Bust out your sunscreen and beach snacks, families! It’s somehow already spring break and though our days haunting Collins Avenue after dark are (likely) over, our days spent acquiescing to being buried alive by giggling children in the sand and pretending we are brave and not nauseous on small boat craft while our kids prance around us throwing live bait at each other have arrived.
Instead of simply grabbing an XL bag of Tostitos Hint of Lime and a 6 pack of Coronas (delicious, but not nourishing for the family), we have to put a little prep time into our journeys to shores and ensure everyone in the three rows of the van is satiated and happy for the day at the beach. This does present unique time and temperature control issues in our sweltering seas, so be sure to consume anything perishable within two hours or keep it on ice packs.
Family-Friendly Beach Snacks
My favorite family-friendly foods and beach snack hacks are:
- Stopping at Publix on the way. Use their pick-up app to avoid lines and get salads, sandwiches, and wraps on whole wheat, and opt for grilled chicken, tuna salad, or turkey topped with mustard, all the veggies, and oil/vinegar.
- HINT waters and SpinDrift, which are very lightly flavored and great alternatives to juice and soda
- Oranges, apples, plums, carrots, sugar snap peas, grape tomatoes, raw broccoli and cauliflower, celery sticks, and other sturdy fruit and veggies (read: no squished bananas in your beach bag) paired with mini containers of guacamole, salsa, or Greek yogurt + onion powder (I call it “ranch dressing” and nobody knows.)
- Tear open packets of tuna, salmon, and chicken you can quickly mash up with an avocado and serve with whole-grain crackers
- Tear open packets of 88 Acres seed butters (we are a nut-free, sesame-free allergy household) to smear on the aforementioned fruit
- Seaweed snacks, which are high in iodine and satisfy a salty desire without swallowing saltwater
- Kale chips, zucchini chips, green bean chips, beet chips, carrot chips, or any veggie you throw in an oven or air fryer. You can buy these commercially but they are more expensive and come in packaging (yikes!). PS – use silicone reusable bags for snacks, and not plastic, and take your water in stainless steel insulated containers. Also, your mommy juice – white wine, rose, prosecco + a hint of Aperol and some club soda…
- Pack sliced lemons and limes to jazz up water and any iced tea you bring without sugar
- Dried cheese crackers like Whisps are full of protein and cheesy flavor
- SunButter and jelly/banana sandwiches on Ezekiel bread or Mestemacher bread
- Toasted and spiced (or raw) sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds
- Toasted and spiced dried beans (like Biena snacks) or dried edamame
- Hard-boiled eggs with paprika (consume quickly out of the fridge!)
And of course, have paletas (popsicles) on the ready at home or stop for them on the way home (I love Morelia!)
See you at the beach. I’ll be the one chasing all the dogs with SPF 500.
Planning a beach day? Be sure to check out this post for more expert-level tips and hacks!
