Lounge Jules 1 month ago

Let's argue: What are your top 5 road trip snacks?

Hey everyone! I'm planning a weekend drive up into the mountains with some friends and I have been put in charge of the snack run. It got me thinking about the ultimate road trip food hierarchy. Here is my definitive, indisputable top 5:

  1. Combos (specifically pizzeria pretzel)
  2. Sour Patch Kids (Watermelon only)
  3. Cool Ranch Doritos
  4. Beef jerky (teriyaki flavor)
  5. Iced coffee (does this count as a snack? I'm counting it).

What are yours? Drop your top 5 below so I can steal your ideas for my grocery run!

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Hannah
Hannah 1 month ago

Okay so this is deeply important research and I respect the assignment. My top 5, no notes:

  1. Peanut butter pretzels (the Trader Joe's ones specifically — I will fight for these)
  2. Sour gummy worms (the Trolli ones, kept in the cupholder so they get slightly warm and weird — this is a feature, not a bug)
  3. String cheese (requires a cooler but worth it, plus gives you something to do with your hands for 45 seconds which is honestly a win for sweaty-palm girlies like me)
  4. Honey roasted peanuts
  5. Cold brew with oat milk (yes it counts, it's a lifestyle)

Real talk though — I always pack a tiny bag of wet wipes and an extra hair tie because mountain air + car heat + my underarms = I arrive looking like I just ran a 5K. The string cheese thing is also low-key a fidget hack for when I'm anxious in the passenger seat and don't want to wipe my hands on my jeans for the tenth time. Anyone else plan snacks around not having to touch their phone with sweaty fingers? No? Just me?

Evan
Evan 1 month ago

Hannah, the car heat and mountain air thing hits different with underarm sweat. I keep wet wipes in the console for the same reason on any long drive. Teriyaki jerky makes the list for me because it's one-handed and doesn't leave residue on your fingers for the phone.

Drew
Drew 1 month ago

Hannah okay the string cheese as a fidget hack is genuinely genius and I'm a little mad I never thought of it. I'm very much a 'wipe hands on jeans, regret it immediately, repeat' guy in the passenger seat so having a designated hand occupation is actually a life upgrade. Also fully co-signing the phone problem — there's a specific kind of anxiety that is 'I need to change the song but I do not want to hand my sweaty phone to the aux person.' I've started keeping a microfiber cloth in the cupholder which sounds extremely nerdy but here we are. String cheese is way more charming than a microfiber cloth so you win this round.

Amber
Amber 1 month ago

Hannah, “slightly warm and weird” gummy worms is horrifying and also completely correct.

I absolutely plan around the sweaty-finger phone problem. Anything with dust is basically a trap — Doritos are delicious but they turn into orange fingerprint evidence. My road trip list is usually:

  1. Mini pretzels or pretzel thins — dry hands, no drama
  2. Grapes in a cooler bag — cold snack + tiny reset for face/head sweat
  3. Wrapped Babybels/string cheese — agreed, elite fidget food
  4. Almonds or cashews, but only if they’re not aggressively salted
  5. Iced tea or cold brew, depending on whether I’m willing to gamble with caffeine sweat that day

Also yes to wet wipes and extra hair tie. I add a small hand towel in the door pocket like a deeply glamorous rally driver, because arriving somewhere with my fringe plastered to my forehead is not the mountain goddess look I’m aiming for.

Drew
Drew 1 month ago

Okay I already weighed in on string cheese (still correct) but I have to submit my actual top 5 because the OP deserves the full list:

  1. Pizzeria pretzel Combos — already validated, no notes
  2. Sour Patch Watermelon — the only correct Sour Patch
  3. Peanut butter crackers (the little Ritz sandwich ones) — underrated, zero finger chaos
  4. Teriyaki jerky — one-handed, doesn't demand anything from you
  5. Iced coffee — it counts, it has always counted, we're done arguing

Honest addition though: I've quietly started avoiding Doritos on drives because Cool Ranch fingers plus phone screen plus 'wait can you change the song' is a whole situation I don't need. The microfiber cloth in my cupholder already makes me look like a man with too many systems. Peanut butter crackers leave zero evidence and I feel like that's the road trip snack philosophy nobody's saying out loud but everyone should adopt.

Caleb
Caleb 1 month ago

okay throwing my list in:

  1. teriyaki jerky — one-handed, no dust, full agree with everyone above
  2. those little peanut butter ritz crackers — drew is right, zero evidence
  3. twizzlers — controversial but they don't melt in a hot car and don't leave anything on your fingers
  4. clementines if i'm feeling fancy / pretending to be a snack adult
  5. iced coffee, obviously, this isn't even a debate

hard no on doritos for me too. between sweaty hands and orange dust my phone screen looks like a crime scene by hour two. i've also just accepted that my back is going to glue itself to whatever shirt i'm wearing in the driver's seat for like four hours, so anything that adds extra hand mess on top of that is a no. hannah the sweaty-phone-aux problem is extremely real, i genuinely route-plan around who's on aux duty.

also stealing the microfiber cloth idea from drew. i already keep wipes in the door pocket so at this point i'm just leaning into the 'man with too many systems' thing.