College Student Snack Ideas

[jvt01]

Hi! I am a freshman in college trying to avoid the freshman 15. I am looking for low calorie snack ideas that don't involve the use of a fridge (my room's too tiny for one lol.) I am especially looking for packageable snacks since I'm on the go a decent amount. Any help would be appreciated! 🙂

[Tom_Murphy]

popcorn from an hot air corn popper

no oil, no salt, no butter, just air popped popocorn

[LuckyandBlessed]

Skinny Pop!  It's very good.   Beside you just eat the serving size.

[MRose]

As they said, popcorn is good, but you'll get tired of it (trust me, you'll smell popcorn nonstop in the dorm...). Try a few of these:

-A Larabar and a pop-top can of chicken or tuna for protein on the go (I just mix chicken with some pickles/relish and mustard. It sounds weird but it's actually not bad)

-Uncle Ben's single-serve rice, if you have a microwave handy

-Carrots and celery! Often, you can even grab these from the cafeteria and take them back to the dorm with you

-Pirate's Booty snacks are really good and pretty healthy for snackables, but they run on the higher end of a college budget, so save it for Final's Week!

-Zone/Clif bars, or any other meal bar to keep around on-the-go (but try to be mindful of the ingredients. A Nutrigrain bar is not all it's cracked up to be...)

-Dried fruit, such as low-sugar Craisins, apples, and figs (but again, watch the ingredients so you aren't getting a sugar crash-and-burn)

-Speaking of dried fruit, TRAIL MIX! I always kept homemade trail mix in my backpack (the healthy fat from nuts keeps you satisfied so you don't get the hardcore munchies halfway through a test)

-If one of your hallmates/suite-mates has a fridge, you can try yogurt

-Fruit, when it's in season and at it's cheapest! 

[DerrickS]

@jvt01 No fridge makes it a little difficult, but a few no-fridge healthy snacks that I love are:

-Peanut Butter and Bananas.

-Crystal Lite packets that you can put in water bottles.

-Almonds.

-Beef Jerky.

-Dried fruit or trail mix.

-Granola bars.

-A healthy low-sugar cereal.

-Instant oatmeal. I lived off instant oatmeal and bananas in college. I also gave me a good excuse to buy fruit that I don't typically buy for myself like blueberry or strawberries. 

Instant oatmeal is still one of my favorite breakfasts. It's economical, delicious, and holds you down for the entire morning!

[kkplum]

Yes! Totally just bought a really cheap hot air corn popper at Aldi's.

[SolangeE]

Hey there @jvt01, I hope you are having fun in this new stage of your life!  Some ideas I can think of would be: 

• Macaroni and cheese 
• Apples/oranges/pears 
• Bananas 
• Tuna or some other canned food

[Yvetteb]

Fruits, vegetables and nuts. Try to walk or bike to everything on campus, use your gymmembership and limit the alcohol to avoid the freshman 15. I also gained the freshman 15, later I learned to loose the weight and prevent it from coming back on. I am now in my senior year and learned to balance the college life and healthy living.

[jvt01]

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions! 🙂 I really appreciate the help.

[SolangeE]

You are more than welcomed! @jvt01  

Have fun and like @Yvetteb said, be careful with the effect of partying too much. Don't forget you are there to grow in every way possible but most importantly to learn about your passion, so keep focused, give your best in every activity that you do because time goes by and never goes back. You can have fun in a balance and healthy way. 

Catch you later! 

[SunsetRunner]

Try not eating to eat when not feeling hungry, but to nourish the body when it's asking for more nourishment.

In case of eating, see how you feel in the moment, in case of feeling to force feed yourself, wait until your body is ready for more nourishment or if feeling could just eat a little bit, eat slower and notice when getting comfortably satisfied. It's possible to be satisfied with less depending on the foods / quality of foods previously eaten, any exercise done.. or possible eating more if feeling not quite satisfied yet..

Always eat slow, in smaller bites when possible, to feel satisfied more quickly, to prevent overeating, if eating quicker, possibly taking a second portion while not really needing..

Tune in and listen to your body which foods looks most appealing in the moment in which quantity until satisfied, it guide where it wants to be (can sometimes be tricky) but regaining trust with your body to only eat when hungry and stop when having enough (listening what it needs and how much) can take a while, but if trying listening to your body every day, it becomes better and eventually trusting your feeling / new food habits, using your bodies wisdom rather than a scale, feeling more happy.. and being able to enjoy foods without needing counting calories or stepping on a scale again..

Though this may be more easily when getting to your goal, making a practice to notice how you feel before / during / after eating.. and noticing you can trust your body to stay at a healthy weight / body fat range.

When always eating until comfortably satisfied (not stuffed), when hungry, our bodies are clever and automatically tell when not needing more (without counting calories, though eating nutritious rich foods provided by nature as minimal as processed mostly), having anything else like a little treat (some chocolat.. once in a while..) when the craving is there.. to prevent binge eating.

[alexanikolb37]

A cup of grapes frozen is only 200 calories. I went on a diet earlier this year and every evening for desert I had about a cup of frosen fruit and a 60 calorie square of ultra-dark (70% at least, preferably 80%+) chocolate. It's fantastic and somethingt o look forward to.