Healthy sugar-free handbag snack ideas

[HailMaryHail]

Could I ask what is people’s healthy, sugar-free snack of choice (not a fruit) that they can have in their handbag for when they really need something?

Nuts? Babybel?

If I need snacks on the go I’ll pick nuts, those wee resealable bags of olives, or little seaweed packets. Or make my own muesli/nut bar type things.

You say no sugar
But a barley sugar jelly babies or the like gives enough lift to get me home and to dinner - far less calories than a handful of nuts

Philadelphia does individual portions of light soft cheese and breadsticks, it’s about 100 calories. Great with Americano.

But completely empty nutritionally and full of chemicals.

Nuts usually.

I usually have babybels and nairns gf oatcakes in my bag if I'm going yo be out somewhere with no food.

I don’t pick nuts often as they have loads of calories. Light baby bel often but I do sometimes pick those graze boxes as they are measured out - I like the corn ones! Falafels are also an easy one. Non sugary pop corn. Carrot batons.
I’ve started making my own versions of crisps by air frying Wholemeal pitta/corn tortillas for 3 mins and adding paprika instead of salt or oil
I do pick up yoghurts and keep them in the work fridge as a go to
my favourite is a dairy lea dunker jumbo tubes 😂 but the little Philly breadstick pots are also nice

Oatcakes (usually 3/4 in an individually wrapped packet) or Nairn's biscuits- though some of these might not meet your no sugar brief.

Those whitworth fruit/nut shots

Babybel/cheese string/pepperami if I know I'll eat it later

Mini pack of salted/flavoured popcorn. Rice cakes/crackers.

I also always have a cupasoup with me but appreciate this isn't helpful if you're genuinely on the go.

This is why you shouldn’t take nutrition advice from randomers on the internet.

Everything is chemicals
Hope you check what your nuts have as a preservative ?

A single sweet is actually full of sugar ( and paprika extract for my barley sugars ) which is you are feeling you can't last another hour or two till the next meal tends to be far more effective at keeping you going for very little calories .

Nuts take a while to absorb and are no good at all at boosting your sugar levels

If it's not sugar levels leaving you drained it's something you can live with until dinner

Nuts are also more expensive

But why choose hey cheap and effective versus the protein fad ?

I don’t keep food in my handbag to eat as a snack

going about the day shoving stuff in my mouth was why I was fat to begin with

i eat substantial, nutritionally dense meals

if you need to keep snacks on you- i would assess your eating windows, what might be causing blood sugar crashes and the composition of your meals

scottish oatcakes

I will just say if you choose nuts make sure you weigh them as those little boxes at the tills in shops are often 50g and often meant to be 2 portions. They are so easy to over eat

100 cals of nuts is around:

10 pecans
7.5 walnut halved
6 macadamia nuts
10 cashews
25 pistachios
18g of sunflower seeds
16 peanuts
13 almonds

With jelly babies, 100 calories is 5 jelly babies.

none of these are really going to fill you up as a meal so just a snack but almonds are often a good choice as they are not as tiny as other nuts.

You can eat 2 x light mini baby bels in 100cals or so and 2 oatcakes. These are larger in size

it’s up to each individual what suits them

I don't keep food in my bag, but if I'm going out between meals and think I will need a snack, besides fruit, I take a piece of cheese or a piece of chicken. Sometimes a couple of oatcakes.

Mini bags (like the ones you get on short flights) of pretzels, wasabi peas, almonds, seaweed thins (almost no calories in them but great for when you want something savoury and crispy - if you like seaweed!) If you make your own, you could do a small pot of carrot, celery and cucumber batons with parma ham wrapped around them.

Some people have unpredictable work days though. If a meeting overruns so you miss your train and then the next is cancelled you can end up eating two or three hours later than planned. Better to have something healthy in the bag than rely on the disgusting muffins and overpriced sweets at railway stations. This happens to me all the time when I travel for work. endless cancelled and delayed trains on a complex journey can mean you are hours out of schedule.

What does healthy mean to you? Low calorie, or all natural ingredients, or really nutritious?

I can't think of anything that hasn't already been mentioned on this thread. Unless you are prepared to bake? Cheese shortbread lasts days and days and days for example. Natural ingredients, but not low calorie or massively nutritious. Oat and nut granola bars - not low calorie but very nutritious. Popcorn? Cherry tomatoes? Sugar snap peas?

Well nothing’s sugar free but almonds.

I always carry a very small Tupperware container with natural (skin on, unroasted) almonds in my bag. About 8-12 eaten slowly takes away the hunger abdabs. I've also, like others, packed a few mini babybels and Nairns fine oatcakes if I'm going somewhere and I know I'm going to need something to tide me over until my next meal. (I'm diabetic so need the comfort of knowing I can eat my sugar levels stable). I'm unsure if Waitrose still do them but I used to buy their own brand single source dark chocolate bars in the mini size (maybe 30g??) if you needed something sweet-ish but without having the 100g bar tempting you. 🌹

I don’t carry food. If I go to the office my commute is very long, 2.5h one way. If my train is delayed/cancelled I just eat later. I’ve never been so hungry as to start shaking and fainting and for me this means I can wait till a proper meal. I do snack but never when walking/in transport. I usually snack after a run, I just run straight to the shop on the way back home and buy myself a banana or similar!

My other snack is protein bars, I know they are full of upf but I honestly don’t care. It’s hard to be healthy 100% of the time! My guilty pleasure is Barebells Banana Dreams. It truly tastes like the vile antibiotics from my childhood 😅

Nuts often with dried fruit and dark choc chips (though the latter two obviously contain sugar).

Not handbag friendly but if I'm out and hungry I get a small pack of precooked chicken.

Discovered nairns do marmite flavoured oat cakes today! I was over the moon new snack unlocked

I absolutely love beef jerky, it's one of my favourite snacks so I tend to put a bag of Jack Links Sweet and hot jerky in my bag if I know I'm going to be out over lunch or for a long time and may need a quick snack.only 75cals for a 25g bag, they sell it in sainsburys.