the round up: better for you swaps
my top picks for healthier snacks & sips (and why!)
You get a lot of my recommendations for dinners and meal prep on the newsletter every week, but what about snacks? It’s a question I’ve gotten more and more lately so I want to officially round up my top picks in one spot. As someone who genuinely enjoys discovering new better-for-you products (and there are a lot of them now!!), rounding up these products and telling you about them is so much fun. From chips and crackers to candy and cereal, I broke it down into categories with specific recs.
First, let me just say that I believe strongly in eating whatever you like. While I’ve picked out these brands because they are working to make our food safer and simpler, you’ll never see me characterizing a food as “good” or “bad” or judging anything. You’ll see the products below often cut down on the number of ingredients compared to some of the traditional snack brands, avoid artificial colors, opt for alternate oils or flours, and leave out anything unnecessary. That’s why I prefer to shop them!
Keep scrolling for my picks, and leave me a comment so I can hear what yours are 😊 And if you want more round ups like this one, be sure to let me know!
This week’s edition of The Round Up is kindly sponsored by my favorite place to shop for these products, Thrive Market. If you aren’t a member yet, here’s a sale for you!
The Round Up: Better For You Swaps
my top picks for healthier snacks in every category, plus why I love them
Late July jalapeño lime tortilla chips, Boulder Canyon sea salt potato chips, The Good Crisp Company aged white cheddar potato crisps, and Siete Chipotle BBQ potato chips are my top picks for crunchy, salty goodness without unnecessary ingredients.
Simple Mills almond flour crackers, Lundberg Family Farms thin lightly salted brown rice cakes, and Mary’s Gone Crackers super seed crackers complete snack plates, pair perfectly with hummus or avocado, and often show up on my charcuterie boards.
Unreal chocolate gems, Cocomels coconut milk caramels, and Skinny Dipped peanut butter cups all fall into my post-dinner little sweat treat category. No artificial color or dodgy ingredients from these cool brands I love to keep on hand.
Partake crunchy Birthday Cake cookies, Simple Mills almond flour chocolate chip cookies, and Siete grain-free Mexican wedding cookies are my picks for better-for-you cookies that don’t even feel like a swap. You also wouldn’t even know they’re GF!
Seven Sundays sunflower cereal, One Degree brown rice cacao crisps, and Three Wishes grain-free granola are ones I use for topping—like smoothie bowls or yogurt parfaits—eating in a bowl of protein milk, or munching on directly out of the bag.
Lesser Evil olive oil popcorn, Solely fruit gummies, Gimme seaweed snacks, Quinn gluten-free pretzels, and Barnana plantain chips are more snacks that I seek out and keep on hand. I love having options that are made with real ingredients AND delish.
Olipop probiotic soda, Swoon zero sugar teas and lemonades, and Poppi probiotic soda are my go-to’s for fun-drink-o-clock. As someone who doesn’t really drink alcohol either, I also love these as a ready-to-drink mocktail situation.
Applegate, Kevin’s, Banza, Cappello’s, and Against the Grain make busy nights easier without sacrificing the ingredients I like to stick to. Everyone needs some quick options to rely on in the freezer or pantry and these are what you’ll find in mine.
Why become a Thrive Market member?
I’ve been ordering from Thrive Market since I was just out of college and needed to shop at the cheapest price possible. Since then, it’s just gotten better! With thousands of options across pantry, snacks, beverages, health, household items, pet essentials, and more, there’s so much to explore. Thrive restricts 1000+ ingredients from their food products, allows you to filter by diet or allergens, and ensures you’re getting the best deal with their price match guarantee. So you can save money and eat well!
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For those who are OK with dairy, I love any version of Parmesan crisps! They are so salty, crunchy and satisfying. They’re rich enough that it’s hard to overeat them, and give you some protein too.
Love soo many of your snack and drink choices!! Grape Olipop is my favorite flavor. Reminds me of a drink from a favorite burger place growing up, called a Lime Rickey-grape soda with lime juice. And recently found a new snack I love, Undercover Chocolate Quinoa Crisps.