People in college are known for eating ramen noodles, mac and cheese, and tons of pizza. Price and speed are the common denominators to all of these cuisines. College kids are constantly running around to classes, activities, and studying that eating nutritious foods usually gets pushed to the side. Nutritious foods are often replaced with the fast and efficient 2 minute microwave meals that can be found at the store. These kinds of meals and snacks will not get you any closer to your fitness goals and they won’t help you have the energy or brain power to get through your week. Read more to learn about easy snacks that you can buy or make to bring across campus with you and fuel your body and brain!
Why Should I Care About Snacks?
If you’re reading this and you’re in college, graduated from college, or going to college eventually, then you should know that college food is not the most reliable. If you’re living on campus in the dorms, then you are receiving most of your food from the dining halls that are provided. I have been able to eat pretty great meals from the dining hall in the past, but I also have had some terrible experiences. For example, I had 3 classes scheduled right after one another and I had about a 10 minute break between each. I ordered food at one of the dining halls and I waited and waited until I had to go to my next class. I had to miss lunch that day and didn’t get to eat anything until 6 pm! If you’re like me and get tired and grumpy when you miss meals, then you can imagine how hard it was to pay any attention in my next 2 classes. The dining halls can be unreliable, which means that you have to stay prepared. I try to always keep 1 snack in my backpack because if something like that happens again, then I feel prepared to get through my next classes until I can get a meal. Even if snacking is not your thing, sometimes it can be your saving grace when you’re starving and stuck in classes. You also want to be alert and ready to learn in your classes (you’re paying for it so you might as well get the best bang for your buck) so having a small snack to get you through classes might be necessary.
Look at Labels
As I mentioned above, it’s easy to choose the cheapest option when buying groceries, but sometimes the cheapest option doesn’t contain the best ingredients. Whether you’re purchasing ingredients to create a snack or buying prepackaged snacks, you should know what you’re eating. My biggest tip is to buy food with ingredients that you know. If you look down an ingredients list and see an ingredient that you don’t know, then you should look it up! Always stay curious about what you’re consuming because even if it’s normalized, it doesn’t mean that it’s good for you to eat. For example, sugar has multiple names such as corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, barley malt syrup, agave nectar, and dehydrated cane juice. Usually when there’s a complicated name on food labels, companies are trying to make the ingredients sound better than they are and people don’t often question them. The main tip is to stay curious about what you’re eating and read the ingredient label!
Easy Snacks to Make
– Almond butter or peanut butter on rice cakes
– Hummus on vegetables or crackers
– Apple slices with peanut butter or almond butter
– Yogurt with granola
– Frozen banana slices with yogurt or melted chocolate
– Oatmeal with fruit on top
– String cheese with crackers
– Hard boiled eggs
– Toast with peanut butter or almond butter
– Homemade energy balls
– Yogurt covered frozen grapes
– Homemade trail mix
– Roasted chickpeas
– Avocado toast
– Cottage cheese and fruit
– Smoothies
Healthy Packaged Snacks
– Larabars
– SkinnyPop popcorn
– Greek yogurt
– Popchips
– Vegetable chips
– Peanut butter packets
– Flavored almonds
– Dried fruit
– Rice cakes
– Dark chocolate
College provides the challenge of eating at irregular times. College is also a time when you need all the brain power you can get, and missing meals drains that brain power. Help your future self out and make or buy healthy snacks that you can stay prepared with!
