Beach-Friendly Snack Ideas from a Registered Dietitian

We all love a good beach day or even beach week! Long, hot days on the beach and away from our kitchens call for easy snacks that can withstand the heat and sand. Snacking during our busy beach days provides energy to keep building sandcastles and spending hours jumping waves in the water with our kids. Sometimes it can be difficult to find nutrient-dense, filling snacks to fit this bill. We are here to help! Read below for some easy snack ideas that are packed with vitamins and minerals!

1. Dried Edamame and Dried Apricots: Dried edamame is a great source of plant-based, shelf-stable protein. In fact, a one-third cup serving (varies by brand) can contain 15 grams of protein! Edamame is also high in fiber, which helps to promote a diverse gut microbiome. Dried apricots make a great addition to this snack and add a sweet flavor with the added benefit of a rich source of vitamin A, which helps to protect vision and eye health.

    

2. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich: This is a classic snack, but did you know it also contains some important vitamins and minerals? Peanut butter is a rich source of vitamin E, which is important for immune system health and helps prevent damage to our cells! If this sandwich is made on whole-grain bread, then the added fiber gives a major boost to our gastrointestinal health.

    

3. Fruit Cups with Nuts: Fruit is both a hydrating and nutrient-packed snack! Many fruits comprise more than 50% water, which helps to replace some of the fluid lost from sweating on the beach. There are so many different fruits to choose from for your fruit cup and the type of fruit you choose will dictate the type of nutrients in your snacks. You can try our favorite fruit cup recipe of ¼ cup grapes + ¼ cup strawberries + ¼ cup blueberries. In this delicious combo, you will have fiber, vitamin C, and various B vitamins for a mega boost of anti-oxidants! Add ¼ cup of almonds, cashews, walnuts, or your nut of choice for some healthy fats and protein.

    

4. Homemade Trail Mix: There is no wrong way to make trail mix. You can put a myriad of items together and call it trail mix; that is the beauty of this snack! Most trail mixes follow a general outline of fat source + carbohydrate/fiber source + protein source + flavor. One of our go-to trail mix recipes is ¼ cup almonds + ¼ cup raisins + ¼ cup pretzel sticks + ¼ cup dried edamame + 1 handful dark chocolate chips. This snack contains Vitamin E, Iron, Fiber, and Calcium, which are important for bone health.

    

5. Veggies with Hummus: Pack a cooler with an ice pack for this snack. Any vegetable that you enjoy can be used. We recommend cutting your veggies of choice into slices or bite-size pieces to make them easier to enjoy on the beach! Some of our favorite vegetables to dip in hummus are cucumber slices, zucchini slices, carrot slices, and bell pepper slices! If you choose to include these vegetables in your snack, you will be providing your body with great whole food sources of vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B7, Potassium, Magnesium, and more. Magnesium is a mineral that many of us fall short of meeting our daily requirements for, and it is vital for hundreds of enzyme-requiring reactions in our body! Hummus, whose main ingredient is chickpeas, is a great source of fiber and a good plant-based protein source!

    

6. Cheese Slices and Triscuits: Triscuits are a great whole-grain carbohydrate source! They also contain 3 grams of fiber per serving. This is another snack that will require a cooler to keep the cheese in its temperature safety zone. Whether it’s cheddar cheese, mozzarella, gouda, or parmesan, any cheese will serve as a great topping for your crackers! Cheese is a good source of calcium, which is important for bone health.

    

7. Greek Yogurt with Granola and Fruit: Per ¾ cup serving of many Greek yogurt brands, there is between 15-18 grams of protein. Our favorite Greek yogurt brands are Siggis, Stoneyfield, and Chobani. Greek yogurt is an excellent source of protein, calcium, and probiotics which are great for microbiome health. Granola is a good combination of nuts, seeds, and flavor, providing a healthy source of fat, protein, and fiber. Top your yogurt and granola with a fruit of choice. We love raspberries or blueberries for this! Remember to pack this snack in a cooler with ice to keep the yogurt in the temperature safety zone on a hot beach day! 

We hope you can try some of these snacks. If you want to build your own nutrient-dense snack, we can help with that, too! You may have noticed a pattern in all of the snack options above. None of them contain just one food group or macronutrient. To build a nutrient-dense and filling snack, you need variety. An easy outline for building your own snack is to include 2-3 of the following nutrient groups: carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber. Most importantly, we hope our snack ideas help keep you and your family filled and fueled for beach fun this summer! 

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