Foods

I really need some suggestions on portable snacks that I can have in my purse or car or whatever.  I get really hungry for an afternoon snack, and would really like to have something on me that seems calorie-worthy.  Bars (i.e. granola, protein or the like) do not strike me as a calorie bargain, and I like trail mix type things but they seem so high cal.  Does anyone have an old standby?

I carry an apple with me everyday and eat it at some point.  I keep those orange-flavored prunes in my desk drawer - I find they are a good substitute for my chocolate sweet tooth!

I have heard some recommend that something like lowfat mozzerella string cheese snacks or other protein snacks work to stave off hunger in a pinch.

I do also eat Luna bars, but I only eat 1/3 or 1/2 at a sitting, with a large glass of water.

I also find if I eat more food for breakfast and lunch, I don't get hungry for an afternoon snack.  I try to eat a larger lunch and a smaller dinner.  (I find this easier to do when I make dinner, and save the larger portions for lunch the next day, and have the smaller portions for dinner that evening.)

Perhaps design your own trail mix that has a balance you think is healthier.  And, you may not need to eat as much as you think for your stomach to register, "I've had a snack."  Again, especially if you have water with it.

Just throwing ideas out, in case anything might help.

I'm looking forward to reading other responses too. I totally feel you re: protein bars. Most of them are disgusting anyway, and 200+ calories for what is essentially a nasty granola bar is f-ing ridiculous. I'd much rather eat a brownie, kwim?

I usually pack 150ish calorie protein/carb snacks when I have a long day away from home. Apple slices with 1 Tbsp packet of peanutbutter, string cheese & some wasa crackers, 1/2 light english muffin w/ almond butter, thawed edamame etc I've even packed around a few ounces of tofu before. I just hate getting stuck out with no decent snack options.

I also like those TLC crunchy granola bars, 1 is about 80 calories. I always keep one package in my car in case I get a headache.

quaker oats 90 calorie chewy granola bars.  strawberry vanilla if i can find them.  oatmeal raisin otherwise.  

Edamame, of course!  I have a recipe for chili edamame somewhere that would be great.  Thanks for stimulating the old brain!

a little tub of hummus and some veggies or pitta to dip in

any fruit.. you could make a fruit salad, squeeze a little lemon juice on to stop it going brown

• Almonds
• Apples
• Banana
• Grapes
• No Add Sugar Fruit Sauce
• Celery w/ Dressing or PB
• Mini Bagel/English Muffin w/ Cream Cheese or PB/Jelly
• Peanut butter Crackers
• Yogurt w/ Fruit
• 1/2 Healthy Sandwich
• Bell Pepper Strips
• Veggies w/ Hummus
• Small Container of Cereal w/ (or not) Yogurt or (Soy?) Milk
• Larabars (If your not that hungry but haven't had enough calories yet, these are great! :) Around 200 calories for one)
• Fruit Smoothie

[:

for me the protien bars really keep me full if I drink a ton of water with them (i mean.. I will drink a 32 oz nalgene with one of them).  I try to eat 250 cals every 3 hours so those are prefect for me.  I like think thin bars, they are low in carbs and have tons of protein and actually taste good.

apart from what was already mentioned, sometimes I will bring greek yogurt and frozen fruit.. by the time I go to eat it the fruit has thawed a bit and is the perfect consistency, sometimes I will bring a baggie of kashi to mix into it too.  Fruit and nuts are my stand bys besides those. 

Apple, pear, banana, pita with PB2 peanut butter and banana or honey, cereal bars, granola bars, veggies but up in a bag, popcorn.

Try checking out HungryGirl.com.....She has great reviews on low cal and makeover recipes. she researches all exisiting and new grocery items . Helps me alot... She also has a new book out. I just subscribe to her newsletter.

Same on the snack bars...I really enjoy the FiberOne Granola Bars.  They're high fiber so it fills you up and it tastes as good a chewy bar.  About 140 calories.  I also have moved to a little can of V8 for an afternoon snack and of course the standbys:

Nuts (almonds mostly, or some seeds)
Apple or Orange
Light Yogurt
Veggies and Hummus (see this container for it, it's great for the go: http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product. jhtml?CATID=74067&PRODID=69697)
Half of natural peanut butter and jelly on wheat

i keep granola bars (90-170 calories), smart choice popcorn (100 calories), or those little snack packs from Nabisco that are 100 calories each.  You can get chocolate chip cookies, cheese nips, etc.

100 calorie packs work great!  Fruit also.

If you want something that will satisfy "crunchy" cravings without totally cheating, try Pirate's Booty by Robert's American snacks (you can get the 1/2 oz snack bags in bulk on Amazon in a box of 60 for about $30 - the same as you'd pay for snack size bags of Cheetos PuffCorn) but Pirate's Booty is all-organic, with no preservatives or chemicals to get in the way of your digestive process.  Each bag has 65 calories and is actually quite filling if you drink a glass (or bottle) of water or other zero-calorie beverage with it (trust me, try water - this stuff is super-high on the tasty scale all by itself!).  If you want a bigger bang for your snack, try the Smart Puffs - 120 calories per 1 oz bag and you WILL be full up, these are just a more "adult" version of the Pirate's Booty.  Trust me, two bags of Booty are much more fun than one bag of Smart Puffs 

If sweetness is your thing, try Pamela's Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies - two cookies come in a pack and have 170 calories - but what a decadent 170 calories they are... you would never know these cookies are 70% organic, gluten-free and wheat-free.  Imagine the best chocolate fudge brownie cookie you've ever had, magnify it by 100 and you've got Pamela's cookies.

Kashi makes a Dark Cherry Chocolate granola type bar that will blow you right out of your socks, if you're into the really different you might try freeze-dried fruit, there's nothing like crunchy strawberries, blueberries, cherries and apples (well, that's the mix *I* get - Amazon again, LOL, check out the Subscribe & Save program in the Organic section!) to give you a REAL energy boost.

Annie's Organic makes Cheddar Bunnies in 1 oz packages, they're like Goldfish but again, organic, so no preservatives, pesticides, steroids or hormones in any of the ingredients, just a short list of good stuff like wheat, cheese, salt, stuff like that :D  They also make Chocolate Bunnies and Graham Bunnies and Pretzel Bunnies.

In case anyone here is wondering why I'm pushing organic products, I switched for health reasons, not to lose weight (even though I needed to do that too).  Within 3 months of switching to all-organic foods I dropped 20 pounds.  In the next month I dropped another 5.  I kind of noticed a trend here so I'm sticking with it.  I figure my body is happy not having to process all the artificial stuff, it's happy about SOMETHING at any rate :-P  In my search for organic foods I could live with while getting healthy in a relatively homebound medical state (WAY long story) I managed to come across some amazingly tasty stuff in single-serve portions.  (Okay, so I have also been teaching myself portion control... I've been kind of a lust for life girl all my life and so far it's gotten me overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other health problems so it's time to learn to CHANNEL the lust )

Anyway, for anyone interested in all the other goodies I've come up with that are tasty, portable and that are easily trackable nutrition-wise feel free to drop me a note, I'm always around!

*EDIT* - DITTO on the LaraBars, ESPECIALLY the PIEBARS in Pecan, Cherry and Apple - they taste JUST like pie!  Be careful though, for you pecan pie lovers - the pecan ones will just ROCK you and they can get dangerously addictive 

Healthy snacking is a big part of my regimen; two 200 calories snacks a day in addition to balanced, 300-400 max calorie meals is what works for me.  Protein in the key.

I like:  10 almonds and an apple or other "portable fruit" or veggies, grapes and yogurt, a Starbucks skinny vanilla latte w/protein powder, Zone, Think Thin, or South Beach diet protein meal replacement bars...they also have 100 calorie packets of dark chocolate covered soynuts that are fantastic and really take the edge off.

For desserts or in the evening, I like berries and yogurt..or a fantastic dieter's standby - sugar free jello cups.  Ten calories each, people - you can have four in a big dish which will totally fill you up and still only 40 calories.  I often add a couple tablespoons of fat free or sugar free cool whip.  Even the sugar free or low sugar jello puddings are great - at only 60 calories or 100 calories a cup.

I recently discovered Zone Perfect Snack Bars.  They are basically mini-Zone bars at 85 calories each and I keep them on hand at all times in case of emergency.   They fill me up, and even if I've already had a snack but am late for a regular meal or just dying of hunger, the 85 calories is easy to trim off somewhere else.

I always keep the following emergency snacks in my purse - 1 individual packet planters peanuts (1 oz peanuts, 170 calories), 1 nature valley sweet-and-salty peanut bar, and 1 fiber one bar (150 calories and 9 grams fiber). Any of these helps keep me going for a few hours without being terribly bad for me.

I do NOT LIKE any of the 'special K' bars or 'cereal' bars - they're so small that you need to eat at least two of them to avoid starving to death, and they're so chock full of sugar that they spike your insulin and put you in a worse position than you were to begin with!

Not great for carrying around for days but if you know you are going to be hungry, hardboiled eggs are a good way to go.  I generally skip the yolks since I don't really like them and that just leaves good, lean protein, which will keep you full.  Plus, they have their own handy container.  :)

I can't eat sugar.  Here are some low/no sugar snacks I take anywhere--even on the plane:

low fat mozzarella cheese sticks, a little baggie of shredded wheat (pillows), celery sticks (with or without no sugar peanut butter), uncooked green beans, raw carrots

Stay away from the Luna bars. Also Cliff. Both can have caffeine as an "energy additive." I found this out the hard way. I had a huge reaction to a Cliff bar. I even called the company in California and reamed them out. The response from the person I spoke to is that it is not illegal to add caffeine as a non-nutritive drug to energy bars. Duh.

I am a diabetic and so I am always looking for portable snacks to take with me.

My suggestion is that you vary whatever you choose because boredom sets in after awhile with the same item.

I find raisins and nuts a good choice. Also dried apples. Also spring water in a sports bottle. I stay away from the Vitamin Water Glaceaus as good as they taste are filled with sugars.

I carry those pre-packaged peanut butter and crackers and cheese and crackers that Keebler makes. But they do get way boring.

Cheese and cut up apples are a good choice. Also a nice bosc pear is a great thing. Grapes-seedless.

I stay away from the so-called Lo-Cal, Lo-Fat cookies, crackers, et al. They are usually filled with all types of crapola and a ton of sodium.

Best of Luck!

Troods

A healthy, filling, energy snack that works for me....a 5oz can of tuna & water, 100 calories.  Eat it right out of the can.

Or....add two tbsp of Kraft Light miracle whip salad dressing (20 cal per tbsp) and two slices of Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat bread (50 cal per slice). 

All together, you have a low cal, healthy, high energy snack (entire sandwich is 240 cal).  You can half or quarter it to draw it out in snack size bites.

Mix it up by substituting the tuna with one package of Bumblebee Prime Fillet Chicken Breast.  These come in different seasonings and range from 110 to 120 calories per 4oz breast.  You'll find these pre-cooked packages where you find pouch tuna.