10 Best Snacks for a Long Illinois Road Trip

Snacks are like the unsung heroes of any road trip, especially when you're heading out on a long journey through the Land of Lincoln.

Illinois Road Trip Planning

Snacks aren't just munchies; they're essential survival tools for keeping the peace, maintaining sanity, and ensuring everyone arrives at the destination with smiles intact.

A long road trip can feel like an eternity, especially for little ones with ants in their pants. But with the right snacks, you've got built-in entertainment that can keep everyone happily occupied for miles on end.

All the mom bloggers will suggest a container with multiple compartments for things like little cheese cubes, crackers, and maybe some fruit like grapes or strawberries.

Ain't no SNACKlebox in our car!

I don't want a charcuterie board for the mess-makers in the backseat. I'm not interested in hearing one of them whine about not liking the snacks barely 30 minutes into the trip.

This is NOT how we roll.

We hit the grocery store candy aisle (or gas station) and drop big money on some good sugary snacks. It's a road trip, let's have some fun.

1.

No way my wife gets in the car for a road trip without a bag of these. And forget those green apple-flavored ones, it's only the OG Lime for her.

Skittles

2.

The first one of these I ate was given to me by the teller in the drive-thru of my parent's bank and I have loved them since.

Tootsie Rolls

3.

You just haven't lived until you've had to stick a finger in your mouth to pick a Dot off the top of one of your molars.

Dots

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4.

My wife and kids will fight ya for these. It's those clear ones (pineapple flavored) that my wife loves most and on occasion you can find bags of just one flavor.

Haribo Goldbears

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5.

I tend to lean towards salty and crunchy for my road snacks. You can't go wrong with a bag of Rockford, Illinois-made chips.

Mrs. Fisher's Potato Chips

6.

Whenever I get a break from driving, you'll find me with a bag of these and a cup for the shells.

Pistachios

7.

Besides a huge bucket of popcorn, this is a go-to snack at the movies for me. Do you ever eat so many of these that your jaw hurts?

8.

When I was a kid, I would steal one of these every time we went to the grocery store. The store had an area where you could scoop up the candy you wanted into a bag. There are several brands of these, I think Brach's was the brand that was just out in the open at the store when I was younger.

Orange Slices

9.

I'd neer heard of these until my wife and kids got some at the movies. We just took a trip to Peoria for a baseball tournament and my wife and our two youngest polished off a giant bag in two days.

Nerds Gummie Clusters

10.

This is my all-time favorite candy but it's not the best road trip snack. I like them frozen and there is no way to keep them in that state in the car. It's still a great candy when not frozen, but it's much better frozen.

Charleston Chew

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