Ready-to-eat food with no time-consuming preparation is referred to as snack food.
Snacking throughout the day is an excellent way to stay energized and alert during even your busiest moments. A snack is a portion of food often smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients. Types of snack foods include peanuts, corn puffs, popcorn, roasted mielies, potato crisps, chocolate bars, yoghurt, biscuits and mixed nuts. Here you can explore a variety of snack food available in Zambian stores.
The best snack foods - Some examples include:
- Fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Frozen fruit.
- Fruits canned in water or their own juice.
- Whole grain bread, crackers and cereals.
- Lower fat yogurt.
- Lower fat cheese.
- Unsalted nuts and seeds and their butters.
- Hummus.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Single serving canned fish
Healthy Snack Ideas
Snacks can be both healthy and satisfying. Snacking can be as simple as grabbing an apple, a handful of nuts or a bowl of popcorn. Here are some snack ideas that are more filling.
- Fresh or frozen berries with cottage cheese
- Banana slices with peanut butter
- Fresh fruit skewers with Greek yogurt
- Canned fruit such as peaches or pears with yogurt
- Apple slices topped with almond butter or cheese
- Peaches with soft tofu
- Unsweetened applesauce sprinkled with cinnamon and toasted nuts or seeds
- Yogurt and chopped fresh fruit sprinkled with nuts or granola
- Homemade wholegrain blueberry muffin
- Apple berry crisp with a dollop of Greek yogurt
- Whole grain English muffin with almond butter and fruit slices
- Homemade smoothie or lassi
- Blend together fruit and/or vegetables with yogurt, milk or unsweetened fortified soy beverage
- Homemade trail mix
- Mix together dried whole grain cereal, unsweetened dried fruit, nuts or seeds
- Chia pudding with unsweetened shredded coconut and pineapple
- Frozen yogurt popsicle
- Blend together fruit and yogurt, then pour into popsicle mold tray and freeze
- Energy bites made with dates and nuts
- High fibre cereal topped with chopped fruit and milk or fortified soy beverage
- Cut up vegetables with hummus or a yogurt-based dip such as tzatziki
- Green leafy salad with sliced strawberries and toasted almonds
- Celery sticks or cucumber rounds topped with tuna salad
- Veggie sticks with cashew dip
- Bean and corn dip with pita chips
- Carrot sticks, whole grain crackers and cheese
- Cherry or sliced tomatoes and a hardboiled egg
- Edamame and cucumber chunks with a splash of olive oil and vinegar, topped with sesame seeds
- Salsa or guacamole with homemade chips from whole grain pita or tortilla
- Whole grain pita with baked falafel and red pepper strips
- Whole grain toast topped with apple slices and melted cheese
- Mini baked spinach and egg frittata
Any kind of ready-to-eat food that does not require time-consuming preparation can be referred to as snack food. Throughout history, people have had small portions of fruit and vegetables or nuts between meals to refill their energy and satisfy their hunger.
Cookies are the most popular snack food, with 59 percent of snackers saying they eat the sugary comfort food regularly. Potato chips came in a close second (58 percent), far ahead of their healthier vegetable cousins at just 24 percent.
Favorite Snack Foods
- Cheez-Its.
- Cool Ranch Doritos.
- Fruit Roll Ups.
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars.
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
- Twinkies.
- Potato Chips.
- Pop Tarts.