Healthy Snack Recipes to Stave Off Hunger Pangs

When you are feeling hungry and your main meal of the day is some time away, try not to reach for the biscuit tin. High calorie sugar snacks, low in nutrition, will simply give you a brief sugar rush followed quickly by a drop in energy levels, leaving you feeling as hungry as before.

Satisfying Sandwiches

Aim for the kind of snacks and recipes which will fill you up and keep a low calorie, healthy eating lifestyle on track. One of the easiest and most filling snacks to stave off hunger is the simple sandwich. Choose wholemeal, granary or oatmeal bread, the healthiest and most filling basics. Bulk out the fillings with low calorie foods like salads and vegetables, keeping the calorie count low and packing your mini meal with staying power and taste. For example:

• use up left-over chicken with lettuce
• team low calorie,low fat cheese with peppery water cress
• grill vegetarian sausage (lower in calories than meat) and add mustard
• boil an egg and chop with a little low calorie mayonnaise
• dip into a low calorie food like a fish pate, no butter or spread required

If you decide to have white bread, French baguettes make excellent, healthy snacks. In summer, give recipes a Continental twist with ripe tomatoes, peppers, olives, if liked, and herbs. A long loaf should keep hunger at bay for four people. Rub a cut clove of garlic over the bread before piling on the vegetables and drizzle olive oil over the fillings. You should not need butter or spread.

Slow Burning Power

Low calorie foods like oatcakes make healthy eating and are good for supplying slow-burning energy. Top generously with tinned tuna or cottage cheese, accompanied by crunchy raw vegetable sticks such as cucumber, celery, peppers or carrots.

Pitta pockets are readily available now and make a healthy substitute for bread in recipes. Fill with salad vegetables and a little cooked, cold meat such as chicken or turkey, in a tangy, low calorie yogurt dressing. Mix diced cucumber into plain organic yogurt, with a pinch of curry powder for added taste. Experiment with your own recipes for dressings.

Cooked Snacks

You may feel it is worth having a ready supply of healthy snacks cooked and in the fridge for those times when you or the family are peckish. Chicken drumsticks are delicious cold and are available by the tray in most supermarkets. Grill them, remove the skins and stack the cold drumsticks wrapped in foil in the fridge. Prepare some raw vegetables and tomatoes to eat with them.

Quick Omelette Snack

Spanish omelette, an old favourite, is a quick filling snack at any time. Make sure you have potato leftovers by cooking a few extra for dinner.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 cooked potatoes
• 1 small onion
• 2 eggs

Dice the cooked potatoes and finely chop a small onion. Heat a little oil or margarine in a small frying pan and fry the vegetables until heated through. Add the seasoned eggs and cook until firm.

Jacket Potatoes

If you are not in too much of a hurry for your snack, you can always pop a potato in the oven to bake. Scrub the potato, pierce with a fork and rub lightly with oil, if liked. Cook on a baking sheet in the oven for an hour or so, depending on the size of the potato, at Gas 6 (200 degrees Celsius). If this is just a snack, skip the recipes that make for a main meal and keep the calories down by using simply a little low fat spread on the baked potato, or a tablespoon of savoury cottage cheese or low calorie coleslaw.

Children’s Favourites

Don’t overlook the perennial beans on toast. Use a thick slice of wholemeal or granary bread for the toast, dispense with any butter or spread, and pile with beans for a filling snack, rich in fibre and protein.

Make one or two sandwiches of bread and grated or sliced cheese, with a little butter, margarine or low fat spread. Dip the sandwiches in beaten egg mixed with 1-2 tbsp milk. Fry in a little hot oil until crisp and golden brown. Serve with some salad.