Tips for Healthy Snacking Out & About #NoJunkJourney

Each summer we travel to the Algarve by car for a family holiday. It's a mission - an overnight ferry followed by a 12 hour drive through Spain split over two days! The upside is that we get to do a little exploring along the way and fill up the car with lots of goodies to take home. The boys are brilliant, and see the journey as part of the adventure of going away.

Organising and preparing food in advance for the trip, as well as planning stop off points and researching places to eat online before we go, takes time but makes the trip so much easier and less stressful for everyone. Having lots of healthy snacks and a nutritious packed lunch ready for the journey also means we're not at the mercy of sporadic & overpriced service stations. Here's a few more tips I've learned about healthy snacking on familiy trips.

Pack healthy snacks that travel well

Mess equals stress so avoid anything that is likely to get squashed or spilt. Whole fruits & vegetable sticks are more portable than squishy berries. Keep drinks in spill-proof bottles. I also pack breadsticks, dried fruit, cheese cubes, homemade flapjacks and Organix Goodies snacks which all super healthy and contain no nasties. We are huge fans of their newest snacks - cheesy pea puffs and cheese & onion lentil hoops. They delicious, make a great alternative to crisps and high in protein so keep tummies fuller for longer. I enjoy them as much as the kids do!

Organix Goodies Lentil Hoops Pea Snaps.jpg

Avoid the worst offenders

Organix recently did some research to find out which are the worst places for unhealthy snacks when out and about. Amazingly, the top 5 are places that families are likely to encounter when out during the holidays. With a little bit of planning you can avoid being stuck with no choice but to feed hungry children at expensive and unhealthy places.

One thing I do is make sure we have enough food & drinks for the road and plan a stop at a town just off the motorway to stretch our legs and get some nice hot food. I have a look on trip advisor for a family friendly place which will serve something healthy that all the kids will eat. It makes the journey so much smoother, gives us something to look forward to and avoids 'hangry' children!

Make a fun packed lunch

A fun packed lunch with lots of tasty, colourful and nutritious snacks will make the journey more exciting and keep hunger at bay. I love these rainbow wraps which are perfect for using up things in the fridge before you go away.

A good tip on hot days is to freeze drinks the night before to pop in lunch bags in the morning. They act like ice packs as well as giving you a refreshing cool drink at lunchtime. Check the bottle is freezer proof before hand of course!

Have a 'supermarket picnic' and make healthy swaps

Supermarket picnics are a firm favourite of ours on long journeys - particularly abroad when there's new foods to try. It's so much cheaper and much easier to make healthy swaps because there's so much choice. It's also a very helpful option if you have fussy children who don't like to eat many things in cafes or restaurants.

I pack some plastic plates, cups & cutlery, a couple of sharp knives, some kitchen roll and food bags for leftovers. We often have a nice fresh baguette or wraps filled with pre-sliced cheese, cured meats & salads followed by fresh fruit.

Over to you

What do you do food-wise when taking kids on long car journeys? Do you have any tips or favourite snacks? Do you have supermarket picnics? Please comment below - I would love to hear!