Healthy Fast Food and Snack Foods for On-the-Go Families

Do you eat while driving? Do your kids eat in the car? Active families with busy lifestyles can hardly avoid eating on the run. Here are meal planning tips, snack suggestions and healthier fast food options for families who eat on the run.

Scheduling and meal planning tips:

-Stop at a local park for a few minutes and eat there

-Put time between eating and strenuous exercise. Give food 15 minutes to digest before a game or practice.

-Start a meal in the Crock Pot or slow cooker. Use your oven if you are gone less than three hours.

-Set meat to thaw in a cake pan in the fridge over night.

-Build a repertoire of twenty-minute recipes.

-Look for activities that start after 6 p.m. or after school ones that finish before 6 p.m.

-Don't schedule after school events and evening events on the same night.

Healthy snacks for travel (store in a insulated cooler)

-raisins, dried fruit

-edamame, soy nuts, almonds

-peanut butter dip (plain yogurt and peanut butter) with carrots, celery, cucumbers, apple wedges, pretzels, crackers, bread sticks

-salsa with pretzels, baked corn chips, cucumbers, celery, crackers

-hummus with crackers, pretzels, cucumbers, celery, apples

-olive oil - dip with sliced mushrooms, cumbers celery, carrots, pepper spears, broccoli, cauliflower,

-peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

-roll-up tortillas spread low-fat cream cheese, deli meat, cheese and romaine lettuce

-trail mix: peanuts, Cheerios, Chex, pretzels, raisins, M&M's

-South Beach, Luna or Clif protein bars

Healthy fast food restaurant choices:

-Subway: Choose one of the sandwiches with under seven grams of fat. Choose cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, green peppers, tomatoes, and vinegar and oil instead of mayonnaise

-Taco Bell: Seven layer burrito, nachos, tacos.

-Arby's Market Fresh selections

-McDonald's Chicken Caesar, Garden, or Asian salad with milk or water

-Wendy's Cobb salad

For more meal planning and busy family helps, visit my linked blogs.