This Is The Best Food To Eat While Driving (2024)

I don’t know why Jalops in Texas are particularly interested in what we eat inside our cars. Some drivers say they don’t eat in their car at all. I wouldn’t eat in someone’s car unless they gave me permission to do so, but I’ll happily eat in my hatch. Especially on a road trip that’s going to take hours to get through.

In fact, road trips need both good music and good food. The best food and snacks for eating while driving should taste good, and be easy to eat one-handed. My pick is the breakfast taco, a Tex-Mex staple which drivers in the South know well because it’s a perfectly contained tube of flour and protein.

Car friends in the North might recognize the breakfast taco as a burrito, but that’s wrong. Wrong! A burrito is a dried up husk with some “beef” in it that you can buy at a gas station for 50 cents. It’ll do in a pinch, but a breakfast taco is much better road trip food that lends itself to one-handed eating.

We asked our readers what the best food to eat while driving is and these were their answers:

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2 / 11

If you can’t manage a candy bar and a co*ke, you shouldn’t be driving.

“How can I possibly eat these McDonald’s fries in my cupholder while stuck in rushhour traffic?”

And if you’re on a roadtrip with at least one other person, there’s literally no issue unless you’re trying to eat... soup? Cereal? A full steak dinner?

Submitted by: COMTNDRVR, fake-plastic-eye, among others

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3 / 11

Full English breakfast while steering with your knee.

…

Or a burrito if you want to be all amateur about it

And...

put all of that in a couple sobaqueras to make a nice big burrito.

This counts!

Submitted by: GenderRevealOrdnanceDisposal, dogrivergrad68, MrWowiezowie

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4 / 11

Obviously the answer is a bowl of cereal

(It could actually work if you use a tall cup, and drink the cereal.)

Submitted by: Autojunkie

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5 / 11

Anything from the local hole in the wall

There’s why driving, and while road-tripping.

While driving, food needs to be single bite, not greasy and able to be easily picked out of a cup or bag. So, cheese cubes, cut up fruit, small pieces of beef jerky, candy, etc.

While road tripping, my rules are focused on living in the South for 20+ years:

1. Any place that looks like it was painted as an Art Project for a 5th grade class is worth stopping at. You’ve found the local Meat and 3.

2. If it’s the weekend and the gas station looks to be on fire, there’s lunch. I don’t care if you aren’t hungry, you will be when you see what is coming out of the smoker.

3. Janky Taco Truck. Looks like it was painted with a roller that had a 2" nap about a decade ago in eye searing green. There you go. Just watch using the red sauce if you don’t want to re-create the Johnny Cash Song “Ring of Fire” at the next rest stop.

4. ALL places must have lots of cars in front of them. Period. Don’t stop at an empty restaurant. Not unless you want to get banned for life from Florida Rest Stops (not that I know anything about that)

5. Special Super Rural edition. If you see a place that has a lot of cheap cars or even a Buggy pulled up, you have a good chance of finding an Amish or Mennonite Buffet. As long as you have a place to sleep of the impending food coma, that is an excellent option. They aren’t all in Pennsylvania.

6. Be Brave. Do a google search in for places near me with phone. You will find lots of strange options that are highly rated. Ask locals. I’ve had Ethiopian food from a strip mall, Greek food from a monastery on top of a mountain, deep fried everything from reservation where the entire tribe seemed to be 8 people living in a swamp, Great fish from a place that was really a fish farm, but would catch a live one and cook it up for you while you waited, etc.

Submitted by: hoser68

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6 / 11

For long distance solo driving where what matters most is being able to eat in the car without spilling anything on your shirt/lap, a meal that can be eaten one-handed without even looking at it, nothing beats the McDonalds 2-cheeseburger value meal. It’s as close to a perfect food pellet for humans as possible. Enough flavor to be edible, texture is adequate, easily washed down with a diet co*ke. The fries are fine, but unnecessary.

If I’m driving with someone else, Ima stop at all the awesome little restaurants between here and wherever. but solo, this is the perfect meal. not sexy, not interesting, but cheap, easily located and mess free.

Submitted by: buckfiddious, TheMaskedBurrito, Milhouse, among others

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7 / 11

What a throwback. I instantly recognized Ms G’s when i saw that image as I came from that same town.

beef Jerky for me.

Submitted by: cubeenigma, shop-teacher @opposite-lock . com, TheWalrus, among others

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8 / 11

Don’t even pretend like the answer isn’t chewy granola bars.

Variety: 5/10

Chocolate Chip. S’more. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. Double Chocolate Chip. Easy to unwrap one handed or with teeth, come in boxes of 1000 and cost next to nothing. You’ve been eating them since childhood. There aren’t a lot of variants, and the ingredients list is only slightly varied per bar. But 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, and Snickers are all the same candy bar and no one complains about that. So what’s there is good, even if there isn’t a lot of it.

Convenience: 8/10

On a road trip and run out? They sell them everywhere. There’s national brands, regional brands and store brands. Take your pick. I’ve found Walmart’s house brand to be the best value. You aren’t getting top quality ingredients, you’re just after literal fuel that tastes good and reminds you of being a kid in the 90s. We usually get two boxes if we’re going to be gone for a week, because people love them and are hesitant to ask. Also, really great if you chill them in a cooler. Reminds me of the little ice packs we got in our Arctic Zone lunch boxes.

Mess level: 1/10

Just a wrapper, and unless your car is boiling hot they don’t melt. You might get a slight bit of stickyness, but after eating one chewy granola bar you realize that you can just hold it in the wrapper the entire time.

Nutrition level: 1/10

Ingredients: Oats, All of the things that lead to tooth decay.

So that’s my nomination. Drinks are a bit more difficult because of cupholder placement/access for the driver. I use a (popular thermal flask brand) for iced coffee in the console, and a (popular thermal flask brand) that fits into my door holder for water. If it’s a longer ride, I’ll use the rear seat cupholders in my Veloster (very conveniently placed for the driver to reach when safely stopped) for additional items.

Submitted by: Carl, stiggums

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9 / 11

Beaver Nuggets! A cross between Carmel Corn and Screamin Yellow Zonkers but without the popcorn hulls stuck in your teeth.

Submitted by: Lew Schiller

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10 / 11

Jelly beans and gummis, because you can put a bag of them on the passenger seat and just pick and chew them when you need a bit of blood sugar boosting.

Submitted by: skeffles

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