Eating right at home is all about having the right options on hand when you reach into the pantry. If you stock your pantry with food choices that are healthy and appealing, you’ve stacked the odds in favor of wise decisions. Try swapping out foods that are less nutritionally dense with these power-playing options.
Smart Noodles
If ramen is one of your go-tos, it’s time to rethink it. Traditional packaged ramen is high in salt. Instead, buy Asian udon (wheat) or soba (buckwheat) noodles, which cook almost as quickly. Cook them in chicken broth and low sodium soy sauce or dab of miso paste. A package of frozen veggies in the freezer is a good add-in.
Raise the Snack Bar
Power bars and cereal bars sound like a healthy option for a grab-and-go snack, but they are very high in calories. A better bet is to buy trail mix and store it in snack size, zip-top bags. If you really like having a bar to nosh on, look for Kind bars (which are under 200 calories).
Crunch Craze
Who doesn’t crave something crunchy once in a while? Skip the chips and instead stock some better-for-you snacks. Nuts and seeds provide that crunch and also give you a dose or protein to make you feel less hungry. Seasoned rice crackers are another good bet. Air-popped popcorn or packaged low-fat, low-salt popcorns may feel more like traditional snack food if you want a bag in your hand. Some new crunchy healthy snack foods on the market include packaged kale chips, pea crisps, seaweed chips, and roasted chickpeas.
Cookie Monster
Cookies are the ultimate comfort food, and we’ve all been known to root around in the pantry hoping to find just one. Instead of packaged chocolate chip cookies, buy organic whole grain fig bars. They’re healthier than almost any type of packaged cookie and they still have that childhood nostalgia going for them. They’re sweet and last long enough to make you feel you have had a treat.