I highly recommend ignoring basically any trendy item you see on Instagram or TikTok. I find that high hopes usually give way to an inevitable letdown when you open that package from Temu and realize some $12 piece of questionably food-grade plastic isn’t going to save your relationship with your estranged uncle. Unless that package contains the Snackle Box.
It is with surprisingly little regret that I inform you that the ‘Snackle Box’ is good. Maybe great. All those Instagram moms and TikTok matriarchs might be wrong about raw milk and sinister underground pizza joints, but the idea that an easily cleanable and collapsable portable snack device will change your life is real.
Yes, I am talking about a rectangular snack box with removable snack pockets like this one on sale for $9.95 on Amazon (as of this writing). I know it sounds a little crazy. There are plenty of ways to snack and transport snacks. Why is this so much better? I have a theory.
What Is The Snackle Box?
The Snackle Box is a verbal play on the tackle box, which most of you are probably familiar with from fishing with your dad. The difference is that this one isn’t filled with rusty lures designed to send you to the ER (sorry Dad). Instead, it’s filled with tasty snacks!
There are numerous variations out there, but it’s this specific one pictured above that I’m talking about. For some reason, the world has decided that the ideal configuration is a clear plastic rectangle that’s about 11.5″ x 8.5″ x 3″ with a removable, top clasping lid and vaguely beige coloring. Inside are eight equally-sized cups that can be removed and put in the dishwasher.
@jenniesuk snack boxes on airplanes is the best idea ever ???????????? #snackbox #flighthacks #snackideas #snacklebox
In the TikTok video above (or linked here) a woman got 6 million views for bringing one of these identical boxes on a plane with her. She went with a classic mix of sweet and salty treats with a double-load of goldfish crackers (she edits it out, but you can see she also put a folded-up paper towel under the lid, which is a pro-level move). I’ve only used the Snackle Box for sleepovers and road trips, but I get the appeal of taking it on a plane.
I know how this sounds. It sounds dumb. It sounds obvious. When the Snackle Box first appeared at my place I discounted it as another supposedly life-altering item that would end up shoved in a cabinet along with our Soda Stream and poach pocket. Friends, I was wrong.
I’m not too big of a man to admit that. I’m not hangry about being wrong. In fact, I’m not hangry at all … on account of the access to snacks.
My Theory Of Why The Snackle Box Is So Hip
There are a few reasons why I think the Snackle Box has taken off on social media lately. My first theory is purely about commerce. Amazon and other retailers will pay, via a special link, if people buy a product you recommend. Everyone does this, from the New York Times all the way down to your aunt who has a podcast about herbivores. This post contains such a link and we do, sometimes, tag links (although rarely considering that much of our competition has whole sections devoted to it). This is something cheap so I imagine the real money is made on volume.
However, people recommend crap on the Internet all the time. Why, suddenly, is this popular? I think it’s because it actually works on a similar emotional level to what makes it work for social media algorithms.
The portability of the Snackle Box is high, but there are plenty of other snack containers that are even more easy to wield. The little pockets are supposedly dishwasher safe, though I wouldn’t put the outer plastic shell in there with your plates. I found this out the hard way when we deformed one of the lids.
I think the key to the Snackle Box is visibility. Its transparency is the magic piece here. It’s one thing to know that you’ve got a bag full of snacks, it’s another thing to see them all laid out like this. It makes every little shell of goodness in there look so appealing. In a way, the 4×2 grid mimics the grids on social media.
Is it possible that our brains are so broken that we now see the whole world like Instagram or TikTok?
@brooklynrreidhead roadtrip ready????????✨ these are so fun to make!! #asmr #asmrsounds #snacklebox #snacks #aesthetic #restock #asmrrestock #restockasmr #snackideas #foryou
Probably!
The Snackle Box is also great if you have kids. You, as a normal adult, might be happy to have a bag of pretzels as a snack. Your kid is probably happier with three pretzels, six M&Ms, eight goldfish, one baby carrot, and 26 Nerds. Kids, whether at home or on a road trip, crave attention and variety. I’ve found that the Snackle Box has kept my daughter from asking for a snack every 18 seconds since she can get it for herself.
Also, I’m like an eight-year-old and I might be happy with one bag of Zappos, but I also would rather have a fun mix of salty and sweet.
Another perk of the boxes is that the size allows you to swap certain sections for items that are better left in their packages, like juice boxes and seaweed snacks:
Those are Thin Mints btw. I’ve also experimented with shoving protein bars in there for long road trips so I’ve got something to keep me going.
Have you purchased one of these? What works best for you? If you haven’t, what would you put in these for your ideal road trip snack? Let’s get snackin’ folks.
The comments seem to be split into 2 groups:
-“An ad in any capacity turns me into Dennis Reynolds”
-“I’m a parent and this will work well for my kid(s)”
I’m in group 2, but the split is interesting.
Hah, thanks! I was surprised. My motivation for writing this was literally just: Here’s a weird thing my wife bought for road trips I didn’t think we’d use that we ended up using all the time.
I get the fear, though. Our approach to affiliate stuff is almost always passive, i.e. if we have something that can be linked we will link it, but we generally don’t go out of our way to make a post just because we have an affiliate link. Almost all of our competition is the opposite and clog their pages with posts that exist just to serve some specific revenue goal. This is fairly rare for us and I hope it’ll stay that way.
A lot of us have watched the downfall of other websites and are probably hyper sensitive to any sign of impending doom.
We know it ends with a page full of AI-generated articles fully soiled with sponsored links, and see any step in that direction as the start of the infection.
Thank goodness. I usually skip the roundups of “deals” of cheap stuff from Amazon (which I’m no fan of in the first place, but I get why websites do it).
I think Peter might revolt if he had to come up with the 800th different way in a week to frame “here’s some random things on Amazon we hope you’ll click on” for social. (He might know where you live? Seems like he might have odd weapons on hand, too. I wouldn’t put building a Turbo Discombuttulator or something in his shed past him.) The sheer number of deals posts was easily the worst part of that job for me at [different website, but it’s not hard to figure out which private equity hellscape I’m talking about from my work history]. No one who typed out a reply was ever happy to see those obvious revenue plays on social. No one.
Besides, I’m far better at telling people what NOT to buy as someone who actually wants to be helpful (and telling people to avoid Amazon because it treats its workers like garbage). My advice for Prime Day yesterday was “you probably don’t need that thing!” and “go mess with a decent-quality version of that thing IRL if you think you really need it.” (This anti-consumerism-for-consumerism’s-sake streak is why I hated doing holiday gift guides, too. Have you all considered buying less stuff?! My favorite gift to receive is almost always “money in a card.” Everyone can use money crammed into a holiday card! You can even skip the card and raw-dog those bucks into an envelope if you’re not sentimental. It’s a gift that you know will get used. But I digress.)
I’m okay with random thing-posts where you actually found a USEFUL thing, though. Helpful advice! On the internet! It’s like the whole reason why we come to various websites or something. I will, however, regretfully note that opening the Snackle Box en route is how you get ants in the car. Sorry. I have to. All bets are off on a plane, though. My bag comes loaded with enough munchie bars to kill Clif himself, and any high-altitude ants that sneak through for the crumbs have earned ’em.
I still can’t believe you maligned the SodaStream in this piece, Mr. Hardigree!
I am borderline triggered by any mention of a Tiktok trend, but since I avoid tiktok I wouldn’t know about this thing except for the post here. I don’t mind it.
This is like a co-worker buying an interesting product and telling me about it. I do that all the time. As it’s meant for road-trips, this is way more on-topic than me raving about my new home router at my job.
Yeah, I don’t Tik the Tok or Tweet the Twits or whatever. So like you, this is the only way I’d know this exists.
I wouldn’t use this. I spent years traveling full time, and I can’t imagine a scenario where this would be the correct snack carrying choice.
It just seems like a way to accidentally spill eight snacks at once.
I’ll stick to resealable bags in an outer pouch of my backpack. Perfect location for blindly rummaging on a plane or in a car.
I definitely couldn’t see the appeal unless you have kids. I mean, that video of the people with it on the airplane… that’s taking up the space of 2 to 3 electronic devices in your carry-on… screw that! I’ll just eat the pretzels I bought in the airport and stuffed in my pocket. But yeah, I could see it being good if you have multiple kids. Or for road trips.
I would never hand this to a kid in my car, and I would absolutely not hand it to two kids to share.
Well, yeah, not in my car. But I also don’t have kids, thank ye gads.
A responsible adult would be looking for ways to discourage junk food consumption, not make it even more appealing.
An always responsible adult is no fun.
No one needs 8 sugar snacks handy at all times calling “eat me, eat me”. A snack should be delicious, not harmful, and a reward for accomplishment.
It’s good to be responsible, but just let the guys have snacks on the road-trip. Is that too much to ask!?
Also, who said it had to be sweet snacks?
Living past breakfast but not quite to lunch time is enough of an accomplishment.
It’s a good thing that the parents get to decide what goes into the containers then.
What was shown certainly leans on the sugary side, but this was being used for the sake of a road trip, and road trips are a little different than an every day event.
This also makes non-junk food more appealing! In that photo there are:
I too walked to school 15 miles, uphill both ways.
Funny thing is, my dad lived near a “valley/large divet” and literally walked uphill both ways.
Do you know how sweaty it gets walking to school in the snow in the summertime? And having to walk back because school isn’t in session?
Lol, what is going on with the sTIcK tO sPoRts sentiment around here? It’s a post about a snack container guys, chill out.
Matt’s pretty upfront about why different outlets promote these sorts of things. He’s VERY transparent about how that works, and makes it clear that he just wants to use his soapbox to tell us about the gospel of the Snackle Box. It’s a passion post, and I’m totally game for whenever someone wants to get into the weeds on something seemingly mundane.
I also may not be annoyed by this sort of content, as this is basically my only form of social media. I don’t use my Facebook for anything other than marketplace (reluctantly) and I don’t have the Instagram app on my phone (I check it via desktop once a month mostly to tell people who have DM’d me that I don’t check this anymore). I’ve never used TikTok. So I’m not exactly being bombarded by this stuff.
As for the Snackle Box itself, yeah I could see my kids loving this thing. Kids freaking suck at eating anything that isn’t a snack, or isn’t presented as a snack. I prefer this premise over induvial serving packs (which suck for a bunch of reasons) and it’s certainly better than throwing things like grapes and whatever else into plastic baggies.
When people see something that could possibly be considered an ad or promotion of some sort, of a product they don’t want, they flip out for some reason. It’s stupid, but its reality.
I’m not 100% sure how some of the rest of the commentariat lives day to day if this is something to get mad, or even annoyed about. What are your blood pressures?
This is a CAR BLOG. I come here first and foremost to read longform posts about the proper way to anthropomorphize trains. I figure there’s enough space here for a post about snack containers, because why the hell not? It’s not like the topshot was a brown/manual/diesel/wagon, and upon clicking you’re sent to a spyware infested site selling you low grade Tupperware.
It’s like everyone on the planet needs to click on literally everything they see.
“I come here first and foremost to read longform posts about the proper way to anthropomorphize trains.”
What in the actual heck.
I swear Torch did a reboot of this on this site, but I think the last time was on the old site, which I don’t link. Reading that article was one of the only times I’ve laughed out loud at work while reading something.
Instead I’ll link a more recent dive into anthropomorphic motorhomes:
https://www.theautopian.com/how-the-motorhomes-and-campers-in-pixars-cars-universe-hint-at-a-disturbing-reality/
Uh-oh. Advertising?
Nah, just a thing my family bought for road trips that we liked and so I’m telling people about it on our car website.
Thanks. I appreciate the reply.
My wife literally ordered this today. I can immediately see the benefits here being a dad of 2.
Uh
Please don’t make lifestyle / review / commerce content like this. All the other sites are doing it and they all suck.
Thanks :$
We won’t. We don’t do this actively. I wrote this post because this was a helpful thing I bought as a dad who goes on a lot of road trips and I wanted to help out other parents.
Thanks for taking the time to reply and not just banning me <3
Wtf is this nonsense
Low effort and not the kind of post I (and quite a few other commentors) want to see.
I wanna see Racing Video-Game posts, but I don’t complain.
This is nearly 1000 words devoted to a snack box.
You don’t need to like it (or even click on it for that matter) but when it comes to these sorts of things, this is not low effort.
Please have better judgement about posting this sort of material. I’m not angry, just disappointed.
If this post had appeared a single day earlier i would have immediately Amazoned one to myself for the trip I’m leaving on tomorrow. It just resonates somehow.
Most snacks already come in their own containers, which hold actually edible amounts of the food too.
I fucking hate the weird infantilizing that seems to be happening with some of the younger “adults” these days. “ooh, check out my ‘snackle’ box with a juicy-juice and some animal crackers and craisins.”
Does mommy make sure you have clean undies and help lace your shoes too?
Can we avoid the thinly veiled “native” ads on this website? They’ve been creeping in. This is what killed Autoblog.
Baked beans, sausages, scrambled egg, blackpu………………………..Am I not doing this right somehow? Also kedgeree.
This is a joke right?
All these snacks already come in their own tiny bags and boxes. Now we what, take them out of those convenient containers, throw the containers out and put them in hard plastic bins which we will then have to constantly wash. I hope that Matt is pulling our chains.
So, a DIY bento box?
I had the exact same thought.
Isn’t Zappos a place that sells shoes? Or am I just out of touch? Is it me? It’s me, isn’t it?
I bet Matt argued against the rest for a sans himself topshot, just so there could be no “Hey so now Rappaport looks hungry?! GO KNICKS!”
Nah. I’ll just stick with my Taco Bell Hard Taco Supremes thank you.
Went on a road trip with my cousin when I was ~13, which would have made him about 17. His mom’s 300ZX. We stopped along the way and got a party pack from Taco Hell, 10 tacos with drinks. That car smelled so bad an hour later…
My aunt was not amused.
LOL! Good times!
You know it! That car was never really the same…
Dudes fumigated their aunts car.
I lived with a few friends in the first couple years after college. The local McD was a test market for the Bucket o’Nuggets, a 100 piece KFC style bucket full of Chicken McNuggets. It did a great job curing a hangover, but the I still wonder if the gastrointestinal distress it caused was worth it.
College I went to was on a hill. Town was at the bottom of the hill, school was in the middle, neighborhoods at the top of the hill. We’d go to parties, get good and drunk, then stumble down the hill to Burger King. Burgers were consumed. Then the walk back up the hill (crown at a jaunty angle on my head…). Never really had a hangover when we did that. Was it the burger, or the walk?
You didn’t get drunk enough. If you’ve never woken up early on a Saturday morning to go to a mandatory “study hall” because you got caught sneaking beer into your dorm and you were still so drunk that morning from the night before that you had to excuse yourself to go throw up, you may not have even been drunk enough. Hopefully I’ve given you something to strive for.
Add a few hoses and the car could have run on methane for the rest of the trip.
What? You shelved your SodaStream? I use mine every day!
You don’t use your Soda Stream? Can I have it?
Not dishwasher safe is frustrating. Otherwise pretty cool idea.
Agreed. With the exception of cast iron and good knives, if something isn’t dishwasher safe, I don’t buy it.
Now my kids can spill all their snacks at the same time. Very efficient!
each compartment should have it’s own lid to minimize spillage
Perhaps a set of individual resealable packages would help?
Bag of teriyaki beef jerky, peanut M&Ms, large Coke Zero and I’m set. My kids like basically the same thing, so it’s just a fight for resources.
Korean pork jerky for me. Add in some trail mix with cashews, M&Ms, and raisins and I’m good to go.