Quick and Clean 4. Non Processed Snacks That Meet Your Need for Speed. In a society that is geared towards instant gratification, the problem with non processed food is that it isnt quick. Get healthy recipes, howtos, and tips from Food Network for every day of the week from healthy, easy weeknight dinners to weekend appetizer recipes and healthy. One of the major reasons that people give for eating processed foods over whole foods is that I needed something quick. Dont let your need for speed sidetrack your healthy eating habits. If you are a prepper, its especially important in a disaster situation to have food that you can turn to for quick nutrition. In a grid down situation, foods that dont require cooking can be especially vital. What-to-eat-to-lose-weight-Fast.jpg' alt='Quick Snacks To Eat' title='Quick Snacks To Eat' />Find healthy, quick and easy snack recipes, from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell. Some people make the mistake of relying on long term storage foods that require lengthy cooking times, forgetting that cooking fuel might need to be rationed in order to last throughout the event. Alternatively, relying on highly processed foods will not provide you with the extra energy you need for the demands that may be placed on you physically in such a situation. Difference Between Chili Powder And Chipotle Chili Powder. One strategy that you can employ for some instant food gratification is to make a habit of a weekly food prep session. Spend some time each weekend washing, cutting, and cooking food for the week ahead. This will give you cut up veggies, prepared protein sources and washed fruit that you can eat right from the refrigerator. This session can also include some home baked goodies for lunch boxes and some complete meals that just need to be reheated at serving time. Next, be sure to have some foods on hand that can be prepared quickly. Some of the suggestions below are just snacks but when combined with another selection can take the place of a meal Nuts. Trail mix  Mix dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and a handful of real dark chocolate chips. Fresh fruit  Whatever deliciousness is in season our selection this week is apples, oranges, and strawberries. Dried Fruit  Raisins, dried berries, dried apple slices. Salad  If your veggies are pre washed you can put this together very quickly. As well, salad can be preassembled. Simply add protein and dressing at serving time. Veggies  carrots, radishes, sugar snap peas, celery, peppers, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Steamed veggies  Top them with cheese or chopped hard boiled eggs. Eggs Natures fastest protein boil, scramble, poach or fry eggs make a great topper for other fast foodsYogurt Parfait Top your homemade yogurt with fruit and granola. Leftovers. Cheese Opt for a healthy version without additives and artificial colors. Smoothies  Throw fruits, veggies, yogurt and your milk of choice into the blender. Add a little pure vanilla and some honey. We like to freeze fruit for this purpose to make a rich thick shake. Homemade granola cookies Recipe HERE you can make them into granola bar shapes if you want toNo bake haystack cookies  Recipe HEREHummus  Serve the dip with veggie sticks, homemade crackers, or tortillas. Applesauce  Try topping it with homemade granola and vanilla yogurt for a  quick no cook apple crispChocolate Milk Directions HEREApples with natural peanut butter. Frozen Yogurt Berries  Toss well washed berries in homemade vanilla yogurt. Place them on a baking sheet in the freezer for at least 2 hours for a cold, healthy treat. Popcorn. Edamame. Pancakes or Waffles  Top with fruit for a nutrition boost. Couscous  This speedy grain only requires the addition of boiling water or broth. Let it sit for 5 minutes, covered, and you have an instant hearty side dish. Add some steamed veggies and lean protein to turn it into a one dish meal. Cottage cheese  Top homemade cottage cheese with fresh fruit. Home canned food  Meals like chili, soup, and spaghetti sauce can be pressure canned at home for a delicious healthy fast food mealFruit Salad Top it with nuts and a honey sweetened yogurt for a protein boost. Dill Pickles  Home canned, of course. Ants on a log  Celery sticks stuffed with natural peanut butter then topped with raisins. Quick Greek Salad Chopped cucumber, peppers and cherry tomatoes with feta cheese and vinaigrette. Homemade Fruitsicles  Puree fruit that is overripe, then freeze it in popsicle forms strawberry banana is a favorite combo here. Guacamole. Savory snack mix  Popcorn and nuts sprinkled with parmesan cheese and spices. Tzatziki  This yummy Greek garlic and yogurt dip is a satisfying snack with homemade crackers or veggies. Medjool dates and almonds. Frozen grapes. Homemade gazpacho  Puree tomatoes, peppers, onions, jalapenos, and other seasonal veggies. Keep in the fridge and serve cold. Quick Banana Nut Cookies  Mash 2 overripe bananas well. Stir in 1 cup of steel cut oats and 12 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans. Bake at 3. 50 for 1. Latte  Make a delicious latte with a homemade creamer. Mexican Black Bean Salad  you can use a can of rinsed organic black beans or beans that you cooked yourself previously  1 cup of black beans, 12 cup of diced tomatoes, 12 cup of chopped bell peppers, some fresh cilantro, and lemon juice. Green Apple Salad  Chopped green apple, red grapes, and walnuts sprinkled with a dressing made from honey, lemon juice and cinnamon. Note Once upon a time, tuna was on my healthy snacks list. Post Fukushima, we dont eat it anymore. Pacific tuna caught off the coast of California is tainted with radiation from the disaster. So called experts say that the small amount of radiation is safe,but this is a theory that Im not willing to test on my own family. Your healthy snacks are only as good as their ingredients. Food that you produce yourself is always the best option, because then you can be absolutely assured of both the seeds and the farming process. Supplement with items from local farms find a location near youor the organic section of your grocery store. When you eat in season, it is far easier to choose the most nutritious foods and save money. Carefully wash your produce to get rid of any airborne residue that might remain on the food. Build your pantry stockpile with long term storage foods. Select healthy basics such as nuts, honey, whole grains, and dried fruits. When you always have quick options available it is far easier to make choices that fuel your body. What quick and healthy snacks do you feed your familyQuick Pantry Snacks for Unexpected Guests. Wise Bread Picks. When you live in a city like New York, unexpected guests are uncommon. Its hard enough getting people to come to my uptown condo with an invitation city dwellers tend not to leave their own neighborhoods, so its a rare occasion when Im surprised by someone popping by unannounced. The suburbs are a different story. For some reason, suburbanites think its A OK to hop in the SUV, roll up to someones home, and knock on the door just because they were in the neighborhood. Call me crazy, but I think thats strange. In fact, if you pulled into my driveway without calling first, I would pretend that I wasnt home, mostly because youre being creepy. Either way, were all bound to host impromptu guests at some point or another, whether its the weirdo PTA president from your sons school wanting to discuss the bake sale or your husbands work colleague who needs to kill some time before an event nearby. So you can rise to every occasion, here are some quick snack ideas from your pantry with a few fridge staples mixed in to satisfy those last minute and, hopefully, wanted callers. See also Stretching Meals for Unexpected GuestsPB J Bites. Theres something about a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich that makes long buried memories flood right back. Especially if its on white bread which, apparently, nobody eats anymore. To take this old school classic to the next level for company, use star shaped cookie cutters to cut out bite sized pieces of bread that you can slather with a nutty spread and grown up jams like blackberry or raspberry. Just dont forget to make use of the scraps. Let the unused bread and crust go stale before putting it into a food processor to make homemade breadcrumbs or chopping the pieces into chunks for fresh salad croutons. If youre feeling lazy, at least feed it to the birds. Doctored Up Popcorn. Dressing up popcorn couldnt be quicker or easier. After three minutes in the microwave, top it with melted butter and Old Bay for a spicy, crab seasoned kick a fave that harkens back to my Baltimore roots, or toss it with black pepper and grated Parmesan for a tangy, cheesy kick. Want a little sweetness to balance out the salt Toss plain popcorn with Milk Duds a trick I learned from a lady at a movie theater once. Surprisingly good. Trail Mix. Get rid of bottom of the jar nuts, raisins, dried fruits, M Ms, and granola for a hodgepodge of flavor thats surprisingly filling. FYI whole cashews and Craisins together are quite the combination. Sliced Apples and Nutella. Just slice the apples and squirt them with lemon juice so they dont brown and serve them alongside a ramekin of Nutella for a fresh fruit and hazelnut appetizer. Other variations could include melted chocolate semi sweet chips melt down in minutes in a double boiler or a homemade caramel sauce that can be made by boiling a can of condensed milk for three hours. Ritz Cracker Mini Pizzas. When I took Home Economics in middle school, this was one of the first items we made latchkey kids need to eat, after all. Top the crackers with a dollop of pizza or pasta sauce, a small handful of cheese, and any other toppings you have on hand. Pop the mini pizzas in a 4. F oven for a few minutes. Few ingredients, lots of flavor. Turkey and Cheddar Triscuits. Its as fast as it sounds. Line up the crackers and top with a squirt of Dijon or deli mustard and thin squares of sharp cheddar or your favorite cheese and a half slice of turkey. A little tip either put the finished product in the fridge until the guests arrive or make five minutes before their ETA. You dont want the fresh meat and cheese to dry out its unappetizing. Jell O Mold. When I would stay with my grandmother on the weekends, she always had fresh Jell O on hand, which is why Im partial to it. I prefer it plain maybe some Cool Whip on top but company wont be impressed by that. They will, however, give you props if you spike lime gelatin with booze and toss in some pomegranate seeds or cranberries to create a sweet and sinful treat for the eyes and mouth. It takes two minutes to make and about four hours to set. Pudding Pops. A great summertime treat. Prepare instant chocolate pudding in about three minutes and put the mixture, with sticks, in the freezer for a few hours to harden. Bill Cosby himself couldnt do it better. Tortilla Chips and Salsa Velveeta. Theres a block of Velveeta in my pantry, but I cant remember why I bought it. Unless I can recall, I plan to cut it into cubes, melt it down, and mix it with salsa served along chips. An oldie but still a goodie. Spiced Honey Pretzels. When I raided my pantry to come up with these snacks, I found a bag of pretzels. In their regular, straight from the bag state, pretzels are nothing special. Enter Google, which has a million and one recipes that take this figure friendly chip alternative to the next level. I particularly like this recipe for Spiced Honey Pretzels. Onion and chili powders marry with the sticky sweet bees treat to create a crunchy, no guilt carb fix. Garlic Pita Chips With Marinara Sauce. If you have pita bread at home, cut the rounds into quarters, and toss with olive oil, a pinch of salt, dried Italian herbs, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder. Bake the triangles at 4. F for five minutes or until golden and crispy. Serve with warmed pizza or pasta sauce. Marinated Olives. This olive recipe combines lemon with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary. Assorted olives should rest in the mixture for at least an hour so the flavors can properly combine. SpinachRanch Dip. Commercials are fantastic, albeit dangerous. Earlier this year probably around Super Bowl time Hidden Valley Ranch advertised its packet of ranch powder, found in the salad dressing aisle, as a spinach dip. All youll need is a block of frozen spinach, a large container of sour cream and the ranch powder. Its a speedy recipe, but it does require some fridge time because frozen spinach usually needs to be boiled first, which is quite important to remember you want to give your guests a light snack, not E. Coli. Pasta Salad. At any given time there are nine boxes of pasta in my pantry. In the Sunday circulars, there are often coupons for Barilla and other brands, so I stock up. To make an off the cuff pasta salad, boil your favorite shape and toss with sun dried tomatoes, fresh or dried basil, and Italian dressing or pesto sauce. Chill for two hours for a light and filling snack. Have go to snacks that you make for unexpected guests Let me know what they are in the comments below.