The summer holidays are fast approaching, do you have any holidays or days out planned with your family? If you’re anything like us, it can be tempting to eat everything in sight when you're on holiday; whether that’s trying to eat as many different flavours of ice-cream as possible or trying to devour everything you ordered from the restaurant. Life is all about balance, amongst all the delicious new foods you will be eating this holiday, getting some healthy snacks and food into your diet is also important to keep you feeling energised. To help you stay on the healthy track, we have some helpful tips and tricks to help you and your family when travelling this year.
Planning ahead
Travelling with children can often be a challenging and stressful experience. From packing their essentials to managing their excitement in a new place, every step can feel like a logistical puzzle. One of our top tips when travelling with children abroad or on a long car journey, is to prepare lots of food and snacks for the journey. Having a stash of your children's favourite healthy snacks like raisins, cereal bars, fresh fruit or yoghurt pouches in a bag to dish out when needed is a tried and tested tip. If you’re travelling during a mealtime, pack up a homemade breakfast, lunch or dinner before you head to the airport. This will prevent you from running around like a headless chicken trying to find food that your children like but is also part of their balanced diet. Similarly, if you are travelling to your staycation destination by car, the list of healthy main meals at a service station is near impossible to find. For some yummy and nutritious snacks and meals to make when travelling with your children, keep on reading!
Healthy travel recipes for children
Whether you need some snacks for the plane or car journey, whether you have a villa or staycation house with a kitchen and you feel like cooking or you just want some snack inspo for the whole family - here you go!
Healthy snack recipes
Air fryer pasta crisps
Air fryer pasta crisps have become a popular and delicious snack over the past few years, but have you ever made them yourself? This innovative snack transforms your everyday pasta into a crunchy snack.
Ingredients:
- 225g pasta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch of dried oregano
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- Salt
- Pepper
- 3 tbsp parmesan cheese
Method:
- To begin, put your water onto boil and once it is boiling, add in your pasta
- Whilst the pasta is cooking, add all your other ingredients into a bowl and stir together
- Once your pasta is cooked, drain it and then add the pasta to your seasoning bowl and mix well
- Add your pasta into the air fryer and cook for 10-12 minutes at 200°C or until golden brown
To transport your pasta crisps, we recommend using a Citron snack box or small lunch box! In both boxes you have a compartment for sauces where you could add a tomato or pesto dip for your children to dip the pasta into. Citron lunch and snack boxes make the perfect travelling companion this summer as they are compact and light-weight.
Baked tuna nuggets
Tuna is rich in protein which is essential for the growth and development of children. To mix things up from your usual chicken nuggets, we have come up with a tuna-based filling that you can bake in the oven or air-fryer.
Recipe:
- 150g canned tuna (rinsed)
- 60g breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp dried garlic
- 1 tsp chopped dill
- ½ lemon juice
- Salad leaves (optional)
- A handful of Tomatoes (optional)
- 30g feta (optional)
Method:
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl
- Once it is has been mixed, form the nuggets with your hands and then place on a baking tray
- Bake in the oven or air fryer at 200°C for 12 minutes, make sure to flip them over after 6 minutes
- Serve your nuggets with some salad leaves or a small Greek salad
To transport your nuggets and salad in, we suggest using our large Citron food jars in order to keep the nuggets warm for up to 6 hours - making them a great pre-flight snack.
Healthy flapjacks
If you have a long car journey ahead of you to your staycation destination, or you are staying in a villa with a kitchen and you want to make up some sweet snacks - flapjacks could be the answer.
Ingredients:
- 1 banana
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp tahini
- 60 runny honey
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 46g of mixed seeds
- 100g rolled oats
- 50g raisins
- 50g of your choice of nut
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C
- Mash the banana to a smooth paste with a fork
- Next melt the coconut oil over a low heat, once melted take off the heat and add your tahini and honey
- Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Then add in your banana and honey mixture. Stir well until combined.
- Line your 16cm x 16cm tin with some baking paper and then add in your mixture
- Cook for 25 minutes of until golden brown - once cooled cut into roughly 12 slices
To transport your flapjacks, the citron snack box would be perfect as you could add some fresh fruit into the other compartments to make a sweet-snack box for the families with a sweet tooth.
Stuffed peppers
Healthy meal-time recipes
If you want to create a meal for your little one to eat whilst at the airport, or you are making a packed lunch whilst away, here are just a few tasty recipes that you can enjoy making this summer or at any time of the year.
Stuffed peppers are a great way to incorporate lots of hidden veggies into the dish and you can also freeze the mixture for later use!
Ingredients
- 450g turkey mince
- 150g cooked rice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ red onion chopped finely
- 2 cloves of garlic
- A handful of fresh tomatoes chopped
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 100g cheddar cheese
- 3 peppers
Method
- Cut the tops off the peppers, scoop out any of the seeds and then chop in half
- Put the peppers in the oven for 20 minutes to cook at 180°C
- Get your frying pan out and start to cook the onion until it becomes soft and translucent. Once this has happened, you can add in your turkey mince to brown alongside all of your spices and seasoning.
- Next add your chopped tomatoes, your canned tomatoes and your cooked rice until it is all mixed together.
- Take your peppers out of the oven and spoon in the mixture and add a sprinkle of cheese on top.
- Place them back into the oven for a further 10 minutes
If your children prefer to eat them hot, you can add them into our large Citron food jar to keep them warm for up to 6 hours. If your children prefer to eat them cold, you can add them into a Citron grand lunch box, add some chopped up vegetable sticks or fruit into the other compartments as well as some sauces like hummus into the sauce pot.
Cajun tomato pasta
Some of your older children might like a little bit more flavour than a plain tomato pasta, which is where our cajun pasta recipe comes into play. We have also added some tofu to the dish as it is a great source of plant-based protein and it is naturally low in fat.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 blocks of extra-firm smoked tofu (cubed)
- 1 ½ teaspoons Cajun spice seasoning (may wish to reduce spice quantity for children)
- 1 white onion (finely diced)
- 1 red pepper (thinly sliced)
- 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 60g sundried tomatoes (chopped)
- ¾ can chopped tomatoes
- 100ml dairy free cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 350g dried rigatoni pasta
- 80ml water from cooked pasta pot
- Juice from ½ lemon
- Chopped fresh parsley to garnish
- Chilli flakes to garnish (optional)
Method
- Heat your frying pan with 1 tbsp of oil and add the cubed tofu with a tsp of Cajun seasoning and cook for 6 minutes.
- Once the tofu is cooked, remove it from the pan and start to cook the onions in the pan for around 5 minutes. Next add the sliced peppers, garlic, sun dried tomatoes and the Cajun seasoning.
- Once it is all cooked and combined, add the chopped tomatoes, cream and salt.
- Now the sauce is ready, it is time to cook the pasta - once cooked make sure you keep 80ml of the pasta water to use in the sauce.
- Once everything is cooked, it's time to add the pasta, the tofu and the sauce into a bowl and mix alongside the lemon juice.
Our large food jars are great if you want a full portion of pasta, if you want to have more of a picnic-style lunch then you can opt for the small food jar which comes in the grand lunch box and add your favourite snacks like pretzels or grapes into the different compartments.
Staying hydrated
Keeping yourself and your children hydrated when you’re travelling is essential for a number of reasons. When you’re travelling it often involves moving around a lot and carrying bags which can lead to increased sweating and fluid loss. Most airports and service stations now have water fountains where you can refill your reusable water bottles. Citron has a range of triple-wall insulated water bottles in different sizes and patterns, so everyone in the family can choose one which suits their taste. Our insulated water bottles are perfect for taking away on long trips as they will keep your drinks cold for 24-hours or warm for 12 hours if you want to put something hot into them. By keeping yourself and your little ones hydrated, you will help to replenish the water your body needs to function optimally.
The team at Citron hope you have a lovely summer holiday - for more travel-friendly recipes make sure to follow our Instagram.