How to eat healthy on a road trip

We all know that good nutrition helps us live happier, healthier, and longer lives. But did you know eating well can even help us be a better driver? Especially on lengthy car trips.

The benefits of healthy food on a long drive

Eating healthy when you’re on road trip means maintaining your mental alertness, lowering your fatigue, and making sure you respond quickly to emergencies on the road.

Fatty and sugary foods contribute heavily to fatigue but unfortunately, that’s what most of us reach for during a long drive. Sometimes it’s all that is available, and sometimes we imagine a sugar kick will keep us awake. However, the better options are fruit, veggies, proteins and fibre and of course, lots of water!

Food is fuel for our bodies and the healthier we can be as drivers, the better time we’ll all have on the roads. Let's take a look at some tips on how to pack food for a road trip and some more healthy road trip food ideas and snacks to keep the whole crew satisfied on the journey.

Be prepared

Having access to healthy food on a road trip is not always a given, so doing some prep work before you head out the door will make life easier. And it will save you money on less nutritional servo snacks.

Keep things fresh and crunchy with snacks like:

• Celery
• Nuts
• Carrot sticks
• Frozen grapes
• Other cut up fruits and veggies
• Cheese sticks
• Grilled chicken strips

Travelling with kids

Variety is your friend. Kids love choice so packing lots of crunchy, sweet and savoury snackable healthy options is a sure-fire way to keep them happy when on the road for hours.

Pack a “snacklebox” (a compartmentalised tray with a secure lid!) with some of the foods listed and a water bottle so that things are easy for little hands to grab. But be prepared for mess either way! A messy car is a rite of the road trip.

Finding healthy food on the road

As well as pre-planning your snacks, it’s good to pre-plan your stops. Try to stop in towns at local cafes. You’ll get better food than a servo and you’ll be supporting the local economy. Keep an eye out for roadside stalls as they are usually selling fresh fruit straight from the farmers - another satisfying way to pick up some healthy local produce and support the area.

Or if you are stuck for time, plan a trip to a healthy fast-food stopover like Oliver’s. Here you can sub, lollies and chocolates for muesli bars or energy balls, and trade out the deep-fried snacks for veggie sticks, green beans, or baked sweet potato chips.

My NRMA members get a free coffee with any purchase and you can use the My NRMA app to help you find Oliver’s locations.

Still stuck on ideas? Here’s a handy list of great healthy foods for the car.