How to Make Snacking a Habit

Our objective here at Raw Bites is to help make snacking a healthy part of your lifestyle. We have the following tips that can help you make snack preparation a habit, so that you can easily throw together a good-for-you treat (instead of reaching for the phone to order take-out).

1. Create a health pantry of basics.

Remember our article on doing a kitchen detox? Keeping that in mind, stock up your fridge and pantry with an assortment of basics so that you can throw together some quick snacks when you are pressed for time. We recommend this list of healthy snack stand-by's. 

In your cupboard

• Freeze-dried fruit
• Dehydrated fruit
• Nuts: almonds, pili, walnuts, raw peanuts (which you can parboil)
• Toasted grains
• Oats
• Seeds: Go for the unsalted variety to lessen your overall sodium intake
• Hard cheeses
• Gluten-free crackers
• Raw cacao

In your fridge

• Frozen fruit (for smoothies): Bananas are great bases. Berries (low in sugar). Use locally grown fruits like pineapple, mangoes
• Ready to cook/bake frozen foods: organic chicken nuggets, all-natural cod fish fingers that can be baked
• Frozen soups (ready to thaw and cook)

2. Mix and match your snack essentials. 

With the essentials in your pantry, you can now easily throw together these yummy snacks:

• Trail Mix: Mix equal portions of your favorite nuts, dried fruit and seeds, e.g. cashews, and sunflower seeds, and mix with half the amount of raw cacao nibs and dried mangoes
• Cheese & Fruit: Gluten-free crackers topped with cheese (and with a half-cup of sweet grapes) makes a perfect snack any time of the day.
• Dips: Blitz some chickpeas, garlic, tahini and olive oil to make a simple hummus that you can eat with crackers, gluten-free chips, veggie sticks.

3. Schedule your snack-making & eating.

A task that is monitored and done over and over for a specific period of time becomes a habit. In your weekly schedule, pin point a day and time when you will do your (1) grocery shopping and (2) snack prep. It must become an essential part of your schedule for it to be effective and for you to stick to it.

Tip: Maybe you can allot Thursday nights for snack prep, so that you can still enjoy your Friday and weekend nights.

4. Be "snack-prepared."

Nothing will tempt you more to go for fast food or take out than being option-less. In addition to making snack prep a habit, make it also a daily practice of yours to include a snack in your bag. Easy snacks are a pack of trail mix, a bag of dried fruit, or a sachet of healthy crackers. The point is never to be without something quick and filling. The more "arsenal" you have, the better. (And with our monthly snack boxes, the job is easier because you just have to throw in a snack from our selection, and you're done!)

So... are you going to snack more intentionally?