This thread is inspired by yesterday’s podcast episode, because Corinne said she wanted snack suggestions for her drive from Maine to New Mexico. Of course, as the timing worked out, Corinne and Bunny are on the road as I type this! So snacks have surely been acquired. But we can still offer inspiration if she checks in from a road stop, plus don’t we all, always, need new snack suggestions?
I do most of my snacking in the afternoon, when I’m either at my desk or with my kids, and either way, I default to Extra Toasty Cheez-Its, or a raspberry yogurt with some granola on top. They are both delicious but… could my 3pm life be more special? Excited to hear your ideas. (And yes, these can be homemade snacks or store-bought — we don’t believe in snack hierarchies here except that Cheez-Its are forever superior to Cheese Nips and other imitations need not apply.)
As always, please remember this is an anti-diet space. Let’s keep things friendly and follow my Thread Ground Rules. With food discussions, this is especially important. As my four-year-old would say, don’t yuck anyone’s yum! And don’t apologize for what you love to eat.
Sep 22, 2022Liked by Corinne Fay, Virginia Sole-Smith
It's not so convenient for car snacks, but in the fall I always crave homemade popcorn. I make it on the stove in a really old battered pot I only use for popcorn, with some oil and the kernels in the bottom. Butter and salt is a classic topping of course, but I also love olive oil, parmesan and pepper. It's awesome on its own or with a crisp, tart apple. There's a time and place for microwave popcorn, but the stovetop version is SO delicious.
Have you had the new-to-me Bambas w hazelnut cream filling? I found them at Trader Joe’s. Amazing. Other delicious snacks that I often forget about: dried cherries, smokehouse almonds, bugles, peach rings, kettle corn. Also Sheetz sells Dole Whips now- as much as you can fit in a cup for one dollar!- and while they’re tricky to eat while driving, they are my go-to gas station snack since it is rudely still 90+ degrees in NC.
We got our omicron boosters and flu shots last Friday, and afterwards bought $110 worth of snacks from Walgreen’s to see us (family of 4) through the weekend - highly recommend. Cheetos, gummy candy, potato chips, this weird Skittles drink mix, chocolate.
Lately, I’ve been really digging these maple-almond butter pretzels I found through Misfits Market, but the more conventional peanut butter pretzels are also great. Cherries are awesome for at home, and grapes, and you can’t go wrong with chocolate chips. Cheetos - original crunchy - are my ultimate favorite. I’m going to have to add Cheez-its to my grocery list now.
My car trip hack is to stop at a grocery store instead of a gas station if possible - clean bathrooms and 100x more snack possibilities!
I just got back from a road trip--I stan Trader Joe's Rainbow's End trail mix. It's all killer, no filler--almonds, peanuts, raisins, and M&M-type candies. I love that it doesn't leave a residue on your hands or a package/core to throw away. It's got fiber and protein and a little sweet treat because we all deserve it. Open a napkin, dump some in your lap whether you're driving or not and enjoy.
I’ve had a major Welch’s Fruit Snacks thing going on. I’ve been dealing with raging food allergies and these are safe and delicious and somehow feel subversive in a way I don’t completely get.
On a recent long car trip, after we had depleted the less-exciting options I had packed, we got a party-size (which is family-size for my crew) bag of peanut M&Ms and one of peanut butter M&Ms. I asked for a whole bunch of those cones that they use for oil changes, and we were off to the races. The kids loved trying to find a giant M&M to plug the hole at the bottom, and then fill their cups to their liking on top. It was a delicious adventure and I see us repeating it next time!
Bobo’s Oat Bites are delicious and have been my go to for long drives lately. And the mixed M&M peanut/peanut butter family sized bags. And the old school doughnut “tubes” they sell in gas stations with the 8 or so mini doughnuts in a little line. I do pretty regular 7ish hr drives alone and don’t hate it, because snacks and podcasts.
All the snacks. Apples and peanut butter, veggies and hummus, pretzels, peanut M&Ms, weird vegan cheezy puffs that I still somehow like (I'm allergic to corn and these are corn-free), Skinny Pop popcorn (Worst. Name. Ever.), especially the giant bags of Organic variety from Costco that seem to taste even better, Back to Nature pink Himalayan salt flatbread crackers and cheese, Icelandic Provisions skyr with granola, pepperoni and string cheese, fruit. I could go on.
But the best is, hear me out: Scooby Snacks. Kellogg's makes them and they are graham cracker cookies shaped like dog biscuits. My daughter and I cannot figure out what makes them so delicious, but they are irresistible. They are the right amount of sweet and crunchy and for some reason I find it appealing to pretend I'm eating dog treats? Highly recommend.
On my most recent multi-day road trip I had a daily ritual to stop in the early afternoon for a fountain soda and a bag of dill pickle chips. I got to satisfy my robust salt tooth and sample a bunch of regional potato chip varieties which was both delicious and heart-breaking (that bag I picked up at a Casey's, don't remember the name of, and may never find again). At home I'll often do a cup of tea with peanut butter cookie(s) or a bowl of Goldish crackers but I can see from the other replies that I need to be dreaming bigger snack dreams :-)
OK hear me out on this unusual snack combo: fresh blueberries + peanut butter filled pretzels. Ideally you get one of each in your mouth at the same time. It's like a PB&J but more texturally amazing. It's important, as in all snacks that involve fruit, that the berries be very, very good. Eating this with hard, sour blueberries is not something I advocate.
My other go-to afternoon snack is rice cakes with cream cheese or butter/vegan butter and either Everything But the Bagel seasoning OR tajin (which, for the uninitiated, is a Mexican spice blend that I think is mild chili powder, lime, and salt, and goes well on EVERYTHING including this but also popcorn and sliced cucumbers).
I recently discovered "Bitchin' Sauce" which is delightful as a spicy dip with pita chips or pretzels as an afternoon snack. This refrigerated dip happens to be vegan (and is pretty pricey). I honestly bought it for the name. ;)
Chocolate with peanut butter is another go-to--or chocolate with banana slices.
My new favorite Trader Joe's item is the "Trail Mix Crackers"--unusual and delicious (the name is pretty deceiving, if you ask me).
Here to stan peanut butter filled pretzels. They are just the perfect combination of flavors and also make you feel like you had something that will see you through.
Also I never travel without apples (unless it's to another country), because...as I get older I just want to get my fruits and veggies? Like when I get home I HONEST TO GOD want to eat a salad. So apples ensure I get some of my health food cravings out of the way.
My favorite 3pm snack is tea with a baked good of sorts. I have leaned into being That Mom who always has banana bread or cookies or WHATEVER in the house because it just makes my life better. Not the best car snack but I work from home and never leave the house lol.
Also wanted to say I LOVE this stock photo! She's just so happy about her donut!! She is me!!!!
In winter time I keep the large soft pretzels from the frozen department in my freezer. Kids love them warmed up after school with a bowl of melted butter for dipping. It is also almost pomegranate time. I buy them by the case from Costco and prep them all at once. It is so nice to grab a huge bowl of pomegranate seeds, ice cold from the fridge. Salami, salami and salami! Cadburys dairy milk chocolate. If we are going on a road trip I stop by World Market and grab some foreign candy to provide an extra few seconds of entertainment/interest. I also put all the snacks in a tub in between our middle row seats in our van and everybody can help themselves so my partner and I don’t have to serve everyone.
I'm a big snack-er so the list is pretty long. My anytime snacks are fresh fruit, pickles, carrot sticks, Trader Joe's pound plus bar - milk chocolate with almonds, slice and bake chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter crackers, extra toasty cheez-its, cheddar popcorn, and kettle chips (usually bbq, jalapeno, or sour cream and onion). It really is great to be an adult and get to snack to my heart's content!
I love all these snack suggestions. I’ve been needing to put some new stuff in rotation, so this thread is inspiring.
I’m partial to Stacy’s bagel chips. The plain ones, ideally. They have just the perfect amount of resistance, crunch-wise, and the perfect level of buttery-ness. If I’m feeling ambitious I also will make my own bagel chips: cut a bagel into round slices, toast in toaster oven, butter each one. In college one of the student center cafes used to deep fry bagel slices, and that was my favorite, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Now my mouth is watering.
On another, less happy snacking-related note: I had a complicated emotional reaction to reading some diet-culturey snacking commentary, and want to unpack it. I had enjoyed Emily Oster’s book Expecting Better back when I was pregnant, and sat down to look at her new one, The Family Firm, about handling life with school-age kids (like mine now). In her section about laying down family policies to make everyday routines run more smoothly, she discusses her family’s “meal policy,” and in a PARENTHETICAL ASIDE, throws in the fact that said policy contains the clause “no carbs for snacks.” A PARENTHETICAL ASIDE, guys. As though this rule were so obvious and second-nature to anyone who might read this book that she doesn’t have to go into WHY this is a rule. And it made me close the book right there and stop reading. And I felt angry and sad. And I began to doubt my personal ideas about snacks, which not only include carbs, but pretty much exclude non-carbs (aside from stuff to dip carbs into). As far as I’m concerned, if it isn’t a carb, it isn’t a snack. And I was like, but is that disordered? I thought this writer was “one of us,” in that generalized kindred-spirit way you think of writers who write things that matter to you. And now I feel alienated, as though my size-18 body and the foods that go into it are WRONG and she is right. And one might argue, “maybe the no carb rule is right for HER; it isn’t a commentary on you.” But it is a commentary on me/you/other people, because diet culture.
I am happiest when I have the fixings for a mini charcuterie. I cube up some cheese (really whatever is lying around), grab a handful of grapes, fill a tiny dish with mustard (dill pickle from trader joe's is my fave right now), maybe plop down a cornichon or two, and then either roll up some lunch meat or open a tin of fish. Serve either with triscuits, that heel of bread sitting in its bakery bag on top of the microwave, or just your fingers.
I also love a sweet, like a cookie or a slice of banana bread, with an herbal tea in the late afternoon. Perks me right up and gets me through the 2:30 pm slump that is work-from-home life.
Okay… stay with me here: I just discovered chocolate rice cakes. It sounds very diet-y, but I’ve found they really satisfy that salty/sweet/crunchy craving - especially with peanut butter on top or with strawberries.
Also: chips and French onion dip, Greek yogurt popsicles, Barbara’s cheese doodles, grapes, tiny mozzarella cheese balls, and tomato toasts when in season! Toasted sourdough, generous spread of Duke’s mayo, sliced tomatoes on top with a sprinkle of salt. Chef’s kiss!
For road trips, I love Red Vines and Combos (pretzel style, any filling) purchased from a gas station are my go-to treats. Just like I only drink ginger ale on a plane, I pretty much only eat Combos in a car. Unclear about why. For daily snacking, I've been into Rice Krispies Treats lately ... an ideal crunchy, sweet combo.
I’m super in need of new snack ideas, so this is perfect!
My default is almost always Wheat Thins plus some really sharp, crumbly British cheddar plus an apple, but since my appetite during the day is kinda messed up from my ADHD meds novelty is a great way to pique my interest.
Also, my 4 yo is now VERY into Wheat Thins so half the time I go to grab some and they’re gone! Haven’t quite mastered the right quantity to add to the grocery order.
I am THE biggest fan of those Belvita breakfast biscuits* in the cinnamon and vanilla flavors. There's something about them-sweet, but not too sweet, as I'm not the biggest sweet fan. And paired with an ice cold diet coke, they're just...chef's kiss. I used to eat them every day on my commute home from work. Now I'm working from home but eating Belvita anyway.
*cookies, they're cookies. They're delicious, perfect breakfast cookies and I wish we'd all just admit it
We have all the snacks in our house. Some favorites among my kids are applesauce, nuts, Nature's Bakery Fig bars, Pirate's booty, cheetos, BBQ chips. My 5 year old also loves raw bell peppers and cucumbers (no ranch dip despite my offering each time). My go-to snack is cheese its (why are they so good?). My pro-tip is to get Big Cheese Its and dip them in spicy salse - yum!
My classic car snack is Combos -- surprisingly hard to find, but procured at a gas station in Indiana earlier this summer. I love the cheese and cracker version, but the pretzel pizza ones are good.
As we get closer to December, I look forward to homemade Chex mix -- nuts and bolts as my family calls it due to the extra nuts and crackers added in. My grandmother's recipe called for a cup of oil, so the crackers became extra translucent and tasty. I use the normal Chex mix seasoning and recipe with some extra worcesershire sauce thrown in along with Townhouse pretzel crackers, extra nuts, and pretzels. So good in the cold months!
TJs is my go-to road trip snack place. I'll re-up everyone else's comment about the PB pretzels as our constant. Also the dried mango and Chocolate Cat Cookies are regular faves. The cocoa cookies are perfect because you get chocolate without worrying about it melting in the car. We also always end up with some kind of bars, most recently the pbj ones that were kind of nutrigrain-esque. Also the Scandinavian Sour Swimmers are, dare i say it, better than Sour Patch
My fave gas station snacks recently have been the Kettle Corn Popcorners (no hulls to get stuck in your teeth but kettle corn salty sweet flavor! The actual best is to plan ahead and get the jumbo bag at Costco) and Nerd Bites are legitttttt
Any other fellow celiacs out there with good GF snacks? I’m scrolling through these suggestions and trying not to cry that I can’t have so many of the best things 😭 I did already the GF Snyder’s honey mustard pretzels to be very good. I just want more in life snack-wise and will take any and all snack recommendations. My husband is starting chemo next week and we’ll have to drive to a fairly far hospital (DC area) and then stay for infusions for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for four rounds. I will NEED to have many good GF snacks on hand. (I did find some good things for him in this thread, too, but unsure how much he will want to eat so… disclaimer so no one judges me that I’m so focused on my own snacks.)
My afternoon snack these days is peanut butter pretzels, and there is a hierarchy. Snyder’s is best and the store brand isn’t worth buying. There is another brand I can’t remember the name of that I’ve found at BiMart that is also good. And on my most recent trip to BiMart, they had a huge shelf of this caramel corn that even my husband loves, and he is not a snacker. We’ve been having it for dessert all week.
I go through snacking phases and I’m currently not a big snacker but hot Cheetos with lime are one of my favorite snacks EVER. Can’t be the plain hot Cheetos. These have been sadly difficult to acquire over the past year. I’ll eat other chips sometimes, love Cheez-its, dried mango, apple and peanut butter, or dark chocolate peanut butter cups. For road trips as a kid, we always got beef jerky, grapes, and the little bags of doughnuts or muffins. Very sentimental about all of those things but I don’t get beef jerky anymore due to the price.
Okay this is going to sound like a diet culture thing but I swear it’s not - Wilde Protein Chicken Chips. I tried them in Colorado and omg they’re exactly what I always wanted chips to be! Slightly heftier than potato chips, so flavorful and salty, and I feel full and satisfied after eating them. I will say that opinions are starkly divided among the people I know who have tried them. BUT if you’re a meat-eating snack aficionado, I really recommend.
Monster cookies are the perfect stand alone cookie for me-the cafe at my local library makes them. Sometimes I stop there by myself and eat a cookie and read a book before the craziness of pick up, dinner, bath, etc.
I also like frozen edamame (I bring some and thaw in the fridge at work). At home, I love Wasa crackers with cream cheese and lunch meat. I think this might be a diet food, but I saw it somewhere on instagram and it looked delicious for some reason.
So we did a Cheez-It taste test at a recent in person meeting and I must say I heartily disagree with Virginia on the extra toasty Cheez-It. To me they just tasted burnt. But that's okay, there's a Cheez-It for everyone, and White Cheddar classic or Double Cheese Snap'D are my jam! I always have a box / bag in my office ready for mid-day munching!
I also love the Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins, but as a snack, not a cereal. I often have nuts around (CVS sells Dill Pickle Cashews in their store brand that are so delish, but not always on the shelves). Nuts are also a go-to "keep in car for emergency snacking" food because they keep and don't get melty unlike other packaged snacks that I enjoy like Kind Bars / Costco knockoffs.
And of course, road trips for me are a good reason to break out potato chips. Growing up, that was the only time my mom would buy chips (part of many food related practices I grew up that got me where I am today, sigh). It's also where I got into the habit of putting potato chips on sandwiches, which I still do today! I rarely make a sandwich at home, but if I get one in a box lunch I'm breaking open the bag of potato chips and adding a crunchy salty layer to my sandwich!
Not a car snack, but my fave afternoon snack is dates stuffed with nut butter (one that's not too liquid-y) + chocolate (I use chocolate baking wafers, but chips would probably work well too). I know it sounds very health-foodie with the dates, but, man, they are sooo good. I recently upgraded the nut butter to a super bougie one with toasted coconut and the whole thing is reminiscent of mounds candy, only tastier. (Does anyone else feel like their memory of candy bars as a kid is far superior to the real thing??)
I love snacks and I hate that I've never lived close to a TJs as it seems like so many of the best ones come from there.
lately we've been trying all the new/odd chip flavors and I do recommend that. the flaming hot cheddar and sour cream chips are a revelation (and not as hot as others in the flaming line). also a huge fan of dot's pretzel twists.
peanut butter filled pretzels, cheez-its, cashews (often all mixed together) all work for me. I also like to keep mini rx bars around--they are small and chewy and leave me feeling more full than granola bars, which I just don't always like that much anyway. I love string cheese--I keep it in my office and sometimes use a small lunch box for road trips for things like that and turkey pepperonis.
I love gummy-type candies and so lately I've been keeping fruit snacks (though I want the packs to be bigger) and some sort of sour gummy something--watermelons or strawberries. those aren't as much a mid-afternoon snack for me for some reason. I just don't reach for them then
looking forward to getting all the good snack ideas from y'all!
Gardetto's are forever and always my road trip snack of choice. The rye chips, people! If I'm at home, I love pretzels and red pepper hummus. Also, I've been loving Yossy Arefi's "Snacking Cakes" cookbook for the sweeter side of snacking. Super simples cakes to make any time, not just special occasions. Perfect for cutting chunks off every time you walk through the kitchen!
TJ's is the place for weird cool snacks imo. However, a lot of their power lies in their dips, which are not the best for road trips. Their knock-off Takis are amazing, though they might be discontinuing them. I love the almonds covered in coconut and chocolate. Pro tip – freeze them before the drive so they don't melt too much!
Cheese/salami/crackers. Grapes or an apple with crunchy peanut butter. Chia fresca, homemade or store bought. A couple slices of bacon in a homemade flour tortilla. Anything Haribo. Popcorn (I like microwave, homemade, and cheese-flavored, but they are all separate, specific cravings). A little bowl of almond butter granola in whole milk. Peanut m&ms. Funyons with a cherry Slurpee. Payday bars.
My go-to snacks are apple or baby carrots with peanut butter, Nature Valley protein bars (choc PB or they have a coconut one that's really good), cheese and crackers (I really like the Triscuit thins), greek yogurt with granola or walnuts, a slice of avocado toast, or cottage cheese with pretzels. But I recently re-discovered black bean chips at Aldi (they're made of rice and black beans, so GF, I think). They are thin and crispy and salty and taste so satisfying dipped in the cottage cheese, too. Reading this list I realize that it sounds kind of diet-y but I'm working on blood sugar control so fat + carbs with fiber + protein are a must for me. However, ice cream is an any time of day fave too!
My sister got me hooked on white cheddar popcorn. I love it so much. It's one of those snacks that makes me feel like I can't really do anything else, because the cheesy dust gets all over your fingers so you either have to keep really wiping your hands off or, as I prefer to do, just give in and say "this is the only thing my hands are doing for the time being."
Fave car snacks are peanuts or almonds, cheese sticks with crackers, Cape Cod potato chips, and mini dark chocolate covered peanut butter bites from Trader Joe's (or the chocolate covered caramel with peanuts, oh my!). If I don't want food waste at home, I'll toss in what's left of the mini cukes and grape tomatoes. Oh, bananas. I get car sick and even with Dramamine, I like to eat to soothe the belly.
Chunky peanut butter and saltines! Those little yogurts in the glass container. Oui maybe?? A dove chocolate or three…. And the lays stacker potato chip things, to me way better than Pringles. For the road I do like a trail mix or the wasabi almonds and usually a clif bar or some thing like that… and definitely some sort of cold coffee drink in the morning. What a great thread
My favorite afternoon snack lately has been a more grown-up variation on cheese and crackers. I like the salami and provolone cheese snack packs from Costco, with the perfectly-sized round provolone cheese slices on Trader Joe's pita crackers, with a slice of cucumber and a slice of mini red pepper. This can easily be made fodmap-free by eating it on a rice cracker, if you have GI issues and have to avoid fodmaps. Other favorites include the classic crisp apple wedges dipped in peanut butter, and yogurt parfait with granola and fresh fruit or berries.
Lately I have been super into popcorn. The olive oil and sea salt popcorn from Trader Joe's is SO good. The only problem is the broken pieces at the bottom of every bag; is there any way to possibly eat it?!
Also, peanut butter M&Ms, dried mango (Trader Joe's again), rice cakes with peanut butter and nutella (you need both), super crunchy green grapes, and pita chips with hummus. I love snacks.
And WHOOPS yes, I published the Friday Thread on Thursday. So... more time to chat snacks! Have at it! (Sorry for your double emails this morning.)
It's not so convenient for car snacks, but in the fall I always crave homemade popcorn. I make it on the stove in a really old battered pot I only use for popcorn, with some oil and the kernels in the bottom. Butter and salt is a classic topping of course, but I also love olive oil, parmesan and pepper. It's awesome on its own or with a crisp, tart apple. There's a time and place for microwave popcorn, but the stovetop version is SO delicious.
Have you had the new-to-me Bambas w hazelnut cream filling? I found them at Trader Joe’s. Amazing. Other delicious snacks that I often forget about: dried cherries, smokehouse almonds, bugles, peach rings, kettle corn. Also Sheetz sells Dole Whips now- as much as you can fit in a cup for one dollar!- and while they’re tricky to eat while driving, they are my go-to gas station snack since it is rudely still 90+ degrees in NC.
We got our omicron boosters and flu shots last Friday, and afterwards bought $110 worth of snacks from Walgreen’s to see us (family of 4) through the weekend - highly recommend. Cheetos, gummy candy, potato chips, this weird Skittles drink mix, chocolate.
Lately, I’ve been really digging these maple-almond butter pretzels I found through Misfits Market, but the more conventional peanut butter pretzels are also great. Cherries are awesome for at home, and grapes, and you can’t go wrong with chocolate chips. Cheetos - original crunchy - are my ultimate favorite. I’m going to have to add Cheez-its to my grocery list now.
My car trip hack is to stop at a grocery store instead of a gas station if possible - clean bathrooms and 100x more snack possibilities!
Gardettos aka Cardettos
I just got back from a road trip--I stan Trader Joe's Rainbow's End trail mix. It's all killer, no filler--almonds, peanuts, raisins, and M&M-type candies. I love that it doesn't leave a residue on your hands or a package/core to throw away. It's got fiber and protein and a little sweet treat because we all deserve it. Open a napkin, dump some in your lap whether you're driving or not and enjoy.
I’ve had a major Welch’s Fruit Snacks thing going on. I’ve been dealing with raging food allergies and these are safe and delicious and somehow feel subversive in a way I don’t completely get.
On a recent long car trip, after we had depleted the less-exciting options I had packed, we got a party-size (which is family-size for my crew) bag of peanut M&Ms and one of peanut butter M&Ms. I asked for a whole bunch of those cones that they use for oil changes, and we were off to the races. The kids loved trying to find a giant M&M to plug the hole at the bottom, and then fill their cups to their liking on top. It was a delicious adventure and I see us repeating it next time!
Bobo’s Oat Bites are delicious and have been my go to for long drives lately. And the mixed M&M peanut/peanut butter family sized bags. And the old school doughnut “tubes” they sell in gas stations with the 8 or so mini doughnuts in a little line. I do pretty regular 7ish hr drives alone and don’t hate it, because snacks and podcasts.
All the snacks. Apples and peanut butter, veggies and hummus, pretzels, peanut M&Ms, weird vegan cheezy puffs that I still somehow like (I'm allergic to corn and these are corn-free), Skinny Pop popcorn (Worst. Name. Ever.), especially the giant bags of Organic variety from Costco that seem to taste even better, Back to Nature pink Himalayan salt flatbread crackers and cheese, Icelandic Provisions skyr with granola, pepperoni and string cheese, fruit. I could go on.
But the best is, hear me out: Scooby Snacks. Kellogg's makes them and they are graham cracker cookies shaped like dog biscuits. My daughter and I cannot figure out what makes them so delicious, but they are irresistible. They are the right amount of sweet and crunchy and for some reason I find it appealing to pretend I'm eating dog treats? Highly recommend.
On my most recent multi-day road trip I had a daily ritual to stop in the early afternoon for a fountain soda and a bag of dill pickle chips. I got to satisfy my robust salt tooth and sample a bunch of regional potato chip varieties which was both delicious and heart-breaking (that bag I picked up at a Casey's, don't remember the name of, and may never find again). At home I'll often do a cup of tea with peanut butter cookie(s) or a bowl of Goldish crackers but I can see from the other replies that I need to be dreaming bigger snack dreams :-)
OK hear me out on this unusual snack combo: fresh blueberries + peanut butter filled pretzels. Ideally you get one of each in your mouth at the same time. It's like a PB&J but more texturally amazing. It's important, as in all snacks that involve fruit, that the berries be very, very good. Eating this with hard, sour blueberries is not something I advocate.
My other go-to afternoon snack is rice cakes with cream cheese or butter/vegan butter and either Everything But the Bagel seasoning OR tajin (which, for the uninitiated, is a Mexican spice blend that I think is mild chili powder, lime, and salt, and goes well on EVERYTHING including this but also popcorn and sliced cucumbers).
I recently discovered "Bitchin' Sauce" which is delightful as a spicy dip with pita chips or pretzels as an afternoon snack. This refrigerated dip happens to be vegan (and is pretty pricey). I honestly bought it for the name. ;)
Chocolate with peanut butter is another go-to--or chocolate with banana slices.
My new favorite Trader Joe's item is the "Trail Mix Crackers"--unusual and delicious (the name is pretty deceiving, if you ask me).
Here to stan peanut butter filled pretzels. They are just the perfect combination of flavors and also make you feel like you had something that will see you through.
Also I never travel without apples (unless it's to another country), because...as I get older I just want to get my fruits and veggies? Like when I get home I HONEST TO GOD want to eat a salad. So apples ensure I get some of my health food cravings out of the way.
Sour gummies, always and forever.
My favorite 3pm snack is tea with a baked good of sorts. I have leaned into being That Mom who always has banana bread or cookies or WHATEVER in the house because it just makes my life better. Not the best car snack but I work from home and never leave the house lol.
Also wanted to say I LOVE this stock photo! She's just so happy about her donut!! She is me!!!!
In winter time I keep the large soft pretzels from the frozen department in my freezer. Kids love them warmed up after school with a bowl of melted butter for dipping. It is also almost pomegranate time. I buy them by the case from Costco and prep them all at once. It is so nice to grab a huge bowl of pomegranate seeds, ice cold from the fridge. Salami, salami and salami! Cadburys dairy milk chocolate. If we are going on a road trip I stop by World Market and grab some foreign candy to provide an extra few seconds of entertainment/interest. I also put all the snacks in a tub in between our middle row seats in our van and everybody can help themselves so my partner and I don’t have to serve everyone.
I'm a big snack-er so the list is pretty long. My anytime snacks are fresh fruit, pickles, carrot sticks, Trader Joe's pound plus bar - milk chocolate with almonds, slice and bake chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter crackers, extra toasty cheez-its, cheddar popcorn, and kettle chips (usually bbq, jalapeno, or sour cream and onion). It really is great to be an adult and get to snack to my heart's content!
I love all these snack suggestions. I’ve been needing to put some new stuff in rotation, so this thread is inspiring.
I’m partial to Stacy’s bagel chips. The plain ones, ideally. They have just the perfect amount of resistance, crunch-wise, and the perfect level of buttery-ness. If I’m feeling ambitious I also will make my own bagel chips: cut a bagel into round slices, toast in toaster oven, butter each one. In college one of the student center cafes used to deep fry bagel slices, and that was my favorite, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Now my mouth is watering.
On another, less happy snacking-related note: I had a complicated emotional reaction to reading some diet-culturey snacking commentary, and want to unpack it. I had enjoyed Emily Oster’s book Expecting Better back when I was pregnant, and sat down to look at her new one, The Family Firm, about handling life with school-age kids (like mine now). In her section about laying down family policies to make everyday routines run more smoothly, she discusses her family’s “meal policy,” and in a PARENTHETICAL ASIDE, throws in the fact that said policy contains the clause “no carbs for snacks.” A PARENTHETICAL ASIDE, guys. As though this rule were so obvious and second-nature to anyone who might read this book that she doesn’t have to go into WHY this is a rule. And it made me close the book right there and stop reading. And I felt angry and sad. And I began to doubt my personal ideas about snacks, which not only include carbs, but pretty much exclude non-carbs (aside from stuff to dip carbs into). As far as I’m concerned, if it isn’t a carb, it isn’t a snack. And I was like, but is that disordered? I thought this writer was “one of us,” in that generalized kindred-spirit way you think of writers who write things that matter to you. And now I feel alienated, as though my size-18 body and the foods that go into it are WRONG and she is right. And one might argue, “maybe the no carb rule is right for HER; it isn’t a commentary on you.” But it is a commentary on me/you/other people, because diet culture.
I am happiest when I have the fixings for a mini charcuterie. I cube up some cheese (really whatever is lying around), grab a handful of grapes, fill a tiny dish with mustard (dill pickle from trader joe's is my fave right now), maybe plop down a cornichon or two, and then either roll up some lunch meat or open a tin of fish. Serve either with triscuits, that heel of bread sitting in its bakery bag on top of the microwave, or just your fingers.
I also love a sweet, like a cookie or a slice of banana bread, with an herbal tea in the late afternoon. Perks me right up and gets me through the 2:30 pm slump that is work-from-home life.
Okay… stay with me here: I just discovered chocolate rice cakes. It sounds very diet-y, but I’ve found they really satisfy that salty/sweet/crunchy craving - especially with peanut butter on top or with strawberries.
Also: chips and French onion dip, Greek yogurt popsicles, Barbara’s cheese doodles, grapes, tiny mozzarella cheese balls, and tomato toasts when in season! Toasted sourdough, generous spread of Duke’s mayo, sliced tomatoes on top with a sprinkle of salt. Chef’s kiss!
For road trips, I love Red Vines and Combos (pretzel style, any filling) purchased from a gas station are my go-to treats. Just like I only drink ginger ale on a plane, I pretty much only eat Combos in a car. Unclear about why. For daily snacking, I've been into Rice Krispies Treats lately ... an ideal crunchy, sweet combo.
I’m super in need of new snack ideas, so this is perfect!
My default is almost always Wheat Thins plus some really sharp, crumbly British cheddar plus an apple, but since my appetite during the day is kinda messed up from my ADHD meds novelty is a great way to pique my interest.
Also, my 4 yo is now VERY into Wheat Thins so half the time I go to grab some and they’re gone! Haven’t quite mastered the right quantity to add to the grocery order.
I am THE biggest fan of those Belvita breakfast biscuits* in the cinnamon and vanilla flavors. There's something about them-sweet, but not too sweet, as I'm not the biggest sweet fan. And paired with an ice cold diet coke, they're just...chef's kiss. I used to eat them every day on my commute home from work. Now I'm working from home but eating Belvita anyway.
*cookies, they're cookies. They're delicious, perfect breakfast cookies and I wish we'd all just admit it
We have all the snacks in our house. Some favorites among my kids are applesauce, nuts, Nature's Bakery Fig bars, Pirate's booty, cheetos, BBQ chips. My 5 year old also loves raw bell peppers and cucumbers (no ranch dip despite my offering each time). My go-to snack is cheese its (why are they so good?). My pro-tip is to get Big Cheese Its and dip them in spicy salse - yum!
My classic car snack is Combos -- surprisingly hard to find, but procured at a gas station in Indiana earlier this summer. I love the cheese and cracker version, but the pretzel pizza ones are good.
As we get closer to December, I look forward to homemade Chex mix -- nuts and bolts as my family calls it due to the extra nuts and crackers added in. My grandmother's recipe called for a cup of oil, so the crackers became extra translucent and tasty. I use the normal Chex mix seasoning and recipe with some extra worcesershire sauce thrown in along with Townhouse pretzel crackers, extra nuts, and pretzels. So good in the cold months!
Team Cheez Its over Nips for life!!! No question
TJs is my go-to road trip snack place. I'll re-up everyone else's comment about the PB pretzels as our constant. Also the dried mango and Chocolate Cat Cookies are regular faves. The cocoa cookies are perfect because you get chocolate without worrying about it melting in the car. We also always end up with some kind of bars, most recently the pbj ones that were kind of nutrigrain-esque. Also the Scandinavian Sour Swimmers are, dare i say it, better than Sour Patch
My fave gas station snacks recently have been the Kettle Corn Popcorners (no hulls to get stuck in your teeth but kettle corn salty sweet flavor! The actual best is to plan ahead and get the jumbo bag at Costco) and Nerd Bites are legitttttt
Any other fellow celiacs out there with good GF snacks? I’m scrolling through these suggestions and trying not to cry that I can’t have so many of the best things 😭 I did already the GF Snyder’s honey mustard pretzels to be very good. I just want more in life snack-wise and will take any and all snack recommendations. My husband is starting chemo next week and we’ll have to drive to a fairly far hospital (DC area) and then stay for infusions for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for four rounds. I will NEED to have many good GF snacks on hand. (I did find some good things for him in this thread, too, but unsure how much he will want to eat so… disclaimer so no one judges me that I’m so focused on my own snacks.)
My afternoon snack these days is peanut butter pretzels, and there is a hierarchy. Snyder’s is best and the store brand isn’t worth buying. There is another brand I can’t remember the name of that I’ve found at BiMart that is also good. And on my most recent trip to BiMart, they had a huge shelf of this caramel corn that even my husband loves, and he is not a snacker. We’ve been having it for dessert all week.
https://www.cosmoscreations.com/salted-caramel-new/
I go through snacking phases and I’m currently not a big snacker but hot Cheetos with lime are one of my favorite snacks EVER. Can’t be the plain hot Cheetos. These have been sadly difficult to acquire over the past year. I’ll eat other chips sometimes, love Cheez-its, dried mango, apple and peanut butter, or dark chocolate peanut butter cups. For road trips as a kid, we always got beef jerky, grapes, and the little bags of doughnuts or muffins. Very sentimental about all of those things but I don’t get beef jerky anymore due to the price.
Peanut M&Ms! And also baby carrots and string cheese
Okay this is going to sound like a diet culture thing but I swear it’s not - Wilde Protein Chicken Chips. I tried them in Colorado and omg they’re exactly what I always wanted chips to be! Slightly heftier than potato chips, so flavorful and salty, and I feel full and satisfied after eating them. I will say that opinions are starkly divided among the people I know who have tried them. BUT if you’re a meat-eating snack aficionado, I really recommend.
Trail mix bit for the chocolate drops and the raisins. Drumstick ice creams with maximum peanut topping. Coffee. So much coffee
Monster cookies are the perfect stand alone cookie for me-the cafe at my local library makes them. Sometimes I stop there by myself and eat a cookie and read a book before the craziness of pick up, dinner, bath, etc.
I also like frozen edamame (I bring some and thaw in the fridge at work). At home, I love Wasa crackers with cream cheese and lunch meat. I think this might be a diet food, but I saw it somewhere on instagram and it looked delicious for some reason.
Sour cream & onion ANYTHING. I don't care what it is -- it could be a sock, and I'd eat it.
So we did a Cheez-It taste test at a recent in person meeting and I must say I heartily disagree with Virginia on the extra toasty Cheez-It. To me they just tasted burnt. But that's okay, there's a Cheez-It for everyone, and White Cheddar classic or Double Cheese Snap'D are my jam! I always have a box / bag in my office ready for mid-day munching!
I also love the Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins, but as a snack, not a cereal. I often have nuts around (CVS sells Dill Pickle Cashews in their store brand that are so delish, but not always on the shelves). Nuts are also a go-to "keep in car for emergency snacking" food because they keep and don't get melty unlike other packaged snacks that I enjoy like Kind Bars / Costco knockoffs.
And of course, road trips for me are a good reason to break out potato chips. Growing up, that was the only time my mom would buy chips (part of many food related practices I grew up that got me where I am today, sigh). It's also where I got into the habit of putting potato chips on sandwiches, which I still do today! I rarely make a sandwich at home, but if I get one in a box lunch I'm breaking open the bag of potato chips and adding a crunchy salty layer to my sandwich!
My parents got me into this classic combo for road trips - Cheetos and Coke. But let's be real, sometimes I just need that combo.
I also love most sour candies, as well as gummies, Black Forest Gummy Bears are the best gummy bear ever.
Not a car snack, but my fave afternoon snack is dates stuffed with nut butter (one that's not too liquid-y) + chocolate (I use chocolate baking wafers, but chips would probably work well too). I know it sounds very health-foodie with the dates, but, man, they are sooo good. I recently upgraded the nut butter to a super bougie one with toasted coconut and the whole thing is reminiscent of mounds candy, only tastier. (Does anyone else feel like their memory of candy bars as a kid is far superior to the real thing??)
I love snacks and I hate that I've never lived close to a TJs as it seems like so many of the best ones come from there.
lately we've been trying all the new/odd chip flavors and I do recommend that. the flaming hot cheddar and sour cream chips are a revelation (and not as hot as others in the flaming line). also a huge fan of dot's pretzel twists.
peanut butter filled pretzels, cheez-its, cashews (often all mixed together) all work for me. I also like to keep mini rx bars around--they are small and chewy and leave me feeling more full than granola bars, which I just don't always like that much anyway. I love string cheese--I keep it in my office and sometimes use a small lunch box for road trips for things like that and turkey pepperonis.
I love gummy-type candies and so lately I've been keeping fruit snacks (though I want the packs to be bigger) and some sort of sour gummy something--watermelons or strawberries. those aren't as much a mid-afternoon snack for me for some reason. I just don't reach for them then
looking forward to getting all the good snack ideas from y'all!
Gardetto's are forever and always my road trip snack of choice. The rye chips, people! If I'm at home, I love pretzels and red pepper hummus. Also, I've been loving Yossy Arefi's "Snacking Cakes" cookbook for the sweeter side of snacking. Super simples cakes to make any time, not just special occasions. Perfect for cutting chunks off every time you walk through the kitchen!
TJ's is the place for weird cool snacks imo. However, a lot of their power lies in their dips, which are not the best for road trips. Their knock-off Takis are amazing, though they might be discontinuing them. I love the almonds covered in coconut and chocolate. Pro tip – freeze them before the drive so they don't melt too much!
Cheese/salami/crackers. Grapes or an apple with crunchy peanut butter. Chia fresca, homemade or store bought. A couple slices of bacon in a homemade flour tortilla. Anything Haribo. Popcorn (I like microwave, homemade, and cheese-flavored, but they are all separate, specific cravings). A little bowl of almond butter granola in whole milk. Peanut m&ms. Funyons with a cherry Slurpee. Payday bars.
My go-to snacks are apple or baby carrots with peanut butter, Nature Valley protein bars (choc PB or they have a coconut one that's really good), cheese and crackers (I really like the Triscuit thins), greek yogurt with granola or walnuts, a slice of avocado toast, or cottage cheese with pretzels. But I recently re-discovered black bean chips at Aldi (they're made of rice and black beans, so GF, I think). They are thin and crispy and salty and taste so satisfying dipped in the cottage cheese, too. Reading this list I realize that it sounds kind of diet-y but I'm working on blood sugar control so fat + carbs with fiber + protein are a must for me. However, ice cream is an any time of day fave too!
My sister got me hooked on white cheddar popcorn. I love it so much. It's one of those snacks that makes me feel like I can't really do anything else, because the cheesy dust gets all over your fingers so you either have to keep really wiping your hands off or, as I prefer to do, just give in and say "this is the only thing my hands are doing for the time being."
Fave car snacks are peanuts or almonds, cheese sticks with crackers, Cape Cod potato chips, and mini dark chocolate covered peanut butter bites from Trader Joe's (or the chocolate covered caramel with peanuts, oh my!). If I don't want food waste at home, I'll toss in what's left of the mini cukes and grape tomatoes. Oh, bananas. I get car sick and even with Dramamine, I like to eat to soothe the belly.
Chunky peanut butter and saltines! Those little yogurts in the glass container. Oui maybe?? A dove chocolate or three…. And the lays stacker potato chip things, to me way better than Pringles. For the road I do like a trail mix or the wasabi almonds and usually a clif bar or some thing like that… and definitely some sort of cold coffee drink in the morning. What a great thread
My favorite afternoon snack lately has been a more grown-up variation on cheese and crackers. I like the salami and provolone cheese snack packs from Costco, with the perfectly-sized round provolone cheese slices on Trader Joe's pita crackers, with a slice of cucumber and a slice of mini red pepper. This can easily be made fodmap-free by eating it on a rice cracker, if you have GI issues and have to avoid fodmaps. Other favorites include the classic crisp apple wedges dipped in peanut butter, and yogurt parfait with granola and fresh fruit or berries.
My favorite travel snacks are pretzel cheddar cheese Combos, peanut butter M&Ms, lots of coffee and/or fountain Diet Coke!!
Pretzel/cheese combos and a Diet Dr. Pepper for any car trip more than three hours.
Lately I have been super into popcorn. The olive oil and sea salt popcorn from Trader Joe's is SO good. The only problem is the broken pieces at the bottom of every bag; is there any way to possibly eat it?!
Also, peanut butter M&Ms, dried mango (Trader Joe's again), rice cakes with peanut butter and nutella (you need both), super crunchy green grapes, and pita chips with hummus. I love snacks.