Let’s talk about carnivore diet snacks… I was talking to a friend on the phone the other night about the carnivore diet. She said a client of hers had started on it and lost a whopping 10kgs in two weeks! That’s got her interested… So she’s thinking about giving it a go, and was asking me some questions.
“What do you have for snacks?” she asked. I told her that I don’t really snack anymore, which is a bit of a miracle as I used to always snack – lots!
The truth is that when I was eating a highly plant based diet, and even prior to that as a child and young adult when I ate a much more standard diet, I was always in the fridge and looking for things to eat. I pretty much grazed all day.
I was always quite food obsessed. So to find myself two years into my carnivore journey, at a place where I don’t have any desire to snack or eat between meals is amazing! In fact I do some sort of intermittent fasting most of the time and often only eat once a day.
But when I look back, I remember wondering the same thing at the beginning of my carnivore journey – what can I have for snacks?…
A Tip For Carnivore Newbies – Have Snacks Available!
When we first start out on our carnivore journey, I think it’s common, natural, normal, and advisable to keep delicious, animal based grab and go snacks on hand.
This is because although most people will get to a point where one or two meals a day is all they want to eat on a carnivore diet, when we transition from a higher carbohydrate diet there are a few things going on that might make snacks a requirement. These include:
- Habit – We’ve been in the habit of eating multiple times a day and so to stop suddenly can be a challenge both mentally and physically, that might derail our plans to stick with carnivore.
- Cravings – Carb cravings are real and so if you just make the decision to eat all you want within the animal foods group, then that will help keep you satiated until those cravings lessen.
- Blood glucose – The swings and roundabouts that are so common when it comes to blood glucose on a standard, high carb diet, might require you to eat more often initially until your body gets used to using fat for energy. Be patient!
So What Sort of Carnivore Diet Snacks Can I Eat?
There are literally loads of carnivore snack ideas. But I’ve put together a list of twelve carnivore diet snacks that are super simple, and take little to no time to prepare. You’ll find them below. I also have links to clean ‘ready to eat’ snacks that you can buy and keep in the pantry. You’ll find them at the bottom of this page.
So let’s get on with it!
- Pork rinds or Pork Crackling – You can buy pork rinds ready made, or you can cook your own. Always make sure to read the ingredient labels, and eat only varieties that don’t contain ingredients that are going to sabotage your efforts. Avoid food additives, sugar, and vegetable oils!
- Boiled eggs – Cook a pile of these and keep them in the fridge. They’re super easy, delicious, and portable.
- Cold meat – Cook extra for dinner and keep the leftovers for snacks. For example this can be roast beef or lamb and when you feel like snacking, just cut yourself a slice, add salt and you can even spread it with butter. Yum! Other options can include deli meats, but beware! Many contain grains and other additives. So ask questions about ingredient lists, and if it doubt, leave it out.
- Cold chicken drums or wings – as with the cold meat above, cook extra so you can keep some in the fridge for snacking on.
- Crispy bacon – cook it in the air fryer or grill it in the oven until nice and crispy. Store in a container in the fridge and you can even pop some in a plastic bag to take in a bag or pocket when you’re out and about!
- Raw milk or Raw milk shake – If you tolerate dairy and like it, drink raw milk or make a shake by adding yogurt or kefir, and carnivore friendly protein powder (I use Mitchells bone broth protein powder here in NZ – Equip protein powder in the US is also made from beef.)
- Cheese – Again, for those who tolerate dairy. Cheese is an easy and delicious snack and there’s a whole variety of cheeses out there to choose from!
- Dried meat or biltong – Dried meat makes a great ‘take anywhere’ snack. However, read ingredient labels if buying ready made! Most brands of jerky contain sugar and soy unfortunately. It seems that the best bet is to make your own.
- Bone broth with butter – Whether you make your own bone broth (or meat broth), or buy a ready made variety like the Mitchells bone broth powder here in NZ, a cup of hot broth with butter blended into it always goes down a treat!
- Egg wrap flat bread with butter – These are versatile and easy to make. You’ll find my recipe for egg white wraps here. Spread them with butter, or fill them with your favorite carnivore foods and you’ve got a quick, easy snack.
- Dried meat bars – There’s a few different dried meat bars appearing on the market (not here in NZ so far though). In the US there’s the Carnivore bar and the EPIC venison bar, plus others. They’re based on the original survival food – Pemmican – which comes in at number ten.
- Pemmican – The original carnviore bar! Made throughout history as a survival food that saw generations through cold winters in Canada and North America. It’s really easy to make and here’s a link to my video on how to make it.
So there we have it. My list of simple carnivore snacks! I hope you enjoy them and if you have any suggestions, or snacks that I’ve missed, pop them in the comments section below.
LINKS
Mitchells products NZ – https://bit.ly/mitchellsproducts
Equip Protein Powder – https://amzn.to/45GUjO1
EPIC bar from Iherb – https://iherb.co/iqNc52oe
Pork rinds from Iherb – https://iherb.co/ARH4A89f
Pork rind crumbs Iherb – https://iherb.co/tWmMHGB
Pork rinds Amazon – https://amzn.to/3RDgr65
Epic Grab and Go Snacks – https://amzn.to/3KU8e9J
Grass Fed Beef Protein powder – https://amzn.to/4exKwOe
How to make pemmican – https://youtu.be/0il0fN8UaGs
