Most store-bought snacks are made with highly processed ingredients and are filled to the gills with carbs.
To make things easy, we came up with this list of more than 70 simple, yet healthy snacks for you and your family to enjoy. You can even laminate a copy and let your family use dry erase markers to choose their weekly favorites.
We hope it helps simplify things for you as much as it has for us. Just remember, SNACK-SIZED portions when packing these puppies!
Some things to remember
- Eating snacks throughout the day can prevent you from making poor choices at meal time and overindulging. Just remember, these are SNACKS, so help yourself to a snack-sized portion. If you’re afraid you may overindulge, measure the proper portions out.
- Healthy fats, like nut butter and avocado, help you to feel fuller longer. Keep this in mind if you have a long day ahead or plan on being extremely active.
- Not only do chia seeds have tons of health benefits, they help you to feel full. We like to add them to snacks such as yogurt, cottage cheese or nut butter. If you're adding them to your family's snacks or sides, you may initially get some resistance. Start by adding a ½ tsp. and see if they even notice!
- Whole grain and starchy snacks are perfectly okay, but keep them to a minimum.
- This list also serves as a great resource for packed lunches!
Fruits and vegetables
- Apple slices (good with cinnamon, nut butter and/or cottage cheese)
- Avocado (good with a dollop of Greek yogurt and cherry tomatoes or whole grain rice and soy sauce)
- Baked sweet potato or baked sweet potato "coins" (good with cinnamon and butter or honey)
- Bananas (good with nut butter and crunchy cacao nibs). Bananas are high in carbs and sugar compared to most fruit.
- Berries: strawberries, blueberries and raspberries (good with plain regular/Greek yogurt or cottage cheese). If you're extra hungry, include ¼ cup of granola.
- Canned fruit (canned only in water or the fruit's natural juices; no added syrups)
- Cantaloupe
- Carrots (good with hummus, vegetable dip or tapenade)
- Celery sticks (good with nut butter and currants or raisins)
- Cherries
- Cherry tomatoes (good with hummus, vegetable dip or tapenade)
- Clementines or oranges
- Cucumber slices (good with hummus, vegetable dip or tapenade)
- Cucumber “minis” (coin sliced cucumbers with ham, mustard and Swiss sandwiched between and held together with a toothpick)
- Dried or dehydrated fruits or vegetables
- Figs (good with goat cheese)
- Fruit salad skewers (on a toothpick)
- Grapes (grapes are high in sugar compared to most fruit)
- Grapefruit
- Honeydew melon
- Kiwi
- Mango slices
- Mediterranean Cucumber Salad
- Nuts and Nibs Banana Split
- Olives
- Papaya
- Peaches (good with plain regular/Greek yogurt or cottage cheese)
- Pears
- Pineapple
- Plum
- Pomegranate seeds (good with plain regular/Greek yogurt or cottage cheese)
- Raw broccoli (good with vegetable dip)
- Raw sliced bell peppers (good with hummus, vegetable dip, guacamole or tapenade)
- Sliced tomatoes (good with chopped basil, small amount of mozzarella and pesto/balsamic or EVOO, salt and pepper, or feta and EVOO)
- Sugar snap peas (served cold)
- Unsweetened applesauce (good with cinnamon)
- Watermelon
Granola bars, nuts and seeds
- Almonds
- Cashews
- Granola bars (homemade, RXBARs or LÄRABARs)
- Homemade trail mix
- No Bake Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Snack Bites
- Pecans
- Pistachios
- Walnuts
Dairy and eggs
- Berry Almond Chia Pudding (served cold in a thermos)
- Cheese cubes, slices or sticks (good with or without crackers)
- Cottage cheese (good flavored with honey or unsweetened apple butter, topped with fresh fruit)
- Cottage cheese and plain regular/Greek yogurt 1:1 ratio (good topped with fresh fruit)
- Hard-boiled eggs (good topped with hot sauce)
- Deviled eggs made with Greek yogurt/avocado
- Plain regular/Greek yogurt (good flavored with honey or maple syrup and vanilla extract, topped with fresh fruit, pomegranate seeds or Berry Compote)
Meat and seafood
- Dill Chicken Salad
- Grilled shrimp (leftover from the freezer and previously grilled)
- Jerky such as CHOMPS Grass Fed Beef Jerky Snack Sticks or Free Range Turkey Jerky Snack Sticks
- Pecan Chicken Salad
- Tuna Fish
- Tuna Salad
- Turkey Meatballs (leftover from the freezer, served cold)
Whole grains and starchy snacks
- Cooked whole grain noodles (good with a little pesto or EVOO, salt and pepper)
- Healthy Baked Oatmeal (served cold, leftover from the freezer)
- Homemade corn tortilla triangles (good with guacamole)
- Homemade Granola
- Muesli with milk (served cold in a thermos)
- Oatmeal (served warm in a thermos)
- Overnight Oats (served cold in a thermos, good topped with cinnamon and fresh fruit)
- Stovetop popcorn (topped with your favorite seasonings)
- Whole grain crackers (topped with cheese, nut butter and sliced strawberries or cottage cheese and Berry Compote combo)
- Made with whole grains and minimal salt, that’s IT!
- Our two favorites: 365 Woven Wheats Baked Crackers and Jilz Gluten Free Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt Crackerz
- Whole grain rice cakes (For a variety of topping ideas, check out A Few Deliciously Simple Ways to Top Your Rice Cakes on our blog.)
- Whole grain toast (topped with nut butter, honey or Berry Compote)
Other slightly random ideas
- Baked Beans (good topped with freshly shredded cheddar cheese, leftover from the freezer but served warm in a thermos)
- Low-Carb Blueberry Pancake "Coins" (good served plain or with yogurt mixed with honey or maple syrup and vanilla extract)
- Smoothies or smoothie pops (served in a thermos or popsicle mold)
- Mini muffins (baked in a mini muffin pan)
Why we love this list
This list serves as a great resource for healthy snacks, made with real food ingredients (it's even hubby approved!) and also helps us come up with simple sides for packed lunches. Because we sometimes forget about certain options, we keep a printed copy in our kitchen. We use it as a reference and let our family help decide which snacks they want packed for the week.
Just remember
- Eat snack-sized portions.
- Whole grain and starchy snacks are perfectly okay, but keep them to a minimum.
- This list also serves as a great resource for packed lunches!
- Consider laminating a copy and letting your family use dry erase markers to choose their weekly favorites.
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