When you eat lunch at school, you and your friends may drive to Chick-fil-A or stop at McDonald’s to get a Big Mac and fries. If you bring lunch from home, perhaps you eat chips and a sandwich, maybe even a fun drink. You probably don’t grab a fruit or vegetable if you buy lunch from school. 

When you think of the word snack what’s the first thing to come to mind? A bag of chips or crackers, maybe something sweet like candy or a cookie. If so, why don’t you eat yogurt or a bunch of grapes? It could be that when you go to a store you see all the quick and available options for snacks or food. Most people don’t think about the other choices because they’re drawn to brightly colored food packaging or see ads online trying to convince them to buy their products. Or maybe they’re stuck and don’t know what to eat so they go with something quick and easy. We tend to go for snacks that we find appealing or something that we’re used to eating, but why not switch it up? 

If you want some recipes or some better snack ideas here are some! 

If you want an afterschool snack while also craving a little bit of everything try making a mini charcuterie board! 

• For your dairy: cut up a preferred cheese (or no cheese if you want!) into small cubes, sticks, or slices. 
• For a salty flavor: find a type of cracker you like and put some on a plate.
• For your sweets: take some fruit like grapes, berries, diced apples, or raisins. 
• For proteins: try a type of sausage or lunch meat that you could have in your fridge (you don’t have to include meat if you don’t want to). 
• Plate these all together, and you have a healthy snack with almost all the food groups.

Popcorn is a popular snack everyone enjoys but you only see people buying popcorn in a bag. If you have unpopped popcorn kernels, make your own popcorn! It tastes much fresher and you can make a ton in a short amount of time. 

• Take any cooking oil you have and pour about 2-3 tablespoons worth of oil (you can add more or less depending on the amount of popcorn you want to make) into a stovetop pot or pan. 
• Then cover it with a lid and turn on the stove. Don’t set the heat too high or you’ll burn your popcorn! Turn off the heat when the popcorn is ready. 
• You can add any seasonings or toppings you like. Salt, Taijn, or garlic powder make great seasonings.

Yogurt is as underrated as it can be, and one of the most versatile snacks! You can add almost anything to it like fruit, granola, nuts, chocolate, jams, or jellies. 

• Take your desired yogurt and add what you want to it. Try new combinations that you might haven’t had. 

Chips and dips! 

• Take your desired chips and find a matching dip. You can use any chips or crackers that you like. 
• Find a dip that you might already have or make one! 
• If you want a quick dip, take an avocado, mash it up in a bowl, then add a bit of lemon or lime juice, and some seasonings like salt and pepper! And done you have a quick 5-minute guacamole!