Subscribe10 No-Preparation Snacks for Work or Home
It's easy to get caught up in work or chores, then dive into the nearest packet of biscuits because you're starving and too busy to stop and prepare a healthy snack. Keep some of the following to hand, and you'll always have something easy to grab.
All can be eaten without any preparation, straight from the container (though you'll need a spoon for a couple of them.)
- Apples: buy several at the start of the week and keep in the fridge (chilling them really brings out the flavour)
- Baked crisps: such as mini ryvitas. Much better, and more filling, than the high-fat packets of regular crisps.
- Cereal bars: get them in boxes rather than individually, for a great snack to keep hunger pangs at bay.
- Cottage cheese: buy small single serving tubs (usually about 90 calories) - you can get these in various flavours. High in protein, so a good post-gym snack.
- Grapes: buy a small bunch and snack on a few when you want a quick sweet fix!
- Ham: keep individual snack-pack portions of ham in the fridge. They can double up as a sandwich filling (along with your cottage cheese?) if you buy a bread roll for lunch.
- Mixed fruit/nuts: Packed with vitamins and good fats and great for energy - but buy small bags (50g or less) as they are high in calories.
- Popcorn: snack-a-jacks do caramel, salt-and-vinegar and chocolate flavoured popcorn, available in multi-packs of 6. A great munchy option for surprisingly few calories.
- Rice cakes: buy flavoured ones and eat them straight from the bag. It might be worth investing in an air-tight container to keep them fresh.
- Yoghurt: buy small, individual tubs for easy snacking. Low-fat chocolate mousses are also great at satisfying chocolate cravings.
If you're unsure what constitutes a good portion, have a look at the Visual Guide to 15 Healthy Snacks for some help.
More like this in Food · Feb 22, 2008
I think houmous and pitta bread would do well on that list, don't you think?
Replyi concur- humus is beautiful with health and texture
Replyi'm with the healthblogger - hummus and pita would be way better than crisps or cereal bars (which both typically processed and high in salt and sugar).
ReplyGreat idea, HealthBlogger, Staci and Monica :-) I was trying to list things which were just one item, but hummous & pitta is hard to beat as a healthy snack combo.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Ali
ReplyEven better is hummos with carrots or sweet red (bell) pepper.
ReplyI love red bell pepper hummus with carrots, it is one of the snack options I carry with me to work everyday. I also like a mix of soy nuts, cranberries, raisins and chocolate chips for something sweet and who can beat string cheese with some fresh fruit or veggies.
ReplyHummus, apples, burger patties... All good and don't need refrigeration if eaten in a few hours.
ReplyI tend to keep a lot of dried fruit around for snacks. You just have to watch that you don't buy dried fruit with a lot of sugar added. A bit of sugar is fine, but some brands of dried fruit are like candy.
ReplyWhy would you buy dried fruit with any sugar added. Trader Joes sells dried apricots, apples, prunes, peaches. All no sugar added.
ReplyI try and stay away from the carbs, and half of a protein bar mid-afternoon seems to be the most effecient way to fill me up until dinner.
ReplyLately, I've had a love affair with cottage cheese! It's sooo yummy! Cottage cheese, fruit, and nuts are up there on my quick snacks.
ReplyI didn't realise that the houmous would get such a backing, lol. Seeing as this has happend, I have to admit that I am addicted to houmous. As Eide pointed out, carrots and houmous is a great combination, I also eat the houmous with broccoli sometimes - so I can indulge more knowing that I'm getting lots of Vitamins A & C and the sulfur! And it makes the broccoli somewhat more palatable.
ReplyI love hummus too, but it is a wee bit calorific, especially the kind with tahini added (my favourite!). If I have to snack, I prefer to keep the cals really, really low. I guess hummus with celery sticks might qualify.
ReplyKid-sized plain yogurt (organic available from Yo-Baby), topped with chopped nuts.
Any type of nut (sans the dried fruit IMO)
Any kind of cheese (real)
An apple, pear, orange, grapes or other whole fruit (side of cheese is nice with this too)
Individual packet of whey protein power and a bottle of water - quick and easy protein shake.
Cut veggies and dip (individual available)
Nut butter in celery sticks keep well without refrigeration and are easy to make and take.
ReplyI like Yo-Baby myself. Small container makes it easy to keep the calories down. My 17 year old son even takes it for lunches. :) LOVE frozen grapes, especially in the summer. Hard to overeat them too cause my tongue gets too cold.
ReplyGreat list. I like mixed nuts. I weigh out a serving size on my food scale and then put them into a snack-sized zip lock bag. I also drink a ready-to-drink protein shack in the afternoons; however, I am trying to eliminate this based on some articles and rumor of not so healthy ingredients.
ReplyGood list! I can add a few: bananas (I eat one after working out to replenish potassium), cut up pieces of cooked skinless chicken (buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store and just cut it up and put it in baggies), hard boiled eggs, baggies of dry breakfast cereal (one that's high in fiber and low in sugar), individual string cheese, cut up mixed veggies, or celery with a bit of peanut butter on it.
I don't really care much for protein bars/cereal bars/etc. because I think they are too processed and they never fill me up. I'm always hungrier after eating one than before.
ReplyI abhor those breakfast cereal bars. Just pure junk. Nothing beats oatmeal with cheese, or eggs/hummus/veggies/cheese for breakfast.
ReplyMy favorite breakfast is steel cut oats + 1 T natural peanut butter + 1 scoop protein powder (added after I realized I wasn't getting enough protein in my day) --- Mmm, mmm, mmm--- and incredibly filling while giving you carbs, fats, and protein.
Replyoatmeal with cottage cheese, wheat germ and chopped toasted nuts is the best, hands down! It sounds odd, but when I was pg with dd, it was my favorite breakfast.
ReplyMy favorite oatmeal mix is:
3/4 cup rolled oats(2 minute)
Replyhalf cup water
half cup whole milk
feta cheese
shredded parmesan
shredded ham
Have you ever had cottage cheese oatmeal pancakes? I had them for the first time this morning -- yum!
ReplyI'm more of a fruit kind of person. The last time I kept a box of cereal bars in my desk they didn't last the second day. The best snacks for me are those I know I should eat, quite like to eat but don't feel compelled to eat. That way I'll keep full and won't eat them all at once. Snack-a-Jacks are the same. I just keep reaching for that bag...
ReplyNothing beats a banana with peanut butter or frozen grapes.
ReplyDepends on the timing of that banana. If it's just a mid-morning snack, that's likely going straight to your hips. Right after a workout is fuel.
ReplyI will never eat a rice cake, or cottage cheese but the rest of the list rocks. Especially the apples, nuts and grapes.
ReplyAgreed on the rice cakes, but cottage cheese is one of the healthiest sources of protein. An essential for those who lift weights.
ReplyI hope I never get to the point of micromanaging my diet enough that a banana can only be eaten after a workout, as it is a bad, carby food. But whatever works for you.
ReplyThose Campbells Soup at Hands or whatever they call them are pretty easy (not that much easier than a can of soup, but I'm trying to be as low mainetenance as possible here.) Though maybe the fact you have to heat it up rules it out. Also, instant oatmeal (again, heating). Oh, I know a good one that I really like: dried cereal. The little boxes have between 100-150 calories, which isn't too bad. But usually I'll put a half a cup or so in a little tupperware container and put it in my purse. Dried cereal has a lot of vitamins and minerals, even the junky ones, though obviously whole grain ones are better. And you can really savor it for a while, and get a lot of tasty little bites out of it.
ReplyI am totally with you on the dried cereal.
Better than crisps or cereal IMO and even the ones that taste kinda funky with milk on (Special K I'm looking at you)taste great dry.
It keeps really well and I take Cheerios to the cinema with me in baggies now instead of sucumbing to the sugary popcorn. Helps with the 3 a day whole grain thing too!
ReplyWhat Lori said about the grapes: freeze 'em and eat them that way. Forces you to slow down (I find fresh grapes way too easy to inhale). And frozen, they provide a satisfying crunch, while still providing that great taste (frozen berries of all kinds give the same satisfaction.
And the apple is an even better snack when the slices are spread lightly with a pure organic nut butter. Very yum.
ReplyAnother thing that's really yummy: Stick a light yogurt in the freezer for a few hours and then eat it...it tastes a lot like frozen yogurt that you can buy, but it's got less sugar and it's healthier. It's a really great treat in the summer!
ReplySpectra, thanks for the ideas of baggies of cereal and frozen yogurt! I am always looking for snacks I can keep at work and eat before I go to the gym, and the baggies of cereal are also something I can keep in the car when I'm on the go.
ReplyI love frozen white grapes!!! I was craving them last night. Made a run to the store and then forgot to get them because I got distracted by stuffed grape leaves. I'll need to go back and pick some up today. (Hey, I'm pregnant, if it's fairly healthy then cravings are my prerogative. :) )
ReplyEgglands Best makes hard boiled eggs which are great when you want protein vs. carbs. There are 6 in the bag.
ReplyWhy not just boil some of your own and keep them in your fridge for when you want to grab one? I hate products that charge exhorbitantly for something like that.
ReplyI just read on a website about some movie star who makes hard boiled eggs, takes out the yolks, and fills them with hummus. That sounds pretty good (although I'm not totally anti-yolk either!)
ReplyJust eat the whole egg. I don't get this egg white fascination. The yolk is filled with all kinds of good things!
ReplyFitness Fanatic - it is strange to me when people don't realize that they are giving up vitamins and such when they give up the Yolk. Now, if you eat a lot of eggs it makes sense to use a mix of whole eggs and egg whites to keep your saturated fat intake down, but most of us do not eat eggs more than a couple to a few times a week.
That said, I'll use a 1 whole egg to 2 egg white ratio when I make my scrambled eggs for taste preference.
ReplyGreat list!
I found that mixed nuts and dried fruit really calms me down when I'm at the office.
I used to bring an apple with me to the office, but I usually end up hungrier than before eating it. My wife says the same about apples also!
ReplyYou can make your own energy bars by adding blackstrap molasses to those rice cakes. This is a very healthy, complex sugar, low in calories and high in nutrients. Especially hard to get calcium. If you don't like the taste try adding a little honey.
ReplyI find fruit a great easy to have snack. There are so many kinds that you can never get bored.
Reply