Travel Snacks for Kids: Homemade Fruit Leather

Avoid expensive junk food on your next family trip, bring homemade fruit leather instead! For more travel snack ideas & other travel tips, visit Alamo.com.

Everyone loves to snack while traveling, which makes it easy to overindulge on less-than-healthy convenience snacks.

My solution to beating the travel munchies is to plan ahead. For the kids, I love making this homemade fruit leather because it contains a short but all-natural list of ingredients and is easy to make ahead of time to pop into your purse or carry-on bag for easy access when you’re traveling.

These homemade fruit roll-ups start with a base of fresh strawberries. Don’t worry if your strawberries are a bit tart; you can add honey to the mixture to incorporate a little more natural sweetness.

Homemade Fruit Leather

After you puree your fruit and honey, simply spread the mixture onto a prepared baking sheet (use a silicone mat or parchment paper) and pop it into the oven on low heat for a few hours.

Homemade Fruit Leather

To make convenient single servings, place the finished fruit leather on a sheet of waxed paper and cut into strips. Roll each strip and adhere with a piece of string or a small piece of washi tape.

This convenient travel snack doubles up to help kids minimize ear pain while flying. Chewing is a great way to keep those ears popping during takeoff and landing, and this delicious strawberry fruit leather is perfect for younger kids who aren’t yet chewing gum.

Homemade Fruit Leather

I hope you enjoy this easy, wholesome travel snack on your family’s next journey!

Strawberry Fruit Leather

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups fresh strawberries
  • 1 tablespoon honey, (or more, if needed)

Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Prepare a large baking sheet with a silicone sheet or parchment paper cut to fit.
    2. Add the strawberries to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Taste the puree and add honey to desired sweetness. I usually only add 1-3 tablespoons depending on the natural sweetness of the strawberries.
    3. Pour the mixture onto the silicone mat or parchment and spread evenly. Shake the pan to level. You’re looking for about a ⅛ inch thickness.
    4. Bake in the oven until the mixture is dry to the touch (roughly about 3-4 hours). Please note that this is not an exact science! Bake time can vary greatly and you really need to keep an eye on your fruit leather when you get close to the 3-hour mark. It will be a bit tacky in the middle but the fruit should not be wet enough to stick to your finger when touched.
    5. Remove from oven and place a sheet of waxed paper over the top of the dried strawberries. Flip the pan and remove the silicone sheet.
    6. Using kitchen scissors, remove the dry edges (edges will overcook a bit, just trim them off) then cut into strips and roll up. Adhere rolls with a bit of washi tape and add to an airtight container for traveling.

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About the Author

Crissy Page

Crissy Page is the founder of DearCrissy.com, a popular family and lifestyle blog featuring tips and tricks to help busy moms lead inspired lives. Crissy lives in rural southern Ohio with her husband and two children. When she's not working, Crissy enjoys photography, reading and travel. Follow Crissy's adventures on Instagram and Snapchat: dearcrissy.