Ya gotta eat, right? I don’t know about you, but nothing stirs my hunger quite like expending nearly zero calories as I hurtle down the highway on the way from my current A to a distant B. And while ducking onto an exit ramp to enjoy a leisurely meal would be nice, I’m generally trying to cut down the total road trip time, so if the tummy fill-ups can be tied into fuel-tank fill-ups (or battery charge sessions), all the better. But what to eat?
As you are no doubt aware, gas station fare is highly variable. At the low end of the spectrum, there are the “really, we’re just a gas station” stops that offer a sole wire rack loaded with bagged salty and sweet snacks of the Cheeto-Dorito-Pringles-Yodel-Ding Dong/Ring Ding families and their ilk, which are better than nothing. But do stay away from the flavor-dusted consumables, which, as seen in the top graphic, tend to be messy for car consumption unless you’ve got moist towelettes at the ready.
At the high end of the gas station food pyramid, you’ve got your Quick Trips and RaceTracs and the like, which offer delicacies of the hot-roller variety and possibly pizza by the slice and breakfast sandwiches if you’re early enough.
At the very pinnacle, there’s Bucc-Ee’s, the truck stop/super-sized gas station that doubles as a take-out restaurant, gift shop, car wash (depending on location), candy store, and source for all manner of outdoorsy accouterment. The real attraction, though, is the brisket, as Mercedes will tell you:
Also not to be missed at Bucc-Ee’s: the best restrooms on the road. If you can hold it until you reach the home of Beaver Nuggets, you’ll be glad you did.
While unquestionably delicious, the brisket sandwich does leave much to be desired when it comes to convenient eating while behind the wheel. Exactly how important on-the-go convenience is to your best and worst road snack choices is entirely up to you; I’m not setting any rules here. Interpret today’s Autopian Asks as you like:
What Are The Best And Worst Gas Station Snacks?
Top graphic images: Doritos; DepositPhotos.com
Whatever you do, do not eat Snyders Hot Buffalo Wing pretzel pieces on the road. Delicious, but the dusting stands up to napkins, finger-licking, and, to an extent, hand-washing. Diabolical stuff that unavoidably gets all over your steering wheel.
I believe it’s fully extinct now, but honorable mention to a holster of seasoned curlies from Thruway Roy Rogers.
It’s combos. Any flavor, I don’t even eat them generally but if I’m driving for over an hour I WILL get them at some point
Pizzeria pretzel combos. I’m not sure I know what they taste like outside a car.
I don’t even know what they really taste like in the car but it’s a good one
Buc E Brisket is drowned in sauce. .
The greatest gas station snack ever is Jerky. It’s not even close. It’s Jerky
A Jerky bag and a diet coke cures cancer
Best road trip snack is M&Ms of your preferred type. I like the peanut butter ones.
Worst is messy foods like tacos or crackers.
Buccees is pointless unless you want to spend 30-60 minutes somewhere instead of getting where you’re going. Maybe your destination *was* Buccees, who am I to judge?
I got a pretty decent burger once at a gas station on the UT/CO border, I think it was a Maverick. Stopping there in the morning before hitting the trails was our routine the week we were in Moab mountainbiking.
Lately though, gas stations snacks have gotten so spendy I pack snacks beforehand.
My fav road trip snacks are gummy bears (or similar) and trail mix. Ranch Doritos used to be my go-to, but too many crumbs.
Combos, Haribo Gold Bears, and sometimes beef jerky.
Fun fact – gummy bears will melt into a solid block when left in a car on a warm day.
That sounds amazing!
Aldi had an off brand that used to soften, but not melt, when left in the car. I used to do this on purpose on road trips.
Nice, I’ll bet those were fantastic!
I have a picture of my “gummy bar” somewhere. My mom had died and we’d moved dad up where we lived, then I had to sell their house, so I spent a year driving back and forth at least every other weekend. I’d given up and kept one bag of Combos and one bag of the gummy bears in my car all the time.
Until that day when I went to get a bear and found a solid glob in the bag. It was funny, some had morphed partially into the blob but could still be pulled out, others were just colored areas.
I took the bar out of the bag and cut it into rectangles to somewhat salvage the bite-sized-ness.
The fried chicken or sausage biscuits under the hot lights in that greasy glass case are usually fire. Provided you go there the right time of day when that stuff is pretty fresh.
Although the cardinal rule for gas station food is go to the bathroom first. If its not clean, I do not partake. Also racetrac served by the slice pizza is pretty legit, better than Dominos or any chain by a good bit. I used to order a whole pizza from them when I lived near by, they would make it fresh for you.
Any road trip includes lunch stops at local greasy spoons or diners. We try to look up interesting local specialties or odd restaurants before the trip. A good example is Mike’s Place in Kent, Ohio. Absolutely no chain restaurants. It’s worth a little extra time to explore something new and different.
Bag of trail mix so you can just dump in your mouth and drive. If you have a sweet tooth, any bagged candy can also be used in the same way. Never taking your eyes off the road of course…
For the sake of an even field, I’ll refrain from touting the offerings of any particular chain. I see this as more of a universal ask…what is a go-to road trip food that can be purchased virtually anywhere (in the U.S. anyway). For that, I submit the humble bag of Combos – pretzel with pizza flavor filling is my weapon of choice. Why Combos? On long trips I tend to avoid eating “meals” as much as possible, as I’m trying to avoid the side effects (getting the post-meal sleepies). Combos act like a meal substitute for breakfast, lunch, or dinner depending on the pairing (Coffee, water, iced tea/sodas). I’ve done numerous long road trips, driving in a company truck and/or passenger vehicles and they’ve been a trusted companion. They also work on long flights (just did this last week on a biz trip to/from Vegas).
Never been to a Buc-Eee’s but being from the land of Wawa (and there are plenty of them) is tops for me, always super friendly and rarely use them but the times I have restrooms are always clean. Made to order breakfast sandwiches, subs (I’m North Jersey can’t say the H word) burritos, bowls, pizza etc…. I’ve never tried their burgers they just don’t look good so probably never will and also being in the land of great pizza at 2am and everyone else is closed they are not bad.
Now I’m sure others have apps that you can order ahead and even have curbside service but added bonus to us in the Garden State is like just this past weekend with negative 20 windchills 15 minutes before setting out on a 90 minute drive, we were able to place our order, pull up to the pump, pay for fuel from the app and while the attendant filled us up let the store now what pump we are out and bring us our food the ultimate in laziness! They cant take tips but still always try to discreetly slip them a few dollar’s but they still refuse.
My go to peanut butter M&M’s and usually water but for a treat Wawa branded iced tea’s and lemonades are really good.
Worst if your going to be driving while tasty a sub, gobbler bowl or burrito, and as stated above anything that turns your fingers orange
wawa subs were great. now ok. the club is f ing awesome and cheap.
I just watched a YouTube video discussing a college student who presented to the emergency room with a gut full of gas station sushi derived parasites. So I’m gonna go with sushi for worst food.
Best? Its a tie between gas station nachoes and pizza. That same student swore to the ER staff it was the gas station pizza that caused his distress but the parasites could only have come from the sushi. I also have good memories of having my hunger satisfied with some very mediocre but VERY cheap 7-11 pizza when 7-11 was the only option available.
I live within a short drive from a Buc-ee’s and I’ve tried the sandwiches. They’re overpriced for what they are, and too damn small for the reputation. Get your mind right, people.
That said, here in E TN we have a little regional chain of convenience stores, Weigel’s. Used to be a dairy company. When Casey’s bought out Pilot locally I encouraged the company switch over its corporate gas credit cards to Weigel’s. Slightly less convenient since there aren’t as many Weigel’s as there are Casey’s nearby, but whatevs.
Weigel’s hot dogs are the best damn thing out there. Five bucks gets you two dogs and a big soda from the fountain, and all the toppings you care to layer onto those dogs (onion, lots of pickles and mayo for me). You will be full and satisfied and not bamboozled by the weird Buc-ee’s religion.
A fellow 865’er, I second the Weigel’s…best bang for your buck.
Buc-ee’s prices are steep…we usually only do coffee and cheaper gas, maybe splurge on a banana pudding. The jerky case is too rich for my wallet.
I wish there was more of that in charlotte, we just have a QT every 6 minutes. I like Sheetz a good bit honestly but they only have locations in the weirdest fucking spots
As I’ve aged (a lot), I’ve gotten to the point where I might add a day to a road trip and stop at a not-a-chain-I-know, or a one-off and sit down for a meal. I eat at a lot of BBQ joints that look questionable, but usually great food.
On my last trip through Missouri I took a 50-mile side trip to hit the Mark Twain Diner in Hannibal. Maid-Rite sandwiches are worth the detour, and made-on-site root beer is just icing on a particularly tasty cake.
Anyone who lives near a QT QuickTrip gas station has heard the siren’s song of the buffalo cheese chicken roller log thing…
had a QT sub last night. Horrible. worst ever garbage.
My friend and I call them chicken glizzies because we’re idiots. He actually pointed out you can put the in one of the hot dog buns to add toppings or condiments or what have you and it doesn’t cost anything. I still have never done this
I’m a sucker for iced Honeybuns, also the counterfeit McRib snadwiches that Kwik-Trip sells.
The worst is every singe cheeseburgerdog that I’ve ever had. They look so inviting but 2 minutes after I finish it off, I feel queasy.
Nuts, Jerky, energy bars, Pure Leaf unsweetened Tea, etc.
Honorable mention to Pepto Bismol Pills (don’t get the chewables, they turn your teeth brown temporarily), the pills really work, and as someone whose stomach goes from zero to OH SHIT in the blink of an eye the Pepto pills are a godsend.
On road trips you should eat the most basic safe food you can.
More than a few gas stations in the metro Detroit area have a dedicated takeout counter in them that does surprisingly good middle eastern food made by one of the owner’s family members (or chicken or pizza by the slice).
Honey roast peanuts, or better yet cashews. You can sprinkle them right into your mouth from the bag yet they are savory and nutritious.
Nacho cheese ritz bits and ranch corn nuts have been my go to for years. But If we’re taking travel snacks outside of just the gas station then I’ll say that every trip I take includes a normal sized box of Extra Toasty Cheez-its. I don’t abide by the adorably over priced gas station sized box and I also don’t need to flaunt my wealth by traveling with the family sized box.
There was a trending starting in Waterbury to have food trucks and meat smokers at gas stations to lure in more people. Does that count??
My go-to road snack is a Coke and some pretzels or Jerky, maybe fries if there’s hot food available. My wife goes for Sour Patch Kits, Slim Jims, and Arizona Green Tea
I found Buc-ees a little overrated. The bathroom was clean, but it was a circus in there. Since I’m in NY, I’m always on the lookout for Stewart’s. Consistently clean restrooms, good ice cream, and free air in case I need to top up my tires.
Let me have a diablo sandwich, a Dr. Pepper, and make it fast I’m in a gott-damn hurry.
You must be part coon dog, sheriff.
An officer of the law I see