My Naturally Minded Travel Essentials: Real Food + Personal Care

There’s not much I obsess over when it comes to traveling but I do like to be prepared with a few naturally minded travel essentials because 1) I am no means a food snob but I will absolutely not be stopping at Burger King to eat a quick meal and 2) It’s always good to be prepared — especially when you are traveling with little ones.

That being said, I really don’t like overpacking: the simpler, the better. Thankfully, over the years I have learned to downsize and figure out the most important things to bring along. You might be surprised that the list is actually pretty short and I like it that way. Who wants to worry about extra baggage when you’re traveling and taking a break from real life.

Well, I take that back. Have you ever tried vacationing with kids? It’s like you’re on double duty mom time which inevitably results in making you feel like you need a vacation after your vacation, kid-free of course.

Personal Care

• Branch Basics travel size spray: I use this soap to clean hands, remove my makeup, and as a spot remover treatment (especially if we’re in the car for long periods of time)
• Plant Therapy’s headache relief roll-on: Traveling in a car with kids, spouses, and/or in-laws will inevitably lead to a headache. Instead of grabbing for the over-the-counter pain reliever, grab your roll-on and massage your temples with it. Your headache will be gone, just like that!
• Healing balm in to-go chapstick tubes: Inevitably your child is going to hurt themselves. Bring along your homemade balm in a convenient chapstick tube so you don’t have to make an emergency trip to the convenience store and buy ointment filled with weird ingredients. Bandaids are a good idea, too.
• Live Pure soap: I’m really weird about the soap I use on my body so I bring a sample size of my favorite handmade body soap. It’s small so I typically don’t have to worry about putting it in a container to bring it home. If we’re going on an extended vacation, I’ll bring a normal sized bar.

The following three may or may not make sense for your family specifically so you can skip over, if needed.

• Deet-free bug spray: Depending on where we’re traveling, I make sure to bring our own bug spray. I know that sounds weird but as a mom of a child who gets severe mosquito bites, I want to avoid bites at all costs. It might surprise you that I don’t make it myself because I have a brand that I know works and that I love.
• Lavender essential oil: I always, always, ALWAYS keep a bottle of lavender essential oil in my purse but when we’re traveling I double check to make sure it’s there. If for some reason Andrew gets bit by a mosquito, I have my miracle oil to help reduce swelling and irritation.
• Clay paste: Lavender works great for reducing the initial swelling of mosquito bites for Andrew, but just recently I started carrying around a small batch of my homemade clay paste. Just in case he does get bit, I have found that applying the clay paste a few times during the day helps Andrew’s mosquito bites heal much more quickly. Being prepared and not having to use it is far better than not being prepared and having to be over-the-counter cream that may possibly give him a rash AND cause him pain. This paste works great for other bug bites too, FYI.

Food

I try not to worry too much about dinners and lunches once we get to our destination because after all, we’re on vacation. I do however come prepared when it comes to long travel times and keeping various healthy(er) snacks with us while we’re out and about. This helps save money, helps us eat a little better, and can reduce the chance of hangry breakdowns from mom or kiddos. If you’re pregnant, the hangry factor can amplify by 100 so it’s best to be ready with snacks. Again, I like to keep things simple and easy.

And because I’m a freak like that, I like to keep a travel size real salt and pepper shaker (you may be able to find this at your local Whole Foods) in my purse for times I need to salt an avocado or hardboiled egg or season food with better quality spices.

• Homemade stove top popcorn with coconut oil
• Hardboiled eggs
• Homemade sandwiches
• Fruit leather (we typically buy Whole Foods brand)
• Beef sticks (we really love this brand)
• Bobo’s oat bars (these are super filling and especially great for expecting mamas)
• Grapes
• Apple slices and peanut butter
• Bell pepper slices
• Cucumber slices
• Cut cheese and crackers
• Chips (Because every road trip needs chips. No ifs, ands, or buts)
• Coconut water (especially when we’re traveling to really hot places and we’ll be walking around in the heat)
• Water
• Avocado
• Dried fruit, nuts, trail mix (we really love this seed mix by Enjoy Life)

What are your favorite naturally minded travel essentials? I’d love to hear them below!