Best Snacks to Keep In Your Car

Car snacks are essential. Sometimes you get stuck somewhere or simply haven’t eaten all day, and the only food around is the granola bar that Past You thought to shove in the glove department three years ago on a road trip to Yosemite. Yay, Past You! And that granola bar is all well and good, but we want to give you a variety of shelf-stable snacks to choose from to stock in your car for a rainy day. So, without further ado, here are Sporked’s picks for the best snacks to keep in your car.

I know I know Nature Valley is renowned for its crumbly, crumbly bars. Believe me, this isn’t one of those. This is a pleasantly chewy, almondy granola bar that, if I’m being honest, could probably stay in your car for a year and still be fine to eat. Senior writer Jordan Myrick said these are “the best granola bars I’ve ever had in my entire life, and that the almond butter dipped part on the bottom of the bar tastes more like frosting than anything else.” Yes, the dip will get a little melty in your glove box, but it’s better than melty chocolate. A win of a granola bar.

Flavor Blasted Xtra Cheddar Goldfish Crackers

Looking for something you can eat by the handful without getting your hands too dirty and doesn’t have the shatter of a chip? Look no further than Goldfish. And let me be the first to tell you, car goldfish really do hit different, I mean it. Give me a handful of these puppies on a road trip and I am happy for, like, at least 10 miles. Give me the Flavor Blasted kind and you get 20 miles out of me with zero complaints. Sporked managing editor Gwynedd Stuart pointed out that “the cheddar powder that enrobes these little crackers so wonderfully complements the baked-in cheddar flavor that you know and love.” Goldfish truly are one of the best car snacks.

A Baggie of Golden Grahams

Hear me out: Car cereal also hits different and, in my opinion, Golden Grahams are the way to go. They are whole grain, so you are getting some fiber in there, but mostly these just taste so great that they have rightfully earned a spot on the best snacks to keep in your car list. Editor-in-chief Justine Sterling said Golden Grahams “truly taste like tiny graham crackers,” and that they also have a “slightly burnt-sugar aftertaste—like the top of a creme brulee.” Ugh, delicious. Put a baggie of these in your glove compartment and let Future You rejoice when she finds them in there on a desperate hunt for 2:30 p.m. sustenance.

Nature Valley Oats ‘n’ Honey Bar

Just kidding. If you stock these in your car you will be cursed with endless car seat crumbs for the next 150 years, and there’s nothing we can do to save you. Choose anything else on this list. Literally, anything. Thank you.

RXBAR Maple Sea Salt

The best protein bars usually involve chocolate, and chocolate is a decidedly not great thing to keep in a hot car. For these purposes, we’re looking for protein that doesn’t involve a melty component, and RXBAR makes just the thing. “Sometimes, I just want something healthy that’s not chocolate,” Sporked contributor Danny Palumbo wrote in his review. “RXBARs give me that.” And this Maple Sea Salt flavor is dope: slightly salty, sweet, and nutty. Stash a few of these in the ol’ center console.

Snyder’s of Hanover Snaps

Say what you will about pretzels, these puppies last. Given that fact, if you are a salty snacks girl, pretzels may just be one of the best snacks to keep in your car. Why? Because why the heck not?!?! They are crunchy, salty, and certainly better for you than many other salty snacks you could choose. Plus, they won’t get your fingers all greasy when you’re on the road. Also, these are hands down the best pretzels we’ve had at Sporked. The staff called them “indescribably buttery,” and “the perfect little morsel of salty, crunchy goodness,” among other things. Check these bad boys out.

Chomps Original Beef Stick

The meat stick is the unofficial mascot of road trips everywhere, so, obviously, we needed one on this list of the best snacks to keep in your car. Chomps makes delicious, filling meat sticks to keep handy as you drive about your day. They use “100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef, the animals are never given hormones or antibiotics, and they’re harvested as humanely as possible.” Plus, these are so beefy tasting that they brought to mind a specific cut of meat when Danny was doing this taste test (it was a ribeye; I told you this stuff is good).