my gratitude in free beers!
Nana
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