SNACKS: You Won't Survive Plastic Free July Without a Snack Strategy
Snacks are the #1 cause of FAILURE during Plastic Free July.
Folks may enjoy their plastic-free loaded oats or smoothie bowls for breaky, a sandwich with fresh baked sourdough for lunch, a buddha bowl full of all the macro nutrients for dinner—but once they’re grocery shopping alone and hungry or waiting in line at the service station, where they see that giant bag of chips, look around to see if any of their Plastic Free July Accountability Buddies are nearby and gobble up the chippies as quick as can be.
It’s so fine if you need a few cheat days in your quest to go fully plastic-free, we’ve all had them!
HOWEVER, do not expect yourself to be immune from this challenge of avoiding snacks. If you know you’ll want them, plan the cheat day INTENTIONALLY.
But the best is to actually strategise for your snacks.
Here are some quick and easy recipes that I whipped up in half hour. While I baked the sweet potatoes, I had time to blend some fresh, yummy dips.
SWEET POTATO FRIES
Set oven to 180Celsius
Slice 2-3 potatoes into finger slices
Toss potato slices in 2 tbsp olive oil, a tsp of salt, a tbsp of arrowroot.
Spread in pan so they are not touching and put in oven on top rack.
Set timer for 20-30min or until browned and crispy.
HUMMUS
Soak 2 cups of organic chickpeas overnight
Blend (all organic) chickpeas, 2-4 tbsp olive oil, a WHOLE LEMON (I know, pretty psycho, skins & all, I do cut off the tips of the lemons, but you can just juice them if you prefer), half chilli, thumb of ginger, small thumb of turmeric, a pinch salt and pepper, 2 cloves of garlic. If you need to add more liquid to make it blend, add olive oil or water.
Traditional hummus recipes don’t use ginger/turmeric and use tahini, I find tahini quite thick, so I exclude it. But if you taste test your hummus and find it too “healthy” tasting, perhaps it’s time to add a scoop or two of tahini. It’s very healthy too, no shade on tahini.
Scoop into a clean, repurposed glass jar, store in the fridge.
PESTO
Blend 2 cups of greens (I used rocket), 2 cloves of garlic (it’s super yum if you roast it first), a tsp of ginger (not necessary, but kinda nice if you are a fan of ginger), 1.5 cups of toasted seeds (I used sunflower seeds), 2-4 tbsp olive oil, a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
Traditionally, folks add a hard cheese to their pesto; if you want a cheesier flavour you can add a scoop or a few of nutritional yeast or some avocado to give it a creamy flavour.
Scoop into a clean, repurposed glass jar, store in the fridge.
Once you’re done with the dips, the fries should be baked and ready to remove from the oven.
Serve the fries hot.
Serve the dips chilled.
Enjoy.