12 Snacks for Busy Runners

I’ve found runners to be driven, busy, type-A personalities who are constantly on the go. Sound like you? Me too.

So as we dash from one thing to the next, ensuring we eat well on the fly is key to arriving at our workout properly fuelled. By fuelling ourselves properly, we know we’ll recover well from our last run and our glycogen stores will be topped up for the run we’re about to complete.

To ensure you get through the day with the energy required to help you crush your next run, here are 12 ideas for snacks to pack with you.

1. Veggies and Hummus

This is probably my favourite! I am a huge fan of hummus and veggies are so much easier to eat when this tasty dip accompanies them. Use a wide assortment of veggies to keep it interesting – not only carrots, cucumber, bell peppers and celery but also broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, snap peas, radishes, baby tomatoes, zucchini, etc. Making the hummus from scratch (click here for the recipe) is definitely the best way to go, but if you have to buy it, make sure it is made with olive oil (not soybean or canola or other oil).

2. Carrot Sticks and Roasted Chickpeas

This is a simplified and easier to pack version of the above. Carrot sticks in a baggie or those baby carrots you can buy anywhere coupled with a few handfuls of roasted chickpeas, which are easy to transport (click here for recipe).

3. Piece of Fresh Fruit and Nuts

Another one of my favourites. Grab an apple, banana, pear, orange or mango and a handful or two of dry roasted or raw mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, etc). Or make Maple Nuts (click here for recipe).

4. Apple and almond butter

Actually, this is probably my top favourite! Nothing better than a sliced apple dipped in all-natural, crunchy almond butter. Crunchy almond butter is my personal fave – smooth works too!

5. Trail Mix

This is one snack you can throw in your purse or brief case for emergency. It’s not going to go bad. I like to make a mix up of nuts, seeds, and my favourite dried fruits – cranberries, goji berries, blueberries and sometimes apricots or figs.

Or, if you need to grab a pre-made bag of trail mix I recommend Eden Organic’s Wild Berry Mix or Prana Organic Annapurna mix.

6. Celery and Peanut Butter with Raisons

Oh boy, here’s another favourite! Celery with all-natural peanut butter (choose Valencia) or almond butter and topped with raisons or cranberries is totally a treat for me.

7. Energy Bar

Okay, here’s the deal with energy bars. When you buy them in the store, there’s just way too much sugar in them and it’s usually highly processed sugar or glucose-fructose (high fructose corn syrup) at that. Not good.

So the caveat here is to make your energy bars yourself (click here for recipe). However, you can make up a large batch and keep them in the fridge or freezer for weeks!

8. Smoothie

I always recommend a smoothie (recovery shake) post hard or long run. However, a smoothie can also make a good snack or be a great way to start your day. However, you don’t want to have more than one smoothie per day – if you’re already having one post-run then leave it at that.

I am recently a fan of starting my day with a green smoothie (click here for recipe). I make these up ahead of time, stick a few in the fridge and freeze the rest.

9. Popcorn with Nutritional Yeast

Air pop or stove pop (in coconut or olive oil) organic popcorn and then sprinkle it with olive oil, sea salt and nutritional yeast for a B-vitamin hit. My go-to snack while watching a movie, but certainly could be packed in baggies and used as an on-the-go snack!

10. Veggie Nori Wrap with Avocado

Grab a nori sheet, throw in some sprouts or garden spring mix, sliced avocado, grated carrot and maybe some sliced cucumber. Throw in a baggie and you’re good to go.

11. Baked Tortilla chip with Salsa

To date, I’ve only been able to find one brand of baked organic tortilla chips – Garden of Eatin’ Barked Yellow Tortilla chips. They must be baked as that drastically reduces the fat content (fat’s not bad, but the kind used in chips isn’t great), and they must be organic (non organic corn you can safely assume is GMO aka Frankenfood which is not good).

12. Ezekiel English Muffin or Toast with Nut Butter and Honey

Ezekiel brand by Food for Life makes great sprouted wheat bread, wraps and English Muffins. They also offer gluten-free varieties, should that be a requirement. Throw some bread or an English Muffin in the toaster and top with all-natural nothing added almond butter (or other nut butter) and a drizzle of raw honey. No, this isn’t an on-the-go option, but it’s perfect if you have a toaster at work!

Find a few options that appeal to you and ensure you’ve always got them in the fridge or packed with you.

Do you currently have a favourite on-the-go snack? What have you found works for you? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy running 🙂