These are the best travel snacks for on the go

When you're on the go, you want just one thing: good travel snacks within reach. Because yes, traveling is fun, but sitting hungry on the train or wondering if you can eat that egg sandwich on the plane is a bit less fun. Here’s the ultimate guide to travel snacks that will make your trip feel like business class (here you read: Today we fly business class) – even if you're flying economy, taking the second class train, or sitting in the back at your in-laws heading to the south of France.

Travel snacks that don't stink – your fellow passengers will thank you

Let's start with the basics: no stinky cheese, no egg yolk, no garlic salami, and definitely no onion. Yes, that sounds nice at home on the couch, but at 10,000 feet in a closed cabin, you suddenly become the reason someone is trying to grab their oxygen mask.

So what can you have? Think of neutral, friendly snacks:

• A wrap with hummus and carrot
• Roasted nuts (without garlic powder, of course)
• A small cup of fruit (Bonus points, because: you immediately feel the fitgirl from the gate, just like Marijn Kuipers)
• Such a tasty Nakd bar
• A boiled egg without yolk (okay, a bit cheating, but odorless, so: fair game).

No crumb chaos: these travel snacks stay neat

The ideal travel snack leaves no trace. No chocolate crumbs on your pants, no puff pastry mess on your lap. So: leave that croissant at the appie to go and go for a Kaiser roll instead.

What does work?

• Rice cakes with peanut butter and banana (possibly freeze a bit so the peanut butter doesn't melt right away)
• Cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes (also nice with hummus dip: this is how you make the tastiest hummus yourself)
• Fruit roll-ups. Well, if you want to snack, you might as well take these fruit rolls with you on the train. They aren't that unhealthy either, because they're made only from fruit.

Travel snacks that fill you up without bloating you

No one wants to sit next to a stranger like a bloated balloon while traveling. So sorry, chips and cola – you stay home while traveling. Instead, choose:

• Rice balls (this is how you make the tastiest rice balls – and the good thing: rice skips that bloated feeling).
• Coconut yogurt with granola. Yogurt often smells a bit sour, so choose the coconut variant, it smells sweeter. Put it in a well-sealed jar – tip: take it separately, mix it on location. Oh yes, and don't forget a plastic bag for your dirty spoon.
• Small wraps cut into pieces (e.g. with cream cheese, smoked chicken, and lettuce – done).
• Soup. Easy: put it in a thermos. How nice is it to just sip some soup?

Healthier travel snacks for the unprepared traveler

Of course, you can also just choose a delicious chocolate muffin at the airport or in the kiosk at the station, but after three of those big ones, it might also be time for you to buy a healthier snack. Are you poorly prepared and have no time for all that meal prep? You can just grab these snacks in a mini supermarket and they're healthy too:

• Nut or protein bars, for example those from Eet Natuurlijk
• Yogurt snack: they often sell those cups of quark with red fruit and muesli. Also nice: a squeeze yogurt.
  Tip: go for the variant with the most protein – that way you feel full faster and longer.
• Small bag of salty popcorn – a light snack for when you just feel like snacking
  Tip: open the bag before you get on the train, so no one suddenly gets that “wow, are we in the cinema?” effect
• Orange juice or another fruit juice – make sure to choose a variant without added sugars

The ultimate guilty pleasure travel snacks for on the go

Look, traveling = vacation feeling. And vacation feeling = snacks that you can’t ‘have’ at home. So here are some all-time favorites that you can occasionally take with you in your hand luggage or glove compartment. Okay, some of these have a scent, but these are the snacks you can better eat between trains and flights – or just when you’re sitting alone in your car.

• Mini-Snickers and Bounty’s
• Cheese crackers – homemade are really the tastiest
• Chili Rice Crackers. And for those who don’t like spicy: the paprika or BBQ flavor = also very tasty. Tip: go for the minis, they're much easier to eat.
• Peanut clusters – classic and also fun to make yourself. And here's how you do it.
• A bag of Haribo is also allowed, but then the German XL variant, okay?.

DIY: make your own travel snacks (and impress)

For the meal prep heroes (or the people who don’t want to buy an overpriced sandwich at the bakery next to the station): making your own snacks is easier than you think. And you feel great when you’re making everyone jealous with your mega-meal.

Ideas:

• Mini frittatas with spinach and feta (baked in muffin form = easy to take along, smell = not so pleasant on the train) – here’s how to make them.
• Oatmeal bars with dates and coconut – just blend, bake, done. Here you find the recipe.
• Mini pancakes with fruit – festive and practical. Here you read how to make the healthy protein pancakes.

Bonus: what you especially should NOT take with you

Because yes, it can also go horribly wrong. Here’s a mini blacklist:

• Tuna salad (smells like trouble)
• Puff pastry snacks (a.k.a. crumb cannons)
• Boiled egg with yolk (you know why – yuck)
• Something with truffle (you’ll end up in a smelly escape room on 2 square meters)
• Chips with intense flavor (that bag often has an intense smell too)