Snack Packs

I struggle to come up with ideas for work lunches that aren't carb heavy. Before my diabetes diagnosis, I used to go by the format I used for the kids at my old grouphome job. It was something like, a sandwich, a snack, fruit, vegetable, and a yogurt cup. Most of the kids hated the yogurt cup but for some reason our protocol really wanted them to have it.

After the diagnosis, I wanted to cut back on bread because of the starch. So that put out sandwiches, and most of the snack options, like granola bars, had almost as much added sugar as candy. So I opted to just make dinners that would often leave excess, and bring leftovers to work.

When Mom and my brother needed to stay with us, we were cooking for four, which would leave me without this option. I wound up getting pre-made lunches at the local grocery. There wasn't much in the way of diabetic-friendly options, but they did have these snack trays segmented into four. They would usually include a cheese, a meat, and two vegetables.

I thought this was a pretty good way of keeping track of your nutrition intake, but the grocery really inflated the price for what it was. Eventually, it occured to me that I could make my own. At first I was collecting the trays from the store and reuse them with home ingredients, but Lee-Anne pointed out that they were of poor quality, meant for single-use. She said that someone had probably made resuable food containers like this.

My new snack packs! The left one has dark chocolate covered cranberries, cheese, popcorn, and snowpeas and the right one has grapes, radishes, cashews, and dark chocolate covered crandberries.

I find it really convenient, because I can make multiple and then I don't have to worry about remembering to do lunch prep.

When people see them, they often get called "adult lunchables". I think this is funny because I've chosen this way as a healthier alternative, while lunchables are discouraged by doctors due to having low nutritional value.

Quick-pickled green beans go well in these. I sometimes like to have a brined vegetable to go with a fresh one. This is how I found out that chocolate and pickles go well together. I tend to absent-mindedly pluc from each section. One day I had dark chocolate covered almonds and pickle slices and I noticed myself going between the two.