Homemade cheap and healthy snacks to keep at work
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Version 0 of 1. The short winter days may be gradually lengthening as sunset creeps forward, but we still find ourselves looking forward to a mid-afternoon snack to lift the gloom and break up the day. Even if you are a packed lunch aficionado (managing your food shopping and weekly menu with the same military precision as your Microsoft Outlook calendar), it’s the little extras you buy to treat yourself that can really add up, in monetary and physical pounds. We’re talking the 4pm coffee, smoothie and packet of Skips. To stop yourself from falling prey to ever present temptation, here are some ideas for quick, simple snacks requiring minimal prep at home. • Make a batch of plain popcorn at home (cook the kernels in the microwave, as per the packet instructions, or in a pot on the stove with a splash of neutral flavoured oil) and season while still warm: try sea salt and little snips of fresh rosemary, or dried chilli flakes and finely grated Parmesan. Decant into a tupperware or resealable bag. • Think beyond the Ritz crackers and use an assortment of fruit and veg as cheese vessels. Apples, sliced into rounds topped with cottage cheese, or cheddar and chutney are a classic choice. • If you are avoiding caffeine late in the day, try a spin on the hot chocolate and make a hot chai-clate. Add spices (ground at home and brought in a jar) to cocoa, sugar and hot milk. Try a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom, even a little pepper. Semi skimmed milk is best for chai. • Blood oranges are in season right now and are blissfully good. For a bittersweet take on chocolate orange, take individual segments and dip them in melted dark chocolate the night before, then leave to set in the fridge overnight. Keep refrigerated at work and eat when the need for sugar rises. • Almonds are supposedly an “appetite suppressant”, (isn’t all food an appetite suppressant? Anyway...) and if you have time to toast them at home, make a pre-lunch desk canapé. Lightly toss in olive oil, a dusting of ground Maldon salt, and cumin, then bake at 140C for 10 minutes. Try sparingly with any spice you like: smoked paprika, ground coriander etc. Caroline Craig and Sophie Missing are authors of The Little Book of Lunch (Square Peg) |