How Do You Keep Snacks and Drinks in the Car?

Perhaps you could throw some dried fruit in the mix--that would keep well. The main thing I wanted to caution you about is leaving plastic bottles with water in the car. If you believe any of the concern about plastic ingredients leaching into water, then plastic bottles that become warm and sit in a car are prime potential culprits. I'd recommend storing the water in something more inert like a large, stainless steel flask. In any case, refreshing the water every 2-3 days makes sense to me, and is relatively easy to do. You could also keep the water in a smallish cooler in the back, to keep it from getting warm. Good luck!

Hi-
My much-better-organized friend had a medium-sized cooler - one of those hard plastic deals with handles - that went out to the car every morning and was repacked every night.
She set it up the night before with cut-up fruit and veggies, cheese hunks, pasta salads, sandwiches. Basically just a double-sized (or more) lunch box.
I guess if you cooled it with a big baggie of ice cubes you could keep one of those big water dispensers in the car, and swipe some ice if the water was too warm. Or have reusable bottles you chill overnight and pop into the cooler in the morning.
You could also fill a small basket that just always lives in the car with an assortment of individual-sized servings of chips, nuts, crackers and the like, and top it off as needed.(Costco time!)
The thing to avoid is getting anything that makes you uncomfortable to offer as a snack -- only healthy stuff. That way they can pick anything they want out of the supplies, with out you having to argue with them. Oh, and LOTS of exact duplicates, to avoid sibling tiffs - if there is only one of anything left, it's yours

A healthy snack that we love are dried fruit bars (like fruit leather). I started out getting these at Trader Joes but discovered that Target also has an organic section with several different kinds (in the food section). It's 100% fruit and my daughter loves them. I would think that there would be no problem with keeping a bunch of them in the car. We travel a lot and always pack them and they do fine.

Peace, B.

Hi M.,

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer about the drinks. But if you are looking for something you can pack ahead that is not a carb, try the Gerber Graduates Lil Sticks, what we call "baby hotdogs," that come in little jars. My kids (2 and 5) both LOVE them. They are a great pack-ahead snack that I keep in my purse/diaper bag constantly.

YOu can freeze water or juice boxes and they will be nice and cool for when you need then on a hot day. You would have to take them out with you each day. I wouldn't recommend trying to keep many drinks in a warm vehicle otherwise because the heat can cause toxins in many packaging or bottles to be released. Another idea is keeping empty glass bottles in the car that you can fill at water fountains or taps.
As for snacks... granola bars and trail mix are great for an energy boost.

Hi M.

As for the water aspect, I wouldn't worry so much about it being "a little warm" , my son drinks room temperature all the time and frankly, I think it's better for his digestion than ice cold any day.. however, the idea ppl gave with regard to a small ice chest are good, we do bring one of those for roadtrips.. I also pack LARGER bags of snacks. I throw in a mix of things from cornuts, popcorn, raisins, dried fruit. all this stuff keeps pretty well. you can bring two little bowls and pour some of the stuff into those.. just replenish the bag as you need to.. I also have plenty of fruits, even veggies such as cherry tomatoes.. carbs are one thing, but RAW food has all the food enzymes so those are equally important in my son's diet.
if you go to the health food store such as whole foods, or if in san francisco , rainbow, they have many many selections of organic snacks that don't have a lot fo sugar or junk in them..
good luck