Snacks are one of those things that can make or break a road trip - get them right and you can be munching on delicious and nutritious treats all day, but get them wrong and you could go hungry. Even worse, you could fill up on processed sugary snacks that will leave you exhausted and with little to no oomph an hour after you eat them!
Healthy, wholesome snacks are an essential factor to keeping tiredness and fatigue at bay and your immune system firing on all cylinders. Because one thing's for sure, nothing ruins a road trip like getting ill!
To avoid that, here are some excellent healthy snacking options to consider instead of junk food:
No-bake Protein Balls / Bites
Protein Bites are a Funktional Foods staple. They’re so tasty, and once you’ve made a big batch, they become one of the most convenient ways to keep your protein levels topped up throughout the day. Protein is a nutrient that can often be neglected on a road trip, so it’s important to pack snacks that are high in protein to support your muscles. Protein also supports your energy levels because it slows the release of glucose into the blood giving you sustained energy.
A simple base to make any protein ball includes:
- 60g Protein powder
- 3 cups Rolled Oats
- 1 cup nut butter
- 2 tbsp sticky sweetener like maple or agave syrup
- 2 tbsp chia/flax seeds
Then go ahead and whatever else you fancy like seeds, superfoods, and dried fruit.
Alternatively, check out these recipes for some inspo:
Berry and Chocolate Protein Bites
Vegan Cheesecake Protein Bites
Fresh Veggies
Probably not the first time you’ve been told to eat your veggies, but we would be a bit crazy to leave it off the list! When you get some dips like hummus and guacamole involved, carrots, bell peppers, celery, and cucumbers (okay, yes, technically not a veggie) will go down a treat. Also, why not whack a cheeky teaspoon of wheatgrass or hemp protein powder into your dips for some extra vitamins and minerals? They will hardly change the taste!
Fresh Fruit
Fresh fruits are perfect healthy snacks. Apples are a no brainer, bananas are essentially prewrapped for you (convenience at its finest), blueberries are packed with antioxidants and grapes are crispy and sweet. These are some great options for road trips, but realistically you can’t go too wrong with fruits. Although you might consider avoiding ones that will be sticky or if mishandled or split – we’re thinking of the likes of mango and melon. All in all, fruits provide a vital and delicious source of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre making them a mandatory road trip snack.
No-bake Superfood Energy Balls / Bars
Superfood energy bars can be a similar vibe to protein bites/balls as they often use protein powder to bind them together and bulk them out. But now we’re getting some energy-boosting superfoods involved like Maca, Cacao, Wheatgrass and our Lean Green Blend. Check out our blog Superfoods for All-Day Energy to learn more about the nutrients they contain to provide you with energy.
Homemade superfood energy bars are so much better than most of the bars you get in shops which tend to be filled to the brim with refined sugars and fats (as opposed to nutrients). Homemade bars are packed with healthy wholesome ingredients.
Check out these two recipes:
Superfood Nut Butter Banana Roll-Ups
You’ll love these little guys, the pinnacle of no-fuss recipes. Simply spread your nut butter onto the tortilla, add a banana and wrap! Then slice it up and you’ve got yourself a cheeky banana roll-up. You can also sprinkle some delicious superfoods into the nut butter.
- 2 tablespoons nut butter (almond, cashew, peanut)
- 1 large banana
- Wholewheat tortilla
- 1 tsp Maca Powder
- 1 tsp Cacao Powder
Nuts & Dried Fruits
Healthy fats, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants are what you’re giving your body with nuts and dried fruits - not too shabby. Some great nuts include cashews, almonds, and macadamias. For dried fruits, try dried goji berries, white mulberries, mango, dates and apricots. These snacks will give you sustained energy and help curb any cravings for sweet, processed foods. Nuts and dried fruit also have a great shelf life in case you’re on a particularly long adventure, but try to avoid sweeteners, artificial flavours and preservatives when buying them.
Cacao Powder
Finally, if you’re making any pit stops on your way it’s worth keeping a pouch of cacao powder handy to add to your coffee. Just 1 tbsp will sort you out with some great nutrients! Plus our 100g pouches are resealable and can fit pretty much anywhere in your car.
