Car Ride Snacks

[Griselda]

It sounds like my husband and daughter will be headed out on a "it's still summer until we get home" car trip this coming week. Usually, when I'm going with them, I have enough to do with packing that I don't worry about making stuff for the trip- we just grab some things from the grocery store and go. But, this year I will need to work, so I won't be coming along for the trip.

So, I'd like to make something for them to have on the ride (about 14 hours each way). I'd make cookies, but it seems like they might be kind of crumbly and messy. So, I was just wondering, do any of you have any "long car ride" favorites that you'd like to share? Any other car ride tips? We've been hooked on books on tape since Shadow let us borrow some of hers a couple of years ago (thanks again!, so I will be checking in at the library to see what I can come up with in that department.

-Griselda

[BruceGod]

When I was way younger than I am now (seems like forever and a day), my family and me often went on long car rides to go camping, to the beach, etc. Some of my favorite snacks were (and to some extent, still are): peanut butter and celery sticks, raisins, trail mix, and of course nothing says "mom" like the good old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The celery sticks go in little plastic baggies, and you can always grab a jar of peanut butter. IMO, creamy peanut butter works better than crunchy; YMMV. Raisins (or any dried fruit) are ready to go, and last for the entire trip. Trail mix has nuts and different fruits for crunchy variety.
As for books, I prefer the paper-bound version, but then again it's rather difficult to read and drive simultaneously. ^_^ Some favorites from the past: The Chronicles of Narnia, anything by Steven King, the Wizard of Oz series (14 books total!, and Hardy Boys. No matter how many times I had read them before, I was always ready to read them again and again. (In fact, I have the Chronicles and several Steve books still... not the originals, of course. ) More recently, despite the over-simplification of good vs evil, and the apparent lack of any truly deeper sentiments, I have been severly addicted to the first six Drizzt novels. Now, I don't play D&D seriously, as the third edition is so munchkinized it's not even funny. But, I like Drizzt.
Other suggestions: take breaks often. Whenever I go on a trip, I usually take a minimum of one half-hour break to every four hours of driving. Also, don't overlook CD's and the radio. Singing along with your favorite songs can also be great fun. Then there's also the car ride games like "find a car from each of the 50 states" (only works in the US) or "find each of the letters of the alphabet, in order, on road signs." In any case, I hope both your husband, your daughter, and you will build great memories that will last a lifetime. B)

[Scrape]

During the last few years, I have been on many trips.

When I get hungry (or need a coffee break, which is often), I like to stop at a restaurant (preferably a diner). Even if I am going solo, which is usually the case, I just like sitting at diners, drinking coffee (or sometimes tea or other specialty coffee drinks), reading a magazine, browsing with my laptop, or whatever.

Occasionally I do end up with "car food," so I only have to stop for coffee. My favorite car food has to be Twizzlers. They are not too sticky, and they do not make a mess. BruceGod had some good suggestions, such as trail mix.

When I was younger (and much more mature), my homies and I used to play the alphabet game. We would pick a category, then start with a and take turns and go all the way to z. For each letter, the person would have to think of a word (relating to the category) that starts with each letter. Depending on the category, it could be easy or hard. Example for Diablo. A for Andariel, b for blood knight, and so on.

Music is my favorite occupier for car rides. Music is a big interest in my life. A while back I purchased a Neo Car Jukebox. (The kit comes with the hard drive already set in its adapter, a car adapter, and a computer adapter.) It is a hard drive that can be used in cars (and with computers and stereos). This allows me to store all of my music on one platform.

It comes in 20, 40, 80, and 120 GB versions. You can swap it out with another hard drive. Then you just have to flash the chip on the hard drive adapter. For more information, visit http://www.ssiamerica.com/products/neo35/

It is definitely an awesome possession.

And if you are interested in getting one of these, they can be tricky to install. (Plus to keep running properly.) ICQ me (or AIM, PM, whatever) and I can give you more information.

[Occhidiangela]

If a cooler is involved, I suggest:

Sliced celery "potato" chips
Carrot sticks
Strips of red or yellow bell pepper.
Celery Sticks with a bit of Peanut Butter in them.

All three of these are easy to clean up after with napkins. Pack into a zip lock bag.

Apples and oranges are a bit sticky and too juicy, though apples cut into eighths can be OK Turn brown kinda fast if not "suction sealed" in a zip lock bag. Bananas sticky if dropped, or squozed by the little one.

Other choices: fig newtons, rolled up flour tortillas with peanut butter or Nutella, fruit rollups.

Been a while since Tina and I had a small one to worry about.

Best drink in the car is coffee for the driver and water all around for kids. Other drinks, if spilled, may be bad on the car. Water is . . . so easy to clean up after!

We used to take along milk in a cooler, ages ago, but I got tired of the smell of baked in spilled milk, so that tradition went the way of the plains buffalo.

Occhi

[ShadowHM]

My kids are programmed for a three and a half hour ride, and snacks for that length are easy. Anything longer than that and time-outs to stretch the legs are needed anyway, so some of the messier snacks can be consumed then.

We play a few 'car games' when the stories pall. One of the favourites at the moment is a variation on twenty questions - using animals. One person chooses an animal and the other(s) must ask questions with yes/no answers to guess the animal. Is it a mammal? Is it a North American mammal? Is it bigger than a cat? Is it a carnivore? Is it a pack animal? et cetera

Of course, this requires that the players have some knowledge of the animals they choose. There have been moments when the youngest gets groans when he answers "I don't know" to such questions.

Another one is a contest as to who can spot the "kewlest" things by the roadside. This could be anything from an antique car to an oddly shaped tree to oddball farm animals - bison or emu, for example. Mis-spelt signs are a favourite with us - like "Enterance" by a gas station driveway.

May the road trip be a success !

[Griselda]

Thanks everyone. I decided that I wanted to make something, so I made peanut (not peanut butter) cookies, and let Mr. Gris handle getting what he wanted from the store. Of course, when he came home I saw that this apparently included no fresh fruits or vegetables. I asked him about it and he said "well I got fruit leathers". Oh well, I suppose "snacks with dad" will probably add some fun to the experience (but I'll go to the store next time!.

For entertainment, they got the first book of the Wheel of Time on CD. That sounds good, but I bet in CD form it will be harder to "skim" the parts with Nynaeve and Elayne. When you're reading, you can at least skim over what you skip to make sure you're not actually missing something besides braid pulling.

OT- I decided to use my evening off to donate blood for the first time, and apparently it affects typing. I'm having some trouble typing this message for some reason. Maybe it's just me, though- at the blood place they tilted my chair back and put a towel on my head afterwards- somehow I think that's not standard procedure but I was feeling a bit too woozy to hear what they were saying. I feel fine now, except I can't type very well. :unsure:

[Sirian]

Giving blood is not something I've done very well. I got terribly faint after giving a blood sample for a medical exam as a teen. That was considerably less than a pint... maybe less than half a pint. I so disliked the feeling, I have never gone to give blood, even though I know how valuable it is to others. Your story only reinforces my trepidation; however, I have sworn to myself that I will go and do it at least once, some day. Probably after I'm married, so the wife can drive me home and I can lay about the house gleaming about finally accomplishing a lifelong goal and playing it up a bit, get waited on for the evening, etc. Maybe do it on my birthday or something. Please don't save a copy of this message.


- Sirian

[Griselda]

I think you should do it to celebrate the fifth day after your birthday.

It's been a few hours, and I can type just fine by now. I'd expect you to go through it with flying colors since you pay more attention to your blood sugar than I do.

Go for it!

-Griselda

[Sirian]

I hear ya. However, this is me chickening out for now.

If I haven't done it within say five years, then feel free to razz me into submission. :wub:


- Sirian

[KingOfPain]

I don't have a problem giving blood except that I am
AFRAID of the needle

When I got married, my wedding plan was delayed for months simply because I was too chicken to get the required blood test. Hehe :P

KoP