A road trip to your favourite holiday destination can be the ideal way to spend the Easter weekend.
However, if you are travelling with children, a long trip can be a stressful excursion. There is a way to beat travelling stress, and it starts with road trip snacks.
Blue Ribbon has supplied the following hacks to make time fly while travelling this weekend.
1. Skip chips
While chips are convenient, it results in greasy fingers and crumbs. It is also expensive when buying them from road-side garage shops.
Rather, opt for making a big batch of popcorn at home and pack it into smaller bags for each of the children.
It’s also cheaper, healthier and takes longer to eat, so the kids will be entertained for longer.
Dry cereal (nothing sugar coated) packed into small plastic packets is also perfect for kids to munch on, especially if you’re travelling in the early hours of the morning.
2. Sip smart
Don’t let children sip on fizzy cooldrink during a long road trip. It will spike their blood sugar, which means fidgety, irritable behaviour when their blood sugar eventually drops.
Rather, make your own juice or flavoured water, then freeze in juice bottles to take with you along the way. The ice cold bottles are an added bonus for keeping your other snacks cool.
If the tops of your bottles are big enough, pack straws for your kids to drink through to avoid spillage.
3. Child friendly fruit
Pack fruits that are low-maintenance, non-drippy and easy to transport. Top picks are apples, bananas and grapes.
4. Strong sarmie game
Avoid fast-food outlets at garages over the long weekend, as you will stand in queues, then end up with a car-load of greasy packets and a distinctive brown tomato-sauce-and-mustard stain on your car seat.
Rather make sandwiches the night before, or the morning of your trip, and wrap in cling film to prevent them going soggy.
Choose hardy fillings that won’t get squashed on a long drive, such as smoked chicken, cucumber, sliced cheese and salami.
Once you’ve prepared the sandwiches, cut them into quarters before wrapping in cling film. When you’re on the open road, give a quarter to each child at a time, rather than a whole sandwich, to avoid waste and mess.
5. Common scents
A long car trip is a bit like community living; what’s good for the whole car is good for the individual.
So be community-minded, and don’t pack smelly foods that will leave the car reeking. Regular car culprits are boiled eggs and anything that contains onion, garlic or fish.
You also don’t want your car smelling bad if there is a spill, so avoid packing milk-based drinks or snacks.
6. Sweet stuff
No matter how healthy the eating habits of your family, after a few hours of travelling, the kids will start nagging for something sweet. So, be prepared.
A large chocolate bar in a hot car is never a good idea, as children hardly ever finish what they open, so you’ll have smudgy hands for hours.
Give them something that can be portioned, and won’t melt, such as marshmallows and chocolate covered raisins.
A peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich is also a perfect sweet treat for a long road trip – it will fill kids up and does not pack too much sugar.
