We've taken quite a few road trips and camping trips over the years.
One of my family's favorites is homemade beef jerky. I buy a roast about a week out, marinade, slice and dehydrate. Stash it in a baggie and you are good to go. It's great protein, it takes some work to eat so you feel full before you've over-indulged, and it's almost indestructible to store.
We're also big fans of trail mix. Either buy the large bags from Walmart or make your own from family favorites. The nuts provide protein, a touch of chocolate makes it feel like a treat and it stores/carries well without getting smashed. It is easy to overindulge in the large bag though, so I typically divide it into snack bags before the trip.
Veggies with various dips. Road trips are a good excuse to buy the pre-portioned, shelf-stable dips, so everyone can pick their own (hummus, ranch, peanut butter, greek yogurt, whatever). You could also put the dip into ziplock snack bags for easy dipping and disposal.
Fresh fruit obviously (grapes, oranges and apples carry well on the go). The snack-size boxed raisins aren't as healthy, but go over well.
My mother tends to offer homemade cookies whenever we have a road trip. They have to be stored carefully to avoid crushing and there are definitely crumbs, but it's a real treat.
Not as healthy and not always budget, but road trips are a good excuse to buy individual-packed snacks: baked chips, peanut butter crackers, gogurt, cheese sticks or slices, drink mixes for water bottles, etc.
For a picnic-style meal outside the car, we tend to stick with sandwiches (you can prep the meat ahead of time so it's ready to go or buy higher quality deli meat). Fried chicken is good cold, but not so healthy. Pasta salads. Garden salads. Wraps can be healthier than most breads and are much easier to transport. (Thanks to the poster who mentioned investing in a hard sided bread container though. 43 yo and I never thought of that. doh. DH really likes baked turkey with mayo on white bread, but it's always gets smashed... lol.)
While I wouldn't reuse containers from other foods typically.... I agree with other posters who suggest having family save small tubs (butter, sour cream, yogurt) for your food storage needs on the trip, so you can toss the trash on the road rather than carrying and cleaning Tupperware.
, apples, bananas, pretzels, paper towels, nuts, cheese sticks, juice boxes, etc. Other than a few big meals (the wedding/rehearsal meals, a big breakfast buffet in Las Vegas, Goofy's Kitchen, and any hotel that offered free breakfast) we ate primarily from the cooler. We did have to stop once or twice to replenish along the way, but we stayed on budget AND on schedule.... and I actually remember the car picnics being FUN along the way! Everyone could eat on their OWN schedule (if one of the kiddos fell asleep in the car and someone was hungry, we didn't have to stop and wake up the sleeper), I let the kids pick and choose from treats they wouldn't normally get at home (Goldfish crackers, cookies) and with the money we saved we were able to stop occasionally for ice cream and have a NICE (but expensive) breakfast in Disneyland on our last morning!
