Eight healthy ideas for the organised snacker

Posted on 24 October, 2018

Snacking is an important part of anyone’s daily food habits.

What you regularly choose to eat as your snacks in the context of your whole diet makes a big difference when it comes to your health, as opposed to whether you choose to snack or not.

Being organised is a key to ensuring healthy food is available to snack on. Having some forethought, planning your snacks and doing a small amount of preparation sets you up for success and means you’ve got something ready to go when hunger strikes. Life is busy. You could be stuck in a work meeting, dropping kids at after-school sport, or perhaps the crackers and dip are calling to you while you’re cooking dinner. Having a planned snack ready to go works wonders for days like this!

Smart snacking is about:

• Making the most of the opportunity and choosing nourishing, nutrient dense, whole foods
• Being intentional about what you will eat at snack times, rather than leaving it up to chance or ‘what you feel like’
• Being organised so that you’ve got your pre-planned snack ready to go

Make the healthy choice the easy choice with these eight snack ideas that need a little bit of prep but are well worth the effort!

Smoked Salmon Crackers

This snack combines healthy fats, protein, a small amount of carbs and a serve of vegetables to give you a very satiating snack that’s perfect for when there is a six or more hour gap between meals.

Another cracker topping idea is hummus, ham off the bone, plus a side of tomato and rocket. Yum. Want more cracker topping ideas? Click here.

Recipe here.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Chia pudding is delicious! Even better, it boasts an amazing amount of fibre, healthy fats and lots of nutrition. This recipe is perfect for an afternoon tea chocolate fix.

To make it dairy free, swap the cows milk for almond milk.

Recipe here.

Rainbow Ricotta Fritters

You’ll look at the ingredients of these and think: “How can they taste good?” Trust me, they’re amazing and absolutely delicious when they’re re-heated in a sandwich press. Not only are they great for you, but perfect for the kids lunch boxes too!

Recipe here.

Pink Smoothie

The warmer weather is perfect for this blend! It’s got one serve of vegetables, two serves of fruit, plus it’s just so… pink! Pink is absolutely the new green.

Recipe here.

Trail Mix

Nuts and seeds are highly nutritious. They are a great source of essential fats, fibre, vitamins, and minerals. I really like snacking on raw nuts and seeds because they take time to chew through, which slows me down, and this helps me to savour them more. A pre-portioned pack of trail mix is perfect to nibble on at your desk or on the run while you’re in between meals.

Recipe here.

Watermelon Salsa

The main take-home advice with this recipe is: Add fresh mint to your fruit salad. Seriously, it’s so good! This snack is also perfect for a summertime dessert.

Recipe here.

Mini Quiches

I’ve posted this recipe before as a great work lunch. I’d recommend eating three or four quiches for a meal, along with half a plate of garden salad. One to two of these little morsels is actually a perfect protein-rich snack that if you’ve made in advance requires no prep at snack time. Just remove from the fridge and eat!

Recipe here.

Ricotta, Berries and Honey 

This combo tastes like decadence on a cracker. Seriously, try it. If you’re not keen on crackers, or wanting a lower carb option, omit the crackers altogether and just stir the honey and blueberries through the ricotta. A drop of vanilla essence is also an amazing addition and makes it good enough for dessert.

Recipe here.

Your snacks don’t have to have prep. There are lots of no prep ideas, like snack packs of nuts, whole fruit like bananas and apples, flavoured tins of tuna or high fibre muesli bars.

Check out this article: 27 Low Calorie Snacks for more ideas!