Four veggie snack hacks for every day:
- Be prepared—cut up veggies at the start of your day or week to have them on hand for when the snack attack arrives. Often a barrier to eating more veggies is the prep work. It’s often seen as easy to grab a bag of chips or chocolate bar as a snack—but the negative health impacts are significant from eating too many ultra-processed foods. Spending just a few minutes at the start of your day or week to chop up veggies or prepare some vegetable snacks (such as savoury muffins or vegetable dips) can greatly improve your ability to reach five serves a day—and bring with it the health and wellbeing benefits. Plus, eating enough vegetables each day, and cutting out the ultra-processed food in between, can help you maintain a healthy weight, and reduce your risk of certain diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes ¹.
- Bake your veggies—baked goods such as muffins, scones, fritters, pancakes or loaves are a great option for adding extra veggies into your day, while still enjoying the foods you love. There are so many great recipes online, it’s easy to get inspired and get cooking. Try corn and zucchini fritters, spinach and sweet potato loaf, carrot and beetroot muffins or chickpea falafels for easy snacking. Get the kids involved in the baking process for an extra opportunity to expose them to veggies. That’s a win-win.
- Blend them up—blending your vegetables in a smoothie is another quick and easy to way eat your veggies on the go. Smoothies can be a great vegetable-filled snack for little ones, with no chewing required. For the best flavour, pair neutral vegetables such as frozen cauliflower or zucchini, spinach, kale, or avocado with fruit options such as pineapple, banana or apple. Pop them all in a blender and within a few seconds you’ve got a healthy veggie snack.
- Go for snacking (mini) veggies—there are a range of easy snacking veggie options, with no prep required. Mini tomatoes, Qukes aka cucumbers, baby capsicums and snacking carrots are a great option if you’re short on time, or simply don’t enjoy the prep work. Pair with veggie dips such as hummus or beetroot dip for double the veggies.
Acknowledgement to Nutrition Australia for this content.
References
[1] National Health & Medical Research Council. (2015). Vegetables and Legumes/Beans.
