Many travel nurses and travel healthcare professionals choose to drive to and from their assignments. Some only a few hours, while others can take days. Buying snacks from gas stations or convenience stores along the way can get expensive and unhealthy. We have put together a list of great easy, and healthy road trip snacks.
Road Trip Snacks:
1. Snack/Trail Mixes
Snack/trail mixes are great road trip snacks as they are easy to eat, and the sky is the limit on what you can include. You do not have to buy snack mixes as they can be pricey depending on what you want. Making your own mix can be cheaper, and you will get more for your money. Below you will find a couple of easy recipes from Chelsea’s Messy Apron. She has other great recipes as well. You can also put together your favorite ingredients.
Tropical Trail Mix
Tropical Trail Mix combines banana chips, coconut chips, dried mango, cashews, and almonds. To ensure crunchy nuts, this mix is best eaten soon after being made; sometimes, the dried fruit still has enough moisture to make the rest of the ingredients soft.
Other additional ideas: Try dried pineapple, dried papaya, yogurt-covered raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts, dried kiwi, dried apricots, or chopped dates.
Indulgent Trail Mix
Indulgent Trail Mix combines milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter baking chips, dried cranberries, peanuts, and cashews. This mix is meant to be more of a treat and is a great mix to bring to a party!
Other additional ideas: Try some dark chocolate chips or chunks, chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered almonds, popcorn, golden raisins, mini peanut butter cups, or dried cherries.
2. Beef Jerky
Whether you make it yourself your buy it, beef jerky is a great source of protein and will keep you full longer, making it another great road trip snack option. We have included a recipe from SHTF Preparedness if you want to make it yourself.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Worcestershire sauce
- ¾ cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of paprika
- 1 tbsp of honey
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp of red pepper
- 1¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 pounds of thin-sliced beef top round
Instructions
To put it all together, you need to whisk the sauces and the spices together in a big bowl. Once you have mixed it all thoroughly, add the beef to the bowl and flip it over to fully coat all sides of the beef. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
Next, preheat your oven to 175 degrees. While doing so, you can line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack over this.
Then you will take out the beef and transfer it over to paper towels to dry out from the marinade. Discard what is left in the bowl (do not reuse). Arrange the beef slices on the wire rack that is on the baking sheet.
Line them a single layer in a row. Do not double or overlap the beef strips. They will not get properly dried out if you do, and you won’t have jerky-like planned.
Lastly, put this in the oven on the low heat setting and dry out until it feels leathery. It usually takes about 3 to 4 hours to complete. You can then take it out to cool and cut into smaller pieces with sizes if you prefer.
Some people like to store all of this in plastic Ziplock storage bags to keep it fresh. Beef jerky will keep for a long time, which is why it is popular for survival situations. It’s a good idea to learn the right survival foods to carry with you.
If you aren’t already knowledgeable, it’s a good idea to brush up on long term food storage tips and techniques.
Beef Jerky Recipe in a Dehydrator
If you’re looking to know how to make beef jerky with a dehydrator, then you can use pretty much any flavor recipe you want. All you have to do is prep the meat strips with the flavor combinations you like, then put them in the dehydrator.
3. Boiled Eggs
Boiled eggs are a great source of protein to help you stay full longer because of this, and they are great road trip snacks. You can buy premade boiled eggs in the store or make them at home. If you have an Instant Pot, they are super simple to make, and the shells come off with ease. To boil eggs in an instant pot, place the desired eggs in the Instant Pot and add 1 cup of water. Choose the steam method for 6 minutes. After the 6 minutes is up, allow the eggs to stay in the Instant Pot (do not release the steam). After 6 minutes, remove the eggs from the Instant Pot and place them in an ice bath for 6 minutes. Once that is up, your eggs are done, and the shells should come off with ease!
4. String Cheese
Cheese, in general, is a great snack and source of protein. But the convenience of string cheese makes it a great option for a road trip snack. There are now many different flavors/varieties you can get, so you are no longer just stuck with the typical string cheese flavors.
5. Fruits & Veggies
This is a great way to sneak in your fruits and veggies. Some of our favorites include grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, carrots, broccoli, peppers, cauliflower, and snap peas. You can make fruit mixes and veggie mixes and place them in Ziplock bags to make them easier to access and travel with.
6. Nuts/Nut Mixes/Seeds
Buying nut mixes can get expensive, and they tend to have more peanuts than any other nuts. Like snack mixes and trail mixes, you can really create your own mix. There are many options for flavors and varieties at the store. You can also include sunflower seeds in your mix if they are something you enjoy.
These are just a few healthy and easy snack options for your next road trip. When looking for options just remember to choose things that are easy to eat without the need of utensils and are typically not messy.
Have you come up with any easy or healthy road trip snacks and want to share them? Comment them below. Safe travels!
