200 Road Trip Snack Ideas: The Ultimate Travel Snack Guide 

  • By: Sabina
  • Date: March 15, 2022
  • Time to read: 7 min.

When you are planning a road trip, snacks are a pillar in the planning. I asked a group of road trip lovers what their favorite snacks are and the results were amazing. 

769 votes for 222 individual snack choices, some of the choices were way out there and some overall favorites emerged. 

The absolute favorite, time honored road trip snacks are:

Beef Jerky

Trail Mix

Twizzlers 

Nuts 

Apples 

These snacks are great because they don’t leave crumbs, keep you full and keep you awake! 

These snacks got almost a quarter of all the votes for snacks!

These snacks also got quite a few votes:

6. Fruit10. Popcorn14. Chips
7. Sunflower Seeds11. Water15. Peanuts
8. String Cheese12. Cheese and Crackers16.Pringles
9. Grapes13. Coffee
The other top competitors
Road Trip Snacks Trail Mix
Dried fruit, nuts and trail mix are SUPER POPULAR snack choices.

Sometimes you just need some snack inspiration, so here is a monster list of snacks for your next trip. 

Once you have shopped all the snacks, time to organize it all for the trip. 

How to Organize Road Trip Snacks

The van can get messy so fast on a road trip, but there are a few tips that work for me to keep the snacks organized and the car a bit cleaner. 

Buy Enough

Plan to have two stocks of road trip snacks, one for the trip there and one for the way back. 

I usually just buy doubles of our snacks and pack one away in a paper grocery bag. I try to keep it out of sight of everyone so it does not get opened before we need it. 

Use a Cooler

A traditional cooler is great for keeping some drinks cold and allow you to pack things like lunch meat and cheese. 

We have this Igloo cooler, it fits in our van well, has wheels and keeps things cold for quite a long time. This is an affiliate link, if you choose to purchase after you click the link I will receive a commission at no cost to you. 

I keep the cooler organized by adding drinks on one side and food on the other, I keep a shoebox sized tupperware in the cooler to help ensure that my lunchmeat and cheese do not get wet. 

This works well for us and makes it easy to grab out exactly what we need when it is time to make sandwiches. 

Road Trip Snacks Gummies
Gummy Lifesavers were voted on several times, but I like the bother brand better.

Plan Your Meals

I know, its vacation and you just want to relax, but having a plan will make it simple to put together meals. 

Planning meals does not mean you cannot eat out or stop at cool local stops, but you can have some options planned. 

You can use this printable road trip meal planner if you want to make sure you have all the bases covered.

I think it is important to plan some fun meals as well, those can be planned and packed or purchased on the road. We have a large family, so sometimes we buy a main like a big box of chicken nuggets, then eat chips on the side to save money. 

You can read a few more large family fast food hacks in the linked post. 

Backseat Trash 

When you pass back snacks to your kids, do not pass back anything that can turn into little pieces. Styrofoam is banned from the backseat in my car. We get the kids milks or juice boxes because it is just going to be picked into tiny pieces. 

Be careful not to pass back any trash unless you have a trash can in the back seat. Consider getting food baskets, like these on Amazon (affiliate link), and line them with a napkin to pass back food. 

We put a basket between the car seats and line it with a grocery bag so that there is a place to put the trash. 

Types of Road Trip Snacks

Remember the golden rule of road trip snacks: 

No matter how old you get, buying snacks for a road trip should look like an unsupervised 9 year old was given $100. 

In my survey 97 votes went to candy, and over 50% of the road trip favorites included gas station snacks. 

Well, you may be a crazed 9 year old snacker, or a high protein low carb, unprocessed, vegan or gluten free road trip snacker and if you are you will find inspiration in the list that came from the survey. 

Here is the oddly specific list of snacks recommended by real road trip fans. (You can find the printable version here.)

Sweet

Fudge Rounds

Lemon Drops

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Dried Mango

Raisins

Cereal Bars

Applesauce Pouches

Purines 

Dried Cherries

Chocolate Covered Almonds

Mint Extra Gum

Jelly Bellys 

Craisins

Golden Oreos

Watermelon Sour Patch Kids

Strawberry Lifesavers

Charleston Chew

Muddy Buddies

Sour Patch Kids

Mounds

Rice Krispy Treats 

Black Licorice

FIreballs

Strawberry Licorice

Swedish Fish

Nilla Wafers

Red Hots

Watermelon

Brownie Brittle 

Reeses PB Cups 

Yogurt Covered Raisins

PB and Fluff Sandwich

Runts

Snickers

Kettle Corn

Teddy Grahams

Pecan Log Roll

Mini Cupcakes

Pop Tarts

Sour Gummy Worms

Starbursts

Cookies

Fig Newtons

Dry Honey Nut Cheerios 

Kind Bars

Tootsie Pops

Strawberries

Mixed Berry Skittles

Mandarins

Nutter Butters

Little Debbie Cakes

Bananas

Chocolate

M&Ms

Grapes

Twizzlers

Apples

Peanut M&Ms 

Salty 

Peanuts

Cherry Turkey Jerky

Pumpkin Seeds

Olives

Cheese Curds

Beef and Cheese Sticks

Lime and Jalapeno Chips 

Sun Chips

Pea Crisps

Costco Korean Pork Jerky

Pepperoni 

Road Trip Charcuterie Box

Roasted Vegetables

Fritos

PB Crackers

Rolled Lunchmeat 

Cheese Whisps

Pimento Cheese with Celery

Avocado 

Sour Cream and Onion Chips

Stuffed Grape Leaves

Rotisserie Chicken 

Summer Sausage

Tuna in Oil

Chicharones

Hot Dogs

Chili Cheese Fritos with Bean Dip 

Pizza 

Fried Chicken 

Smoked Almond

Cool Ranch Doritos 

Pizza Combos

Dot Pretzels

Sesame Sticks

Trail Mix

Cheeto Puffs

PB Filled Pretzels

Cheese Crackers

Cheez Wiz

Pepitas

Chicken N Biscuit Crackers

Corn Nuts

Goldfish

Nacho Cheese Doritos 

PB Cheese Crackers

Hummus and Carrot Chips

Funyuns 

Chex Mix

Slim Jims

Salami

Cheese

Celery and Peanut Butter

Almonds

Pistachios

Cheez-its

Veggies and Ranch Dip

Pringles

Popcorn

Sunflower Seeds

Mixed Nuts

Beef Jerky 

Spicey

Firecrackers (Sardines in Oil with Crushed Red Pepper)

Flaming Hot Cheetos

Lime and Jalapeno Chips 

Wasabi Peas 

Takis 

Hot Tamales 

Hot and Spicy Pork Rinds 

Drinks

Water

Coffee

Dr. Pepper

Red Bull

Bang Energy

Monster Energy

Iced Tea

Coke

Zevia 

Diet Coke

Iced Coffee

Body Armor

Diet Sprite

Mt Dew

Green Tea

Gatorade

Sparkling Water

Cherry Coke

Peace Tea

Low Carb

Firecrackers (Sardines in oil with red pepper flakes)

Cherry Turkey Jerky 

Mint Extra Gum

Carrot Chips

Cheese Curds 

Beef and Cheese Sticks 

Pepperoni 

Iced Coffee

Road Trip Charcuterie

Roasted Veg

Rolled Lunchmeat and Cheese

Chicharones 

Cheese Whisps

Pimento Cheese with Celery

Avocado with Everything Seasoning

Rotisserie Chicken 

Pecans

Summer Sausage

Breakfast Sausage

Tuna in Oil

Hot Dogs

Low Carb Protein Shake

Smoked Almonds

Boiled Peanuts

Pork Rinds

Bell Pepper Strips

Macadamia Nuts

Pepitas 

Peanuts

Cucumbers

Beef Sticks

Salami

Boiled Eggs

Pistachios

Cashews

String Cheese

Sunflower Seeds

Beef Jerky 

Homemade

Rice Krispy Treats

Pimento Cheese

Stuffed Grape Leaves

Granola

Muddy Buddies

Banana Bread

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chex Mix

Trail Mix

Pumpkin Bread

Fresh

Berries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Mixed Berries 

Vegetables

Carrots

Celery

Olives

Bell Pepper

Snap Peas

Avocado

Fruit

Bananas

Apples

Mandarin 

Grapes 

Watermelon

Dried Fruit

Dried Mango 

Dried Apples 

Purines

Raisins 

Dried Cherries

Craisins 

On the Road

Pecan Roll

Buc Ee’s Nuggets

McDonald’s Sausage Egg and Cheese

Local Pizza

Local Jerky 

BucEe’s 

Golden Ribs

Kolache 

Rotisserie Chicken 

Candy

Lemon Drops

Fruit Snacks

Chocolate Covered Almonds

Mint Extra Gum

Jelly Belly

Sour Candy

Watermelon Sour Patch Kids

Strawberry Lifesavers

Charleston Chew

Sour Punch

Mounds

Sour Gummy Worms

Starbursts

Gummy Worms

Tootsie Pops

Gummy Bears

Rum Butter Life Savers

Mixed Berry Skittles

Black Licorice

M&Ms 

Twizzlers

Sour Patch Kids 

Peanut M&Ms

Fireballs

Strawberry Licorice

Swedish Fish

Red Hots

Reeses Cups

Runts

Snickers

Sour Patch Kids

Protein 

Rolled Lunchmeat and Cheese

Cheese Whisps

Pimento Cheese and Celery

Rotisserie Chicken 

Pecands

Sausage

Tuna in Oil

Meat and Cheese with Crackers

Slim Jims

Protein Bars

String Cheese

Trail Mix

Protein Shakes

Beef Jerky

Boiled Eggs

Bell Pepper Strips and Hummus

Kind Bars

Cheese Curds

Almond Butter

Pepperoni 

Yogurt

Pepitas

Crunchy

Kind Bars

Lay’s Honey BBQ Chips

Dots Pretzels

Trail Mix Bars

Fritos

Carrot Chips

Lime Jalapeno Chips

Sun Chips

Pea Crisps

Rice Krispy Treats

Pizza Combos

Sesame Sticks

Pretzel Rods

Chicken N Biscuit Crackers

Crackers

Cheeto Puffs

Takis

Dry Cereal 

Honey Nut Cheerios

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Shredded Wheat

Life

Corn Nuts

Baby Carrots

Doritos

Funyuns

Chex Mix

Flamin Hot Fritos

Chocolate Covered Almonds

Brownie Brittle

No Crumbs

Twizzlers

Beef Jerky

Apples

String Cheese

Boiled Eggs

Almonds

Beef Sticks

Bell Pepper Strips

Pepitas

Baby Carrots

Mandarins

Fruit Leather

Dried Apples

Shelf Stable (No Cooler)

Rice Krispies

Candy

Avocado

Banana Bread

Granola

Nuts

Protein Shakes (powder)

Tuna Snack Packs

Smoked Almonds

Cupcakes

Boiled Peanuts

Wasabi Peas

Fruit Leather

Sardines

Tuna in Oil 

Pumpkin Seeds

Applesauce Pouches

Purines

Dried Cherries

Lay’s Honey BBQ Chips

Strawberry Lifesavers

Pizza Combos

Pretzels

Pop Tarts

Sour Gummy Worms

Cookies

Bugles

Corn Nuts

Peanut Butter

Bread

Beef Sticks

Protein Bars

M&Ms

Cheez-its

Pringles

Twizzlers

Beef Jerky 

Trail Mix

Toddler Snacks

Goldfish

Snap Peas

PB Crackers

Nilla wafers

Watermelon

Avocado

Banana Bread

Teddy Grahams

Yogurt Covered Raisins 

Raisins

Chips

Fruit Leather

Dried Apples

Dried Mango

M&Ms (Or Peanut)

Raspberries

Cereal Bars

Applesauce Pouches

Dried Cherries

Carrot Chips

Olives

Bagels

Sandwiches

Rolled Lunch Meat and Cheese

Pretzels

Cookies

Bell Pepper Strips

Fig Newtons

Bananas

Cheese

Chocolate Chips

Boiled Eggs

Cheez-its

Pringles

String Cheese

Apple Slices

Orange Slices

Mandarins

Grapes (Cut in Half) 

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