Easy Strategies to Making Your snack packs
Snack packing is about making your life easier so to avoid choice overload or to fight snacker’s block we like to start out with a theme. It can be as simple as picking an ingredient to use all week, a celebration of your favorite cuisine, a holiday, or even going as cheap as possible. Perhaps the theme rolls over into several boxes for a week, or weekend getaway, or an excuse to visit your favorite local grocery or the corner bodega. Just remember that you are searching for items that are easy to find and easy to work with.
Still can’t decide? Here are a few examples of some of our favorite Snack Attack Packs that we keep revisiting when we are too busy or too tired to craft something special.
Charcuterie
Whether its sliced deli meat wrapped around cheese sticks or some nicer dried meats you found at a local ethnic foods shop, pair some of your favorite cheeses and cured meats together with a few dried fruit options and you’ve got yourself a meat and cheese plate fit for an adult name like charcuterie plate. If you want to add more fresh veg to your charcuterie, try skewering cherry tomatoes with mozzarella balls or cheese cubes. Smoked almonds and dried fruit make an excellent sweet finish for your savory snacktime. The less prep, the better. It should be easy to pack everything without too much cooking, cutting, skewering, and chopping. This is not the time for showy appetizers that take all afternoon to make!
Hummus and Crackers
You can easily make your own hummus on the cheap or buy some on sale on most weeks so hummus makes for a great staple for a snacker’s pantry. Carrots, cucumbers and crackers help add fresh flavor and crunch to the hummus and be sure to sprinkle the garbanzo bean dip with your favorite seasoning for added flavor. Pair with something sweet, some cheese, fresh fruits or veggies, and you’ve got yourself a hummus pack that will satisfy a grown up without breaking the bank keeping you cool as a cucumber when it comes to staying on track for your health and budgets.
Veggies And Dip
Broccoli, carrots and grape tomatoes are easy finger foods that go great with some dip. Fill up your lunchbox with fruits and veggies that go with the dip you’ve selected. Some of our favorites are blue cheese, avocado ranch, and seasoned plain yogurt dips that we mix up ourselves. Simple spices can add a lot of impact to your basic box and leave you satisfied and focused on what you want instead of what you need.
Example: French Cuisine
If you are packing for several days, perhaps for one day you do a French Picnic themed box and then the next day you do something fancier, but still French in feel, like a fruit and fromage plate. The feeling of sophistication and simplicity is easy to find in these themes. Cheese, crackers, grapes, and other easy to find items make it a simple theme to create a shopping list for, prepare, and assemble in advance. This creates shorter grocery shopping lists and saves time both in food prep and at the store.
The following are some good jumping off places and are some of our favorite places to begin searching for an easy theme. Grab a notebook or start an Evernote to get some good ideas flowing!
- Deconstructed (kabobs, cracker foods, think adult lunchables)
- Ethnic Cuisines
- Hummus, Dips & Spreads
- Kitchy Finger Food
- Nerd/Geek/Scifi
- Seasonal Foods
Have fun with it! Grownups can have fun lunches too, without breaking the bank & even if you’re a beginner, so don’t be afraid to create a theme around a favorite drink, movie, seasonal sale item or whatever inspires your heart.