On the road? Healthy, quick & mess-less foods

Snacks
Pre-portion snack food into single serving bags - it will save you calories, fat, sugar… and car mess.

Car friendly fruit: Prewash and slice… easy to eat and tend to be less messy; red/purple grapes, bananas, sliced apple, sliced mango, berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries). Fruits with dark, staining juice or messy leftover pits are not the best pick for a car ride. And whether you have kids or not… don't forget the wipes!

Raw vegetables:   Baby carrots, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, sticks of celery, red, yellow and green peppers.

Nuts: Pre-packed bags of 20 raw almonds, cashews, or walnuts.

Seapoint Farms Dry Roasted Edamame: Lightly salted and Wasabi

Whole grain cereal: Pre-packed "one cup" bags of Barbara's Puffins, Multigrain Cheerios, Quaker Corn bran, Kashi Heart to Heart.

Yogurt: Dannon Light & Fit makes a yogurt smoothie that contains only 60 calories per bottle. Other brands include Yo Baby and Stonyfield Farm (opt for the Stonyfield 'light' smoothie to save unnecessary excess calories). Both Horizon Organic and Stonyfield Farm both make yogurt squeeze tubes, which are easy and fun snacks for kids to eat.

Stacy's Pita Chips: Tasty baked pita chips available in a 6-pack of individual bags with 130 calories each to aid in portion control.

FruitaBü: Available in both fruit flats and fruit twirls - 100% organic, all natural (no sugar added), these treats provide the sweetness of candy while offering one serving of fruit per twirl.

100 calorie packs:  O'Coco's Organic Baked Chocolate Crisps, Snyder's of Hanover Pretzels, Nabisco (varieties), South Beach (varieties), Keebler "Right Bites" (varieties), Entenmann's "Little Bites" (varieties), Special K Snack Bites and Cereal Bars

Newton Minis: These "whole grain" cookies are available in Fig and Strawberry Flavors and each bag contains only 130 calories.

CocoaVia: These portion controlled healthy chocolates are perfect for a guiltless indulgence.

Joy Bauer is the author of “Food Cures.”

For more information on healthy eating, check out Joy’s Web site at www.joybauernutrition.com.

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