As school gets back into swing and everyone’s life start moving at full force, healthy eating on the go can be very challenging; even for us! Our lives are so busy that packing a nutritious, healthy snack for the day sometimes slips our minds. Since we know you can all relate to having a hectic life, we wanted to share some of our favorite snacks on the go.
There are so many quick, easy, and simple snacks that stay fresh and are great too munch on throughout the day!
Here are some of our favorite “on-the-go” snacks:
1. Baggies of Fruits and/or Veggies: Have a bag of carrots in the house? Some berries? Broccoli? An apple? Anything! Place a serving size of any fruit or veggie in a baggie and bring it with you for the day. Our latest love? Pre-washed baggies of snap peas.
Tip: For the freshest tasting fruits and veggies try placing, and carrying them somewhere near an icepack. We like lunchboxes; the grown-up kind of course (although Tammy’s daughter’s Scooby Doo bus lunchboxes are awfully cute!)
2. Make your own trail mix: Just mix together your favorite nuts, seeds, low-fat granola or high-fiber cereal and dried fruit; it’s as simple as that! The key is to make sure you stick to the serving sizes of any ingredient. Toss a handful in a zip-lock baggie and snack on it throughout the day!
Tip: The serving for the nuts should be two tablespoons (slivered nuts are great because the flavor gets spread out through the mix. For dried fruit, the serving is ¼ cup, so chopped fruits are great because the little pieces make the trail mix very flavorful.
3. Pack a yogurt: Look for nonfat yogurt so that you avoid the artery clogging saturated fats and the extra calories.
Tip: Watch out for the extra calories when eating flavored yogurt. Many times, lots of sugar or artificial sweeteners are added. Want something sweet? Add fruit into your yogurt. You’ll get extra fiber and antioxidants. Any type of berries work great!
4. Looking for that satisfying crunch? How about whole grain crackers?! Again check the serving size of course and eat unsalted crackers when possible. Try topping them with low-fat or nonfat cheese, it’s delicious!
Tip: Wasa or Ry-Krisp Crackers are great and low in sodium. Also, Kashi’s new Whole Grain Crackers are yummy.
Last words of snacking advice: Packing a snack that you know is nutritious and healthy is much better (and easier!) than finding a snack somewhere while you are out. When you’re hungry you could fall prey to any junk you see. Plus, you never truly know how things are prepared when you’re buying a snack of any sort; so eating homemade snacks are the perfect way to not take any chances! Place any of the snacks we have listed in your bag and you will have easy access to something delicious, nutritious, and, not to mention, fairly inexpensive!
Remember:
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!
What snacks do you eat on the go?