camp meals

Road Trip Snack Mix

Freeze-dried fruit, dried vegetables, and seeds in a jar on the passenger seat.

calories
320
weight
2 oz
cal / oz
160
protein
9 g
serves
6, scales
prep
5 min
cook
0 min
total time
5 min
water
none
cost
$$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Snack
  • No cook
  • Car camping
  • Day hike
  • Backpacking
  • Bikepacking
  • Canoe / raft
  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan
  • Gluten free
  • Dairy free
  • Nut free
  • Eat in the bag
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Dump and stir

Ingredients

Freeze-dried strawberry slices 1 cup
Freeze-dried blueberries 1/2 cup
Dried corn 1/2 cup the crunchy kind, not the rehydrating kind
Dried green peas 1/2 cup
Pumpkin seeds 3/4 cup roasted and salted
Sunflower seeds 3/4 cup
Coconut chips 1/2 cup unsweetened
Salt 1/2 tsp
Smoked paprika 1/2 tsp optional, cuts the sweetness

Method

  1. Tip everything into a large bag or a wide jar.
  2. Add the salt and paprika last so they land on the seeds, not the fruit.
  3. Shake until the color is even. Do not stir with a spoon — the freeze-dried fruit breaks into dust.
  4. Split into six snack bags, or leave it in one jar within reach of the driver.

This is a snack you build once at home and eat out of for a week. The seeds carry the calories and almost all of the protein; the freeze-dried fruit and vegetables are there for crunch and sugar, since they weigh almost nothing and never go soft in a hot car.

Salt is the part people skip. Two cups of seeds without it reads as bland by the third handful, and on a long driving day or a hot hike the sodium is doing real work. The paprika is optional but keeps the mix from tasting like dessert.

Packing

Freeze-dried fruit crushes under anything heavier than itself. Use a rigid jar or a wide-mouth bottle in the car, and put single servings in the top of the pack, not the bottom.

Variations

  • Swap the peas for dried green beans if you want less starch.
  • A handful of pretzels makes it more filling, but it stops being gluten-free.
  • Dairy-free dark chocolate chips work in cool weather only. Above 70F they coat everything.

https://motherearthproducts.com/collections/road-trip-snacks