Best Road Trip Food List 2023: Eat Healthy While Traveling

A woman looking at a paper map out a car window

Road tripping, whether on solo or as a family road trip, is one of the most frequent and fun ways to venture out and visit new places. Not only is it a flexible, comfortable, and economical transportation alternative, but it also offers the traveller a great deal of scenery to contemplate and enjoy.

However, when you travel for many hours, the routine of meals and schedules is broken. We will suggest the best road trip foods to take with you on your trip, so you can also avoid any extra costs during road trips in restaurants. Eating healthy won’t be a problem if you plan ahead for your healthy snacks!

This post is part of our Family Road Trip Series

9 Road Trip Food Items to Eat Well on Your Road

Before giving you suggestions on what to eat, we will tell you first what you should not eat during your long road trip. To avoid drowsiness, it is preferable to avoid heavy or greasy meals, such as fast food or potato chips, and eat lighter meals to recover, like fresh fruit and fresh vegetables.

You can indeed make some stops in establishments such as gas stations, inns, and roadside restaurants during a rest stop, as it represents a good chance to taste some local cuisine; but it’s much more practical to prepare some healthy road trip snacks that are easy to carry in a Tupper and easy to eat. Also, by making your own food, you know exactly what you are eating. 

Road Trip Breakfast Ideas

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but an epic road trip doesn’t always start with waking up early to have breakfast, so you have to eat on the go. Here are some good ideas:

Overnight Oats

You can add protein powder, nut butter, and fruits. This is the complete mix to have a delicious, super healthy breakfast ready in the fridge. Also, there are expert recommendations of supplements you can add to make this a perfect breakfast.

Banana Sandwich With Honey And Cream Cheese

Road trip sandwiches are a great choice for breakfast. This option has a lot of protein, carbs, and fats, which is exactly what you need to start your day. 

You can also have peanut butter sandwiches. They provide a lot of energy because of their calorie and healthy fats content and being packed with nutrients. PB has Vitamin E, B6, B3, and copper.

Hard Boiled Eggs With String Cheese

Eggs are at the top of the list of healthy foods. They provide the best quality protein (as it’s the only one with all the amino acids), healthy fats, and vitamins like B2 and B12. String cheese has almost 7gr of protein per stick, so it’s a great addition to your eggs! You can add some fresh fruit too.

Road Trip Lunch Ideas

A long road trip will require multiple meals. Hence the importance of make-ahead meals! These lunch ideas will keep you energized and satiated until it’s time for a snack or dinner.

Tuna Salad 

Tuna is one of the best foods for travelling. It’s easy to pack, high in protein, high in Omega 3, low in fat, and can also help you get a better tan. Another benefit of Omega 3 is that it protects the skin from the sun’s harmful rays. Mix some tuna with fresh vegetables, and you will have a very balanced lunch!

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Grilled Chicken Meals

You can make a salad of lettuce, tomato, nuts, fresh herbs, and grilled chicken breast. If you don’t have much time, you can buy grilled chicken in a store; it is a good option for not cooking. Put it on a croissant and add tomato, alfalfa, and avocado for satiety and healthy fats.

Pasta Salad

Pasta is a food with many properties. It contains proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and sugar. In addition to vitamins of group B and K. Another of its advantages is that it can be elaborated in different ways. You can add cheese, cherry tomatoes, olives, and grilled chicken or tuna to your pasta salad. It is easy to pack!

a healthy pasta salad road trip snack box meal

Best Road Trip Snacks

Road trip snacks are also a must. If you have a sweet tooth, you have great snack options that are also healthy. 

Coconut And Veggie Chips

Veggie chips are a wonderful snack, as long as they are homemade. The list of benefits of this delicious snack is long, starting with its low caloric intake. The amount of calories you eat is determined by the vegetables you use.

For example, beets, carrots, or apples are higher in calories than zucchini or radish, so chips of these vegetables will also provide more calories, although the difference is minimal. Coconut is a highly nutritious food packed with minerals and other properties. You can have baked coconut chips as a road trip snack. 

Sugar-Free Granola 

Granola bars are generally composed of rolled oats, walnuts or almonds, honey, and dried fruits, so they are excellent energy boosters.  Among their many benefits are preventing anaemia, increasing energy (just what you need for a trip), and providing vitamins, minerals, and fibre. You can add some almond butter to your bar, too.

Make sure to also take your vitamin E gummies with you and other vitamins you might need to keep yourself healthy and energized on the road.

Trail Mix 

Nuts have scientifically proven benefits in disease prevention. Health Canal resources have reported the wide range of benefits they provide.

They are recommended in the Mediterranean nutritional pyramid, and their properties make them foods with protective action and give important amounts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and healthy fats. You can add some dark chocolate chips to your mix, as dark chocolate has its own set of benefits too.

Summing it Up

Road tripping doesn’t have to mean giving up healthy food and filling up on junk food; you just have to plan ahead. Don’t forget about frozen water bottles and non-food essentials like coolers, containers, reusable cutlery, and napkins. Enjoy your trip!

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mother and daughter having a snack in the back of the car - Healthy Road Trip Meal Ideas
A lunch box with grilled chicken and salad - Healthy Meal Ideas for Your Road Trip

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