Crack the Code on Healthy Travel Snacks

There I was in the typical mad dash to get the car packed, the kids loaded up and the house sitter set up for success. Then I remember I need to pack what feels like 25 lbs of snacks my kids will need for the 4 hr car ride to the airport and then the 5 hour flight to Oahu. If you haven’t met my daughter Ozzie, just know she’s been nicknamed Ozzie “Always Hungry” Brown.

I pull out the baggies and open the pantry wondering if I even have what I would need for a few healthy snack packs for the kids. How about healthy snacks for the airplane ride? Or do I resign to healthy gas station snacks? As if I wasn’t about to spend enough money on travel.. Might as well kick it off with a pit stop right?

As luck would have it, I just recently taught a summer camp class on how to make trail mix so I had the random ingredients ready to roll. Here’s what worked in 5 minutes flat:

Healthy Travel Snack Packs for Kids:

1. Pull out all the stops. The pretzels. The cashews. The yogurt covered raisins. The dried cranberries. The banana chips. The sunflower seeds. The whatever else you have.

2. Place them side by side like a buffet and place two empty baggies at the end.

3. Have those kids assemble their own trail mix exactly the way they’re going to like it. 

4. Throw in some low to no sugar beef jerky (Shout out to It’s Jerky for being our Go-To… if you haven’t tried it, stop reading and go get some)

5. Hit the road.

Here’s why I like this set up: It covers all the bases you’re going to be able to cover and get on the road. There’s protein and fat. Sure there’s a few more carbs than I personally want to have, but my kids make different choices right now and I let them. 

And then I remember… what about me?! I never cave in and get junk food when I’m unprepared and hungry, which means anyone traveling with me gets to endure my hangry side. So back into the kitchen I go. Same buffet, but different.

Healthy Travel Snack Packs for Adults:

1. Pull out a few of the stops. The pecans. The cheese blocks. The salami. The macadamias.

2. Throw it all into one big bag and be ready to share.

3. Grab the other bag of It’s Jerky.

4. Hit the road.

For me, staying low carb keeps me at the steering wheel for my health. The more patients I work with in my clinic, the more I believe a low insulin diet is the closest thing to a “one size fits all” approach to nutrition.. And the good news is that you can make it bio-individual. So when I am on the road, on the go, or just plain low on groceries, I keep low carb as the top priority and shop accordingly.

Here’s my guide for Healthy Gas Station Snacks.

1. Find a gas station with a cooler section. This is where you may find fresh produce. I have found more than a few good salads in this section. Avoid the sushi though please. 

2. Look for Cheese sticks or cubes. Watch out for the neon orange ones though. They just don’t look like food to me. If you stay near the cooler, you’ll have better choices. Beware of room temperature seal packed cheese. 

3. Skip the candy and walk to the nuts. Go for plain or lightly salted nuts.. I prefer pecans, macadamias and walnuts because they are lower carb.

4. Find the better beef jerky and meat sticks. These days we have more than just cash register stand slim jims that we can pick if we want better choices. The fewer nitrates, the better.

5. Skip the soda and slurpee station and go for flavored soda water or water new-fangled water they carry to keep it interesting.

PRO TIP: This is the part where I like to remind you that I am also a big fan of the 80/20 rule. Let’s knock it out of the park and make all the right choices 80% of the time and let’s keep the remaining 20% in our back pocket for when we need it. I certainly enjoyed that 20% on vacation and on the way home. It keeps the balancing act sustainable and snack packs a little more interesting.