Healthy Baby Travel Snacks
Updated June 13, 2023
Preparing these nutritious baby travel snacks will ensure your baby continues to enjoy healthy food – even when you’re out and about!
Why preparing your own baby travel snacks is important
Whilst we don’t usually recommend using food as a way of occupying your child, there’s no doubt that some healthy travel snacks come in VERY handy when you’re out and about!
Whether your baby is facing a long stretch in his stroller/pushchair, or you’re setting off on a lengthy trip, your baby will definitely appreciate some tasty treats to help that time fly by!
(Don’t forget to visit our finger foods page for more information about allowing your baby to feed himself).
By preparing your own snacks for your baby ahead of time, you can be sure that the foods he will be eating when you’re ‘on the go’ will be healthy.
Otherwise, you may find yourself in the situation where you have to give him a pre-packaged – possibly unsuitable – snack, because there are no healthy alternatives available.
And if you’re setting off on a long road trip with your baby, there may simply be nowhere to get your baby a snack when he needs one!
Please note:
It’s important to watch your baby at all times when he’s snacking – particularly in the car.
Unless there is an adult passenger available to sit beside your baby when he eats, DON’T allow him to eat in a moving car.
It may add a little extra time to your journey, but pulling over for a snack is the safest option for your baby by far!
Baby travel snacks – top tips
- ALWAYS carry wet wipes or a damp washcloth in a sandwich bag for quick and easy clean up.
Bring along an empty plastic bag for leftover foods and other messy items. - Prepare foods that your baby is familiar with – it’s no fun discovering that he doesn’t like your homemade teething crackers when you’re miles from the nearest store or service station!
- Make foods look fun and appealing if your baby is old enough to appreciate your efforts!
Some foods – like cheese – can be easily cut into different shapes (learn more about giving cheese to your baby).
Mix brightly coloured foods with contrasting colours – pieces of yellow cheese with red bell pepper strips, for example. - Keep all of your baby’s travel snacks in a good cooler with ice packs, to ensure that they remain safe for him to eat.
- Avoid very messy, crumbly foods, unless you’re going to be feeding your baby out in the open (in a park, for example), where dropped crumbs won’t be an issue!
- Bring Disposable Bibs (Amazon) or a wipe clean, plastic bib. You can see a few more of our favourite bibs here.
Best baby travel snacks
Here are a few ideas for simple but healthy travel snacks for your baby. We’d love to hear your ideas, too, so please contact us with your suggestions…
- Cubes of naturally sweet baked apple dusted with cinnamon (try Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Fuji or Pink Lady)
- tofu cubes
- homemade bread sticks
- squares of previously toasted wholegrain bread
- fingers of cheese
- rice cakes
- blueberries
- dry, wholegrain cereal, such as Cheerios
- cooked pasta (tri-colour pasta is often a hit because it looks so appealing)
- sliced, fresh fruit that your baby is already enjoying (although these can be messy!)
- cubes of cooked sweet potato or butternut squash
- blanched veggies, such as snow peas, sugar-snap peas/mange tout, asparagus, green beans or broccoli
- well cooked black beans – ideal for when baby’s pincer grip is well developed, black beans are highly nutritious
Great accessories for feeding baby “on the go”
More about blanching vegetables for baby
Many cooks like to blanch certain vegetables because it enhances their colour and maintains their crisp texture, particularly if they are destined for the freezer.
But the texture of blanched vegetables is also ideal for babies to enjoy as finger foods – they will not be as “mushy” as fully cooked vegetables, but will be more tender than raw.
To blanch vegetables for your baby:
- Bring a pot of water to the boil.
- Add the veggies of your choice (the ones we’ve listed above are the most suitable for blanching).
- Boil for 2 minutes (a minute or two longer for broccoli), then drain.
- Place the vegetables into iced water until they have cooled completely. This stops them from cooking any further and explains how they keep their crisp texture.
And that’s it – your veggies are ready to serve!
Handy tip…
You can also blanch pasta when using it as a finger food for your baby or in cold salads – this stops it getting sticky or mushy.
But you will, of course, need to increase the cooking time according to the type of pasta you are using!
a great travel snack recipe from our blog…
More top tips, advice and baby travel accessories…
Travel cots and portable cribs
