Trying to make healthy dining choices on the road can be a challenge. Why is it that people tend to snack a lot while they are driving long distances in the car?  Is it boredom?  Is it really hunger?  Whatever the reason, we always snack more on the long hauls from home.  Here are a couple tips that might make it easier for you to make better choices on your next family vacation.

• Pack fruit and veggies that are easy to manage in the car. Frozen grapes, clementines, and plums are great options. A couple Ziplock bags of carrots, celery and grape tomatoes also go a long way. On the highway, we were surprised to find that some of the rest stops carried fruit. It wasn’t the best quality but it was better than nothing! If you are able to get off the highway, you may find locally-grown produce at fruit stands or if you’re really lucky, a farmer’s market. Make sure you clean locally grown fruits and veggies before digging in – rinsing them with water should do the trick.
• Make good decisions at the breakfast bar! We stayed at a family-friendly hotel with a breakfast bar. We did our best to avoid muffins and doughnuts. Yogurt, oatmeal, hardboiled eggs, wheat toast, and fresh fruit can make a nice breakfast! I really appreciated that we had healthy options to start our day before hitting the road.. although the blueberry muffins were calling my name!
• For lunch and dinner, we plugged our coordinates into the Kids LiveWell app which is a free app that helps you find healthy food options. The app is offered through the National Restaurant Association in conjunction with Healthy Dining Finder, a program that offers nutritional information on a variety of restaurant meals around the United States. We enjoyed delicious meals on our family vacation and were happy to be able to find good options wherever we went!