35 Healthy Snack Ideas - That Are Quick & Easy

35 Healthy Snack Ideas To Inspire…

The hardest part of healthy snacking is simply coming up with new and interesting ideas for snacks to try. And here’s your solution! A pile of healthy eating ideas for you, your family or anyone else you care about!

Try these fruity snack ideas:

• Chopped fresh or dried fruit, served with a bowl of low-fat yoghurt and a little swirl of honey;

• 1/2 cup of cottage cheese topped with 1/2 cup of chopped nectarines or peaches (or substitute with seasonal or your own favourite fruit);

• Apple or banana baked in the microwave, with natural yoghurt and cinnamon;

• Frozen grapes and bananas are a lovely sweet treat;

• 1/2 cup low-fat frozen yoghurt topped with 1/2 cup berries, peaches or nectarines and a little toasted muesli sprinkled on top - delectable;

• Plastic tear-top tubs of fruit are portable and handy, great for taking to work – try the delicious mandarins or fruit salad, yum!

• Fruit – fresh, frozen, tinned, or dried is always a great option;

Super-size your vegetable intake with these snack ideas:

• Carrot sticks with salsa;

• Celery sticks with hummus;

• Raw broccoli and cauliflower florets with low-fat sour cream;

• Try other little veggies like snow peas or sugar snaps with the above dips;

• Small baked potato – easily microwaved and top with a little low-fat cheese;

• Vegetable soup – a nice cup on a winters day is a great healthy snack idea;

Get sustained energy with a wholegrain snack like:

• Pita pockets filled with leftover salad/coleslaw and cold meat (last nights leftovers are perfect for snacks);

• Low-fat bran muffins – slice a little banana inside for a more filling option;

• Pita bread covered with marmite/vegemite or tomato sauce, cheese and grilled;

• Grainy toast topped with tomato and grated cheese or 1/2 mashed banana mixed with 2 teaspoons of peanut butter;

• Toasted fruit bread with low-fat ricotta cheese and cinnamon;

• Wholegrain crackers with low-fat cheese and a little relish - try different cheeses and relishes for a bit of variety;

• Pita pockets spread with a little hummus – simple and tasty;

• Wholegrain roll with cold meat and relish;

• Corn or whole-wheat quesadillas topped with grated low-fat cheese, salsa or shredded vegetables and grilled to perfection – cut and serve in wedges.

• Try different breads like whole grain loaves, mini-bagels, buns, pita pockets, fruit bread, English muffins – variety is important;

Other savoury snack ideas:

• Pretzels and popcorn topped with non-salt spices;

• Popcorn with a little grated low-fat cheese and salsa dip for a Mexi-popcorn treat;

• Rice crackers with a little smattering of vegemite – quick and tasty;

Home-made trail mixes:

Remember nuts and dried fruit are high in energy, so a small handful is best:

• Dried apricots with almonds;

• Mini crackers and pretzels;

• Roasted, unsalted, mixed nuts;

• Prunes, apricots, almonds and a couple of brazil nuts;

• Toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds are great to sprinkle in any trail mix;

• Walnuts, raisins, cranberries;

• Use any combination of nuts, dried fruit and seeds that you desire;

Try a liquid snack:

• Fruit smoothies – blend fruit (e.g. bananas, tinned peaches, frozen berries, whatever you have on hand) with low-fat yoghurt, milk and ice;

• Banana ice – blend frozen banana pieces with water or juice, add berries or top with fruit and nuts;

• Milk on ice for those hot summer days; or on cooler days have a glass of milk steaming hot with a teaspoon of cocoa or cinnamon;

Quick, easy healthy snack options:

• A pottle of low-fat fruit yoghurt;

• Your favourite breakfast cereal with low-fat milk (who says you can’t eat breakfast cereals for afternoon tea?), so easy and filling;

Healthy Kids Snack Ideas - Make Healthy Food Fun!

Make healthy food fun! Food manufacturers go to a lot of trouble to make treat foods look exciting and visually interesting on both TV ads and the food packets. Beat them at their own game – make healthy foods fun and visually appealing for your kids:

• Forget the old rules about not playing with your food! Get your children to build little towers out of crackers or spell their name in vegetable sticks then munch their way through them;

• Get children to make their own trail mixes out of dried fruit, nuts and seeds – put them in a sealable bag, shake and then eat a little and store the rest for future use.

• Give your healthy snacks fun names. The old favourite ‘ants on a log’ is a great example: celery smeared with peanut butter and raisins for the littlies.

• Find new ways to present the same food – fresh pineapple cut into different shapes (e.g. triangles or squares), fruit kebabs are much more exciting than fruit just cut up (get the kids to assemble their own kebabs), cheese and pineapple on toothpicks, sandwiches with cheese on top cut with a cookie cutter;

• Banana on a stick – peel bananas, cut in half, stick halves on popsicle sticks, smear with softened peanut butter, roll in chopped nuts, muesli or rice cereal – serve immediately or freeze for 3 hours

• Jellies set with fruit inside – what fun it is playing with wobbly jelly trying to get the fruit out!

FREE Monthly Newsletter

About The Author

Jennifer Bowden Nutritionist, MSc (Dist), BSc (Hons) - Human Nutrition

Related Posts

How To Beat Food Cravings - Part 1 What causes food cravings? And how do we cope with food cravings? Find out...

Got A Chocolate Craving? Is chocolate your food craving fix? Discover the up-side to chocco cravings and how you might beat them