12 // Healthy Travel Snack Ideas for Kids
Healthy Travel Snack Ideas for Kids
Easy, safe, portable, packaged (and some perishable!) snack ideas plus tips every snack coordinator needs to know before your family’s next trip!
Whether you have already had spring break (like us here in Texas) or are getting packed up and ready to go, this episode is a must listen!
You will hear about the top SIX things to consider when it comes to safe, easy, and healthy snacking for kids on vacation, plus how to plan healthy travel snacks that align with:
Your Child's Safety (and where snacks are offered)
Your Structure/Daily Routines While on Vacation (and when snacks are offered)
Non-Perishable and Perishable Go-To Snack Ideas (and what snacks to offer)
Your Feeding Strategy (including who else is offering snacks when other friends or family is travelling with you and may have a different approach to snacking than you and your family)
Having a Limited Snack Supply (and the difference between letting your child decide if/whether and how much to eat when there are only so many snacks packed)
Food Allergies & Sensitivities (your own child's and those of children around you)
Consistent with the feeding roles I talk about each week, you will walk away from listening with a clear understanding of how each of these considerations impacts the next and how together, these play a big part in helping your family have a well-fueled and fun-filled trip… wherever you might be off to!
Listen to this episode of The Veggies & Virtue Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription
Please note this a raw transcription. If something doesn’t read correctly, toggle to that timestamp in the show so that you can listen in on what was actually being said!
[00:00:00] Hey, happy spring. I am excited to be tuning in with you today because while I'm back from Disney myself, and I shared some tips on how to feed your child at a restaurant, whether it be on vacation or just for like a one night out kind of thing. In the episode that I had recorded before I left now I'm back.
[00:00:20] And I keep hearing from everyone how early our spring break here in Texas is. And so something I wanted to go ahead and talk on today is some healthy travel snacks. And that's because one, I just walked through this with my own kids at Disney world of all places, and also had some strategies that I thought might be helpful for you.
[00:00:39] So whether you are leaving for spring break soon, or just need some good snack ideas and strategies in your feeding tool belt today's episode is going to help you. To do just that.
[00:00:54] Hey mama, I'm Ashley, and welcome to the veggies. And for two podcast in this podcast, you will find [00:01:00] simple menu ideas, kitchen, organizational systems spelled out from on life and feeding tips and tricks that are both evidence-based and great. I believe that you can find flexibility when it comes to feeding your family so that you can feel calm, capable, and connected in the kitchen as a registered dietician and Christian mom of three myself, and want you to break free from the mealtime battles and to feel equipped while feeding your kids all day long, pull up a stool at my kitchen counter.
[00:01:23] And let me pour you a cup of coffee and say a quick prayer for you. It's time to chat about the mealtime messes moments and ministry of motherhood.
[00:01:34] So I'm often asked about the snacks that I give my kids. And while there's a lot of snacks, I do offer my kids that they do not eat specifically when we're on vacation or we're traveling. And I really need to have things on hand that aren't going to go to waste and. Wasting space, even in our backpacks or our travel bags and things like that.
[00:01:56] I wanted to review what I would call six considerations of [00:02:00] being the snack coordinator, because just like if you're the cruise coordinator of your family trip and likely the one who made sure everyone packed what they needed and got where they needed in time and ahead of time, you know, with all the crazy travel delays and things like that.
[00:02:14] I know that we also need to be really prepared and proactive about this. Situation that we're going to have while we're on a trip. And so I want to walk you through what the six main considerations that I think are when it comes to snack time. And within each of the six of these, I'm going to break it down into kind of what I would say.
[00:02:31] I see as the main themes within each to kind of simplify the way that you think through them. So, first and foremost, for all of us parents, we obviously want to ensure that our kids are safe, particularly with. Vacation and the place that our child may be eating is different than their normal. That just means there's a higher propensity for fewer safeguards to be in place.
[00:02:53] They may not be sitting in their normal chair that you may not have the average visibility on them that you kind of already know in your own [00:03:00] home. And you're surrounded caregiver situation can be a little less predictable or, you know, spontaneous. And so we just want to ensure that our kids are. Safe as they snack.
[00:03:10] So I want you to think about this in the context of visibility and mobility. When it comes to visibility, we want to think about, you know, are we on a car trip? Is our child in the car seat? Are we the one driving? Are we the one who's kind of managing the snack time from the front driver's seat? Do we have visibility on it on the child while they're eating?
[00:03:29] Are they rear facing? If you're not on a car trip that maybe say you're somewhere else, you know, if you're at a cabin or a rental property or a hotel or. Do you have eyes on your child while they're snacking, or is someone else in charge of supervising this knack and someone else has visibility. You also want to think about, you know, are you pushing them around in the stroller or are they, you know, at the beach or they, you know, all the different places that you might be vacationing, you want to think, do you see your child while they're snacking?
[00:03:56] And really this comes down to, so we know if [00:04:00] anything did happen with their safety, would we see it and catch it? Additionally, we want to think about the mobility. Is there a child's seated, like I give the example of in a car seat or are they up and running about, are they sitting on an airplane? Are they sitting on a beach towel at the beach?
[00:04:17] Are they on a park bench while camping, you know, or are they running about doing other things and likely to be less focused on the actual active eating, because instead they're moving about and doing things. And the reason I want us to think about that, Outside of the obvious of our kids' safety is because it can impact the kind of snack decisions that you have.
[00:04:36] Because when we think of the kind of snacks that we should be offering a kid who has low visibility, meaning that we can't really see them, or we're not monitoring or watching them while they eat and high mobility, meaning they're moving about, and they're not seated in one specific place or position, or, you know, assuming a safer posture while they're eating or something like that.
[00:04:56] We need to be tailoring our snack choices. [00:05:00] To make sure that they have the added. Consideration of being a little bit safer choices. So some of those ones that are, you know, more crunchy meltable options or something, that's, you know, a pouch or a milk or something that is going to offer a very minimal risk.
[00:05:16] If you are choosing to offer a snack in a situation like that. I do not say that that's ideal, but I know that sometimes particularly on vacation when things are a little more spontaneous and free, that's just, what's real sometimes. So we want to adjust the snacks that we're offering to make sure that our child's safety is still insured.
[00:05:35] However, if we have high visibility, we can see our child. We know that, you know, we're observing them as they eat their snacks so we can ensure their safety and they have really low mobility. So they are seated. They're not moving about really the only task that they're focused on is. Still an eating.
[00:05:51] Then we can be a little bit more liberal with the snack options that we offer, because we know that outside of a food, being a choking hazard, there's very little risk for [00:06:00] them choking. So that's something I want you to really consider as we think about the snacks while traveling as we move into the second consideration of routine and schedules and time slots, and kind of that when feeding is going to happen, I want you to think about it in the categories of, do you need this snack to be more filling?
[00:06:19] Or is it more for fun? And I do think there's a place for fun, you know, kind of spontaneous snacks that maybe aren't your staples at home, particularly when you're on vacation and you're getting to enjoy just a lot of these moments and memories that includes some of these fun foods that you don't have at home all the time.
[00:06:36] And obviously all snacks can be fun, but when we're thinking about the purpose of a snack, we need to think about, is this a food that I am or a feeding opportunity? Food that I'm offering. Does it need to be more filling? Is my goal here to help bridge the gap between one meal and the next to help regulate my child's blood sugar and help them to [00:07:00] regulate so that they can make it from, let's say, breakfast to lunch or lunch to dinner.
[00:07:04] And if so, that again will impact the type, the type of snacks that you're offering for that snack to be more filling and. I will talk about a little bit more of the details of what kinds of foods those are in the next consideration, but for the purpose of this consideration of when we're offering foods, we also want to think about, is this a food that I don't necessarily need to be very filling?
[00:07:26] You know, this is kind of the hour before you eat, or the hour after you just had a meal, you're likely not really needing to fill a place in your child's belly. Instead, this might be, you know, the Popsicle man's at the park. You guys just finished a picnic an hour ago, but on the way. You're going to stop and get a, you know, an ice cream cone or a Popsicle, or this might be just for fun.
[00:07:50] You are going to do something and you get popcorn at Disney or, you know, any capacity of like that. It might be, you know, a snack, like they're doing some [00:08:00] Moore's at night. This is kind of the bedtime snack. This is not something that you were offering your child to really be. Super satiating filling spec.
[00:08:08] This is one, that's just part of more of your routine, because it's a part of the fun that you're choosing to have while you're on vacation. So you can kind of think through the types of snacks that you're offering and give yourself the freedom and the flexibility to decide. Do I need this to be more filling?
[00:08:22] Do I need to kind of ramp up the protein, the fat and the fiber that I'm offering? Or is this a snack that's really just intended to be more of a fun part of our. And I don't really need this to satisfy my child as long, because I know we either just ate or we'll have another eating opportunity again soon.
[00:08:39] So when we talk about what we're offering, being the third consideration and the types of actual foods, I mentioned like the protein, the fat and the fiber. And I want to get into that because I think if we look at the main categories that we could be offering our child in two main categories, when it comes to snack foods, We're thinking about the non-perishable or the more like packaged foods [00:09:00] and then the perishable, or more kind of like picnic style foods that require, you know, some sort of cooler or some sort of way of keeping them chilled while you're traveling.
[00:09:09] And so I want us to think about what types of things we could offer here and what kind of combinations may be helpful to either provide a filling snack or what options may give us a little less filling, but still a really nourishing. So when we're looking at the non-perishable or the package options, these are obviously the tend to be the easiest because they don't require any sort of refrigeration.
[00:09:32] You can either pack big boxes of it for the whole family to share and enjoy. You might just want to bring some added bags or cups and things like that. So you can dish them out appropriately, but that can be a really cost-effective option for families. If you're all going to be sharing and snacking from the same items, or you can buy them more individually packaged ones so that, you know, each child kind of has.
[00:09:52] Snacks and, you know, maybe some in their backpack or kind of knows where their ration for either that given travel day or, you know, trip and [00:10:00] things like that. So some of the options that my family loves and that we often are including in our kind of non pet perishable snack options are things like whole grain crackers, dry whole grain cereal.
[00:10:11] Oftentimes we'll mix this with trail mix. Also the kids really like that, or sometimes they just will have dry cereal. And I'm like a Nalco box. So one of those non-perishable milk boxes that shelf stable, you can actually freeze those. And we'll get into that in the next section with the perishable ideas, but they function great as an ice pack, if you freeze it and then they'll fall out, there'll be chilled milk, but kids it's safe to drink at room temperature.
[00:10:37] So sometimes we'll do that because it's something we can do as an easy breakfast or snack or, you know, kind of any time option. Additionally, sometimes we'll pack things like tortilla chips. Guacamole cups, which obviously the guacamole cups would be more perishable, but if it's not going to get smashed in the cooler or in, you know, the snack bag to pack the tortilla chips can be a good one [00:11:00] and things like pea crisps, and they have them at trader Joe's harvest snap offers them at all grocers and like Costco and stuff like that.
[00:11:07] That's an option. That's going to have more protein and fiber than say like a veggie straw, but it still kind of gives that same. Texture and like crunchy snack food feeling. And it's a great option that you could pair if you were packing like a cooler with like some hummus or something like.
[00:11:26] Additionally things like Graham crackers, or if you pack a jar of peanut butter, almond butter or something like that, that can be a great option to just, you know, dip or spread the Graham crackers and some nut butter. If you need it to be more filling and you need some of that added protein fat.
[00:11:41] Otherwise, if it's just kind of like a fun option, the Graham crackers, or obviously a Graham cracker can also go the direction of like a similar or something like that. But those tend to be a fun, versatile food. You can also offer them with like a yogurt cup. If you were going to be packing a CU things like freeze, dried fruit are great.
[00:11:57] Especially if you're not packing a cooler [00:12:00] and bringing fruit can be a little bit more challenging. There are some fruits like apple sauce or apples, or, you know, some of those little pre-packaged fruit cups that can be great options for getting some of your friends. But I really like freeze dried fruit because again, it can be either added to a trail mix if that's something that you want to make while you're traveling.
[00:12:18] But it's also something that you're not having to worry about being a choking risk and things like that. And kind of piggybacking off of that with. With fruit options or dried fruit, dried mangoes, dried apricots, dried pineapple, dried cherries. There's so many great dried fruit options that have either low to no added sugar.
[00:12:37] And those can be great, really great non-perishable options as well. And then also if your family likes things like jerky, there's some more natural versions of that that can offer some really great protein. If you're needing it to be a more filling snack, you can pair it with something else. And the things like fruit and nut bars, those are a staple that we always have.
[00:12:56] Particularly, if you're needing to be cautious of choking [00:13:00] risk and for in kids under four, not wanting to give them like whole nuts or trail mix options like that, it gives you kind of that fruit and that combo, but you could do something like a Lara bar. You could make them in advance if you wanted to, and then bring them with you.
[00:13:12] Or you could just buy some pre-packaged so that you had them ready to go. And that gives again a little bit more filling of a snack option for you. When it comes to perishable snack ideas. I mentioned some things like hummus cups, yogurt cups, guacamole cups, those milk boxes can kind of serve the dual purpose of being an ice pack.
[00:13:32] You can also do things like yogurt tubes and freeze them. And then they'll fight. If you are packing more of like a picnic or something you might want to be. Packing some of the elements that you want, because this could be like a heartier snack or it could serve as like a lunch. We want to think about snacks being mini meals.
[00:13:48] It doesn't have to just be, you know, a bag of goldfish crackers as a snack or something really small. But sometimes particularly when we're traveling, we know that we need to have more many meals. It's like a travel day [00:14:00] or we're just not going to necessarily sit down and have as robust of a meal at a certain place.
[00:14:04] Things like cheese sticks, cheese rounds. Sometimes we will, you know, under the element of packing larger options for the whole family to share, sometimes we'll pack like a loaf of bread, the jar of peanut butter that I mentioned. Or something like asleep of bagels and some cream cheese, if we can, and we have a cooler where it's not going to get all smashed up, sometimes I will pack things like avocado.
[00:14:22] Cause that's just a really easy one that my kids always like on toast or a bagel you could pack deli, meat, things like that. And also you might want to consider packing either a Tupperware Ziploc, some of the containers that you might be putting these options. And that might also include something like a bento box.
[00:14:38] If you know that you want to go ahead and create a little bit more filling of snacks for your kids, then you can go ahead and kind of spread out a few different options in a bento box. Really easy to wash out, even in a hotel room. We'll do this just so I know that I can give my kids a little bit more filling of snacks for the day to kind of pick.
[00:14:57] Moving onto the next consideration. That [00:15:00] kind of includes the first through that we've talked about being like the safety, the schedule, and then also the options of what you're offering really plays into the strategy. When we think of our feeding approach, we're thinking about our job as the parents and as the nutritional gatekeepers being.
[00:15:15] What when and where, so the, what we obviously just discussed with the perishables and non-perishables the win being more, it's kind of the structure and the time spots of your vacation days, and then the safety more pertaining to the where. So that really is all, those are all things that fall under our role and our responsibility in the feeding relationship.
[00:15:33] But with this next consideration, I want us to think about our strategy because when we're on vacation, Often the roles are shifted a little bit. We might either be traveling with other friends or family members. We might be dividing up the responsibilities a little bit different with our own spouse than maybe we do on the day-to-day basis at home.
[00:15:50] And so we really want to be upfront with those that we're traveling with on kind of what is our strategy on how we're going to approach meals and snacks while we're gone, because chances are, if you're traveling with [00:16:00] people outside of your family, They're going to feed their kids or they might feed your kids differently than you do.
[00:16:05] And so I really encourage you to discuss this and advance with these people, hopefully, and ideally away from your children so that you guys can come up with a joint strategy that you feel good about before you're on a trip. And that way you just have that much. Flexibility and freedom to really enjoy your trip and not to be stressing about, oh my gosh, this is how they're having my kids snack, or they're allowing this, and that's not something uncomfortable with go ahead and preemptively, especially if this is a family or friends that you know, and you kind of know how they approach feeding either their kids or your kids.
[00:16:36] Go ahead and try and kind of think through the first. Considerations that we talked about and then see how you want to approach those things and then go to them and ask them kind of how they see approaching those things. So that together you guys can come up with a strategy that makes for a great trip for everyone.
[00:16:52] Additionally, we want to think of the consideration of supply. This is the fifth consideration that I wanted to share, and that's because our [00:17:00] supply, when we're traveling can be different than say when we're at home and we're in more of a grocery routine and we have a pantry. You know, backup supply of items that are already in the fridge and things like that.
[00:17:11] And so when it comes to, if, whether and how much your child is eating, being up to them, it can be a little tricky when we have more limited supply while traveling. So you want to think about it under the consideration of how much of the item do you have and how much access do you have to replenish it if you need?
[00:17:29] So if it's a breakfast buffet that the hotel offers for free every month, The, if, whether and how much your child eats is really up to them, because it doesn't really impact your supply and how. Of a given item. You have, conversely, if you brought a box of fruit and nut bars for your kids and a child forgoes that breakfast buffet at the hotel, and then when you're out and about during the day, they're now very hungry because they chose not to eat and they want to eat three of the bars, three of the six bars, we'll say that you brought for the week, [00:18:00] that may not be something that you have the supply for.
[00:18:02] So you want to kind of think through either, how are you going to kind of ration what you have so that, you know, you have enough to get through your vacation. Or do you have access where you can kind of replenish partway through? You can order groceries, you can stop somewhere and restock either when you get gas or if, you know, there's a Walmart or target in route or something like that, or it might be one where we're going to eat what we have the first half of the week.
[00:18:24] And because we're out traveling world, you know, just buy more of the snacks once we kind of run out, your family can think through how you want to think through, or you know, how you want to address that. But it might be helpful to go ahead and can some aspects that pertain to supply ahead of. The last consideration I want us to talk about is that of allergies and food sensitivities.
[00:18:45] And really when you look at all six of these considerations being the safety and the structure and the types of foods with the non-perishables and perishables that your supply that you're stocking and then your strategy and the supply, they really all feed one into the next. So we see how [00:19:00] safety is impacted and reinforced by the time slots or the schedule of kind of where you're eating.
[00:19:07] Those things impact what you're eating. These three things together, impact your strategy for feeding and the supply impacts. But what we see here with allergies and sensitive, Really reinforces back to safety, being that first consideration we talked about. And that's because we can look at this in two lights, we can either think about it.
[00:19:25] If your child has allergies or sensitivities, obviously this is something that you are aware of needing to be prepared for when it comes to traveling with your child, because you know that you need to bring safe snacks for them that meet their allergy or intolerance needs that you have plenty of them, particularly if you're going somewhere where you maybe don't know what type of accessibility.
[00:19:45] Two options that meet your child's dietary needs. So you particularly will really need to make sure that you have ample supply of snacks for your child, because there may not be an opportunity to get more. And there may also not be an opportunity for you to buy items that are safe for [00:20:00] them at the more public locations or the snack shops or the restaurants or things like that.
[00:20:04] And so this is of course, a consideration that families that. Live with food allergies or food intolerances, we'll have to learn how to deal with. But additionally, it's something that I want us to think about is the consideration of how can we be considerate of others, kids, other people's kids, because maybe our kids don't have allergies or sensitivities, or maybe they do.
[00:20:23] And it. Made us more compassionate to the lifestyle that these families live. But we also want to think about when we're feeding our kids, how can we be more considerate of the kids that maybe do have allergies and intolerances? Just like at our kids' school oftentime there's safe zones and safe spaces are safe policies and procedures in place to help make sure that that safety element is reinforced for all the kids in our children's class or in our children's school.
[00:20:49] And so when it comes to snacking on vacation, we want to think about some of the things that may have. Maybe not our own child, but some of the other kids around them. So an example of this would be like, when we were at Disney, [00:21:00] my son can't have dairy and gluten, but that means we rely really heavily on nuts with him.
[00:21:06] And so I knew that, you know, fruit and nut bars were going to be a staple for us. But I also know that that could be a life-threatening allergy for another kid. Thankfully, my son's intolerances are not life-threatening and they're not even true allergies. They're just intolerant. But knowing that we would be offering more nut-based products to him, I wanted to be considered of how many things he was going to be touching at.
[00:21:27] And around the theme park that, you know, could put another child safety at risk. So being considerate of the allergies of other kids, making sure that when my child is seated again, it reinforces that visibility. It limits his mobility. When I say, you know, snacks are happening in the stroller, you need to sit here for your snack before we get up.
[00:21:45] And we're going to wipe down our hands and face, and that just helps create another safe. To, you know, re like reinforce my own child's safety, because I'm improving that visibility. I'm limiting his mobility, but I'm also redirecting [00:22:00] to and reinforcing that first consideration of safety for him and for other kids, because there's less likelihood that he's going to go and, you know, cross-contaminate something with his hands having just touched nuts.
[00:22:12] So I think that that can be a really important thing for us to think about whether we're just going to the playground or a park nearby. Just kind of a day date or whether we're going away to a theme park for a week and, you know, touching all the things everywhere. Those can all be really helpful considerations.
[00:22:27] I think. So this was a little bit longer episode. I tried to get through it as consolidated as I could, but I know that whether you're traveling for spring break or preparing for someone or travel or just wanting some new snack strategy, And you were feeding toolbelt that some of these considerations might be helpful for you as you plan healthy snacks for your family.
[00:22:49] If you feel like you need some more healthy snack ideas, and that's not something that you already have in your arsenal, I would love to invite you to use the coupon code podcast, P O D C a [00:23:00] S T on my site. And you can get a discount on the vegetation for two combination cards. The Senate. This is a really easy, portable PDF that you can have on your phone.
[00:23:09] You can take with you to target when you're shopping in advance for snacks or the grocery store. And while you're about to go on vacation or one that you could send to grandma or grandpa or other friends to, you know, if they're wondering what kind of snacks that they need to have on hand for your kids when you guys come and visit.
[00:23:25] So it's a really great option. It's one that's highly visual so that you can look through it with your kids, talk through it and also shares on each card. It chairs options for how you can kind of boost the nutrition. So, you know, talking about those filling snacks versus the fun snacks, there's a lot of fun ideas, but there's.
[00:23:42] A lot of filling ways to increase the fill factor of these snacks so that, you know, it'll satisfy your child for a little bit longer. So if that's something that would be helpful for you, make sure that you use the discount code podcast and you can get a discount on my PDF of the [00:24:00] combination card snack deck.
[00:24:01] So that is all for now. I hope and pray that you have the best trip, whether everything goes according to plan or nothing goes according to plan. I hope that planning, at least your. Your approach to snack times will bring you a little bit more ease and a little bit less mental energy in this area so that you can focus on just enjoying that time with your kids and your family.
[00:24:24] And getting out of the routine a little bit to just embrace the life that God's given you. So have a great trip friends and I will chat with you soon.
[00:24:35] It has been a joy having you on podcast today, and if you've enjoyed it as well, I have a quick favor. Do you mind hopping over to apple podcasts and leaving me a written review. This will only take you a hot second, but it truly blesses me every time I get to read one of you right over there. And it allows me to bless others through this podcast and the episodes to come.
[00:24:55] The other thing that you can do is to take a screenshot of this episode and tag me over on Instagram at [00:25:00] veggies and virtue, I would love to see what else. That you're taking from this episode and also to support your family in the journey moving forward until next time. Thanks for coming over to chat at my kitchen counter.
[00:25:11] Remember that you will always have a seat and a snack waiting for you here. .
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