Healthy Snacks on the go: Easy, quick, nutritious and non-perishable snacks to grab & go
Take these healthy snacks on the go to work or when you travel to keep your diet on track. Easy healthy snacks on the go can be hard to find especially healthy breakfast snacks on the go as they tend to be carbohydrate and fat heavy. All of these healthy snacks are under 200 calories and offer well balanced macros. There’s a variety of something for everyone whatever your nutrition plan is.
What’s a healthy on the go snack that will survive not being refrigerated or crushed in your bag?
Healthy snacks on the go can be hard to find to be able to take on the go or to work that won’t spoil, melt or crumble in your bag, that don’t require silverware, refrigeration or heating up. As well as being actually healthy not deceptively healthy; granola bars and fruit smoothies I’m talking about you.
I’ve listed my favorite healthier snack options to throw in your bag, take to the airport, on school runs, and the office to avoid hangry times.
They’re not all perfect but they’re better than most options we end up with when we’re not prepared.
Most of the pre-packaged snacks on the list are under 200 calories. The one’s you make yourself will depend on the portion size you serve yourself.
Top 11 healthy, easy and tasty on the go snack ideas
If you prefer to listen than to watch or read, here’s the best healthy snacks podcast episode as a Vlog this week and it’s under 10 minutes long.
I’m a complete snacker. Years of bodybuilding and competing got me into the habit of eating 6 times a day and my metabolism used to that.
I’m also normally on the road traveling a lot for work. This year’s a weird one for us not being able to travel for work due to Covid-19, as I’ve had the same work travel schedule for 12 years.
So I’m used to having something in my bag ready to snack on. Too many delayed flights that left me landing too late to find anywhere to eat or hangry mid-flight taught me always to have something at hand.
These are some of my favorite nutritious snacks for on the go. I’ve listed these snacks, as I find they’re the healthiest options that don’t taste like cardboard, smell the least, taste good, and will leave you feeling good.
What are nutritious snacks?
We all have very different ideas of healthy and nutritious and follow different eating styles and habits. Whether that’s Keto, vegan, plant based, high protein, intermittent fasting, or Mom on the go, I’ve included something for everyone.
This healthy snack list is built around the concept of balanced macros (not too high in fat or protein), under 200 calories as it’s a snack not a meal, and not just empty calories. Some of the snacks are higher carb and others are higher protein or higher in fat, so there’s something for everyone’s nutritional preferences.
Healthier snack options and alternatives on the go
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Whole food or protein bars like Quest Bars
I love the variety Quest bars offers. My personal favorites are:
Quest Protein Bar S’mores 20g protein
White Choc and Raspberry Quest Bar $20.99Quest Bars are gluten-free and their protein content ranges from 20-5g protein depending on the flavor, 180-220 calories, 4-5 g net carbs, 1 g sugar, 14-15 g fiber, fat 6-8 g.
Quest has a lot of recipes on their site like this Lemon Quest Bar Scone Recipe which would make a great healthier sweet treat option for the car or when you want a portable snack. Kids will love it too.
Pro Quest Bar tip: If you find these chewy or if you’ve kept them too long and you’re close to a microwave, pop them in a dish or piece of paper towel/napkin and microwave for 10-15 seconds. They go all gooey, soft and warm.
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Fruit, fruit cup, raw vegetables
If you’ve packed these yourself before you left the house, fruit will last pretty well through Fall and Winter. However, in the Summer you might want to eat them by lunch time or switch to another option.
Bananas tend to bruise easily so try to keep them at the top of your bag. If you’ve packed a fruit salad, make sure it’s in a leak proof container. The Tupperware that seems great at home, often don’t seal quite as well as we think when they’re joggled around in our handbags.
What’s great about fruit as a healthy snack option is that it’s available pretty much anywhere: gas stations, airport convenience stands, coffee shops like Starbucks and grocery stores.
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Meal replacement shake
I prefer carrying around the individual sachets and an empty protein shaker rather than the pre-mixed ones. These are great anytime of the day and if there’s enough calories can even make a great healthy breakfast on the go.
It’s lighter to carry around and you can just mix it with water whenever you pick up your next bottle of water or refill your Hydro flask. It also means it doesn’t need refrigerating.
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Make your own protein bar
You can either make one like the one above or try this DIY protein bar recipe from Bodybuilding.com that you can customize to be the flavor you want. Throw in any additions you want too, like collagen, spirulina, chorella, seeds, dried fruit, etc.
I’d suggest skipping the chocolate coating so you don’t have a melted mess on your hands and to save some sugar and fat calories.
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Raw unsalted nuts and seeds
So many brands make individual size packets to grab and go which keeps portion size under control. The unsalted variety are not only healthier: lower sodium and lower fat but less messy.
Since unsalted nuts aren’t roasted in oils, your hands get less greasy eating them which makes them way easier to eat traveling or running errands.
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Make your own trail mix
This doesn’t need much explanation! Stick to unsalted, un roasted nuts, seeds and mini pretzels if you’re craving something salty and skip the chocolate or yogurt coated extras. Throw in individual ziplock bags and you’re good to go!
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Dried/freeze dried fruit
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Kale Chips
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Seaweed Chips
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Rice cakes or any flavor
The individual bags make it easy to grab and go. Throw them at the top of you bag to try and prevent them getting crushed as much as possible.
Or for a less smelly option, since rice cakes have a weird smell to me, make some home made oatcakes. Get my Mums healthy gluten-free oatcake recipe that she handed down to me.
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Legendary Foods Tasty Pastries
While I wouldn’t class these as healthy, they do stack up much healthier than their counterparts. They come in 3 flavors and they keep bringing out more: strawberry, cinnamon and birthday cake flavors. You can eat them cold, straight out of the packet on the go but they’re better hot if you have the option to heat them.
They heat up quickly, so don’t burn your mouth. I’d also recommend a microwave over the toaster so make less mess. They’re also one of the easiest, mess-free healthy breakfast snacks on the go.
Legendary Foods Tasty Pastry $24.99 for 10
Tasty Pastry nutrition: 9g Protein, 3g Net Carbs, <1g Sugar, 8g fiber, 170 Calories, 13g Fat. Here’s how they stack up against regular iced toaster pastries.
Regular toaster pastry VS Legendary Foods Tasty Pastry Nutrition Comparison
Other healthy on the go snacks
There are other healthy on the go snacks I grab when I’m out like hard boiled eggs and greek yogurt from the airport shops but I haven’t added them as you can’t really carry them around with you. They’re more of an instant fix.
Low Calorie Snacks
If you’re looking for more snack ideas or low-calories foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner, to help keep your nutrition clean and healthy here are another 35 Low-Calorie Nutritious Foods from Fitness Volt.
What are your favorite and nutritious on the go snacks? I know healthy breakfast snacks on the go are really hard and can be limited so share yours with us in the comments below or tag me on social media @evedawes
Get more healthy eating tips
I’ve been traveling for work for over 20 years and this is how I stay on track of my health, fitness, and weight while on the road for work.
How to Make Healthy Smart Choices Traveling.
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