We at Vegan Essentials love traveling. Whether it be short trips or long-haul flights, we make sure to pack accordingly. One thing we make sure to plan for is the snacking options. We feel like there isn’t much to choose from when we’re out and about. That’s why we take matters into our own hands. After all, they say that “Success depends upon previous preparation. And without such preparation, there is sure to be failure.”
That’s where this list comes in. We’ve prepared some of our favorites so you can easily pick from them and focus on planning your trip!
Here’s how we take care of long-haul snacking. We pack portioned quantities of our favorites. If we’ve got a huge bag of chips, we transfer what we won’t be bringing into an airtight container. That means when we eat up all our snacks on the plane, we can just throw out the bag and not be left with something extra to carry around.
We also just grab smaller packs if they’re available. After we square away and download all the things we want to watch during our flight, we pair our movies and shows with the right snacks. Long flights do sometimes get boring and, aside from any physical or digital form of entertainment we bring, snacks just make us excited. And don’t forget variety! Too much of the same thing can get tiresome really fast.
It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of popcorn. These are snacks that aren’t too noisy to eat and they don’t have any strong aroma that would potentially bother other plane passengers (let’s all be considerate!).
Lesser Evil popcorn also comes in a handful of flavors like their Organic Himalayan Gold Butter, Organic Himalayan Sweetness, Organic Fiery Hot, and "No Cheese" Cheesiness Popcorn. Since these come in bigger-than-a-single-portion size, remember our little tip from earlier to make packing more practical!
You can’t skip the protein snacks for travel! With Trubar’s protein bars, you can tick two items off your list. You get some essential nutrients and a satisfyingly delicious snack in each pack. We like protein bars as a pre-breakfast snack (especially when we wake up before they start serving meals) or as a tasty dessert. And protein bars are always easy to pack and take up little space in your bags. You can’t go wrong by having some!
Talk about variety! Packing one of each would surely tickle your tastebuds. Get these awesome flavors from Trubar: Daydreaming About Donuts, Get in My Belly PB & Jelly, Oh Oh Cookie Dough, Smother Fudger Peanut Butter, and Saltylicious Almond Love.
We like salty food for night flights (so that sugar won’t keep us up when we need to sleep) and sweet snacks for morning to afternoon flights - anything to give us the extra boost! Think about it. If you pack only sweet and sugary snacks on a night flight, chances are you won’t be getting essential sleep when you land. Oh, the jet lag! That just messes up your internal clock!
Since you’re packing for short (and hopefully sweet) plane rides, you don’t need to pack big bags and too many snacks…Unless you want to… We won’t judge. We, again, won’t need to pack anything too noisy to eat.
Nuts have always been great snacks for any kind of trip. Pocket Latte just made them extra delicious by coating them in chocolate and adding that extra bit of unique flavor. Plus, they come in little bags, making them easy to stow away in a pack.
Pocket Latte’s Chocolate Coated Almonds come in Mango Yuzu, Matcha, and Black Sesame flavors. They’re so good, the passenger seated beside you might want some! And you can definitely share them. Each pack has more than one serving. If you don’t finish off the pack, just reseal them using the packaging’s built-in zip. No fuss!
If you’re just in for a really short ride, then snacking might not be part of the plan. You might not have extra space in your precisely packed carry-on for bigger snacks and checking in a bag isn’t even an option. We get it.
So for practical travelers, we recommend ProBar Energy Chews or Frooze Balls. Both come in small packs and the snacks in them can help stave off hunger and give you a jolt of energy! These come in handy when you’re traveling for business, too. We find that nerves kill our appetite so these portioned energy snacks are excellent.
Road trips are easier to pack for, we think. You’re likely to be familiar with the other passengers, can eat almost anything you want, and you can simply clean up after yourselves. You can also pack drinks! Unlike plane rides where they may be confiscated, you can pack your favorite beverage to enjoy while on your trip.
When packing vegan snacks for travel, you’ve got to think big. You’re not the only passenger you’re packing snacks for. You’ve got to have a mindset for sharing. So let’s get some share-worthy vegan snacks for road trips!
Skip the gas station pork rinds and go for Pig Out Crunchies instead. No one cares if you’re eating the crunchiest baked snack ever as long as you’ve brought enough to share. Plus seeing as you’re skipping the usually fatty rinds and going for a better alternative, you’ll have room in your belly for when you decide to make a spontaneous stop at an interesting restaurant.
Speaking of everyone… There’s a flavor for everyone to love here! Outstanding’s Pig Out Crunchies are available in Sea Salt, Nacho Cheese, Hella Hot, and Texas BBQ. If you can’t pick just one, get them all!
One of the best things about road trips is stopping at a little cafe and getting some coffee. So we won’t deprive you of that experience by suggesting coffee drinks. We can, however, recommend some pretty refreshing, bubbly drinks that everyone (yes, even the designated driver) can enjoy!
Grüvi makes some pretty awesome non-alcoholic craft brews. You’ll want to try both their Juicy IPA and Golden brews for sure. So load up the cooler with ice and drop some cans in. Once you’re ready to drink, just roll the windows down and cool off with these amazing craft brews.
Also Read - 9 Healthy Vegan Snacks Ideas for Every Craving
Now that you’ve got a pretty good idea of our fave vegan snacks for travel, it’s time to hit the road with them! Make sure you place your orders with a little bit of lead time so that Vegan Essentials can deliver them right before your trip!