Healthy TV Snacks [General]

2007 Mar 13
I've heard edamame is good for that. I found it on the site, and I guess I can buy it at Loblaws, but can someone explain how to prepare and eat them? Do you steam and salt and eat just the bean, or the pod too? Someone else said to season with togarashi - where can I find that?

What are some other favourite healthy snacks to eat while watching TV or movies?

Any good low-cal dip recipes?

Getting tired of celery, carrots and popcorn.






2007 Mar 13
I just throw them into boiling water for about 5 mins, drain, and sprinkle with sea salt. I don't see why steaming wouldn't work too... Just pop open the pod and eat the beans.


2007 Mar 13
Hi there!
I too went on a search for healthy tv snacks and found myself at the Bulk Barn.
There I found dried green peas (not wasabi peas, but actual real green peas which have been dried), that are lightly salted and have a great salty/sweet flavour. Very crunchy too for those that need the crunch.
I also found dried veggie chips. This is a mixture of actual dried slices of real carrots, zucchini, turnips and eggplant and whole green beans that are also lightly salted. Also very crunchy.

Lots of great stuff at Bulk Barn and the best is that you can take as much or as little as you want. I just bought a small amount of a bunch of things to start so I could try them and then I went back and got more of what I liked. The other good thing is that they have the nutritional information on each bin.

Not sure if they have the same stuff everywhere, but I went to the one at the Gloucester Centre.

2007 Mar 13
It's on my way home from work - that's awesome! thanks so much! :)

2007 Mar 13
baked taco chips with salsa

2007 Mar 13
Further to ksw's suggestion about Bulk Barn. I've tried the "dried" slices of veggies and they're awesome, but I have a feeling they're actually fried (dried too, but only as a side-effect of being fried). I'd guess the green peas are fried as well. So they're good but I'm not confident they'd qualify as healthy. :)

If you want healthy but aren't worried about calories nuts make a perfect snack. If you are counting calories then as bushidoka pointed out it's hard to beat salsa with a handful of baked chips. In the summer, healthy is easier -- just get a big bowl of fresh wild berries and you've got instant bliss.

Flavor-intensive treats like beef jerky and very spicy snack foods (visit an Indian grocery store to get some) are a good way to stretch calories. Pickles, low-fat ham, and clear soups are also good low-calorie snacks when you want something salty. If you like fish, a can of kippered herring is awesome and full of omega-3 fats (and only around 150 calories).

2007 Mar 13
How about hummus and pita? There's a place on Wellington called Melrose Groceteria (right across from Giant Tiger) that has AWESOME hummus to take home- great baba ganoush and tabouli too.

2007 Mar 13
Ooo, I live very near that hummus place ... gotta go check it out!

2007 Mar 14
Yikes - I hope they aren't fried as I eat them alot!! I will have to ask someone at the Bulk Barn next time, but I would be surprised if they were because as I mentioned, the nutritional information is on every bin and I specifically chose those two items because they were low calories and low fat.

What I really wanted were the little crunchy sesame sticks. Those are my favourites but wow are they bad for you, hence why I went for the peas and veggie chips.

Incidentally, if you are having a sweet craving, they also have a lot of great dried fruit.....

2007 Mar 14
I went yesterday and got some dried beans, some vegetable chips, roasted (fried?) peas, Chinese rice crackers (the 3d shapes ones, not the discs), roasted soy beans.

I think those vegetable chips are way to delicious to be healthy!! I love the zucchini ones the best. The mix has turnip, potato, carrot, zucchini, green bean. It would be nice to know if they're fried. In that case then I would assume they're not much healthier than potato chips. I'm definitely looking into that next time.

I also noticed they have natural peanut butter for $1.79/lb. I love that stuff.

2007 Mar 14
Melrose Groceteria: I used to work near here and this place is wonderful! The first time I went in I asked for something vegetarian and the owner pointed out everything vegetarian on the menu and gave me free samples to try! :)

2007 Mar 14
I'm going to have to get some more of those Bulk Barn veggie snacks to investigate this topic further! :-)

I guess fried vs. dried might not even make a difference nutritionally (imagine if they soaked the veggies in oil then baked/dried them -- they could have the same or more fat than if they were fried). It's safe to say that most of the vitamins are long gone from that product but it sure tastes good! The green beans are very cool. And hey, my great great grandmother would probably recognize it as food! ;-)

2007 Apr 28
The label at Bulk Barn really does say "Dried." So either it's a typo or they really aren't fried! ;-)

New food item: Veggie Chips