Easy Animal-Based Snacks

Scenario: It’s 10 am and you’re in between your breakfast and lunch. Your tummy starts to grumble and creak a bit. You want something small so that you don’t start to feel a little famished, hangry, or woozy before the lunch bell rings.

It’s time for a quick snack to help keep your blood sugar on track so you don’t go bonkers and grab a McWTF instead of your leftover chicken and squash come time for your mid-day meal. Since now that you’re on a low-toxin, animal-based diet, what are some of the best and simplest foods to nosh on in between meals?

I’ve got you covered with some tasty ideas that don’t take a lot of time to prepare!

You may wish to use these ideas as pre- or post-workout snacks, too, depending on your goals and nutrition needs. Whether you’ve just completed a long exercise involving heavy weights or gentler movement like yoga, you may need more or less fat, carbs, protein, or a combination of the three to meet your own bioindividual requirements.

Protein / Fat Rich Easy Animal-Based Snacks

Medium-Boiled Eggs

Straightforward and delicious with a sprinkling of microplastic-free sea salt (like Redmond brand – use code CAVEWOMAN to save 10% on your first order!), you can’t go wrong with good ol’ boiled eggs. What’s great about eggs is that they come with their own built in container…the shell! Be sure to choose pasture-raised eggs that are free of soy or corn feed.

For a gummy center that is neither runny nor dry and is perfectly portable, boil large eggs for 7 minutes. If you happen to have a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, you can cook one dozen large eggs using 1 cup of water, 2 minutes of pressure-cooking time, then immediately depressurize and submerge the eggs in cool water.

Egg Muffins

These are perfect for packing into food prep containers and enjoying cold or reheated! Baking up a batch of animal-based egg muffins takes just a few minutes of prep time. 

1. Simply whisk together 8 eggs with ½ cup milk or coconut milk, sea salt, and chopped herbs. Maybe even add in some cooked and crumbled nitrate-free bacon, finely grated carrot, zucchini, or sweet potato if you’d like more texture.

2. Stir in a cup of grated grass-fed cheese if you tolerate dairy, then pour the egg mixture into a 12-cup muffin tin that has been greased very well with tallow.

3. Bake at 400 F for 12-15 minutes or until set to your liking. Cool completely before removing them from the muffin tin, then refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Deli Turkey

It’s not the easiest task finding deli meat that is on par with an animal-based diet. Even the brands with the most minimal ingredients and best farming intentions still feed their poultry grains. With that being said, at the time of writing this, a brand and variety which uses only organic turkey, water, and sea salt to produce their sliced deli meat is Diestel Family Ranch Organic Oven-Roasted Turkey Breast.

Another option is to brine your own pastured chicken breast using this method so you can control the quality of your deli meat:

1. Add 2 lbs pasture-raised boneless skinless chicken breasts to a large air-tight container.

2. Sprinkle with 3 Tbsp sea salt, 2 Tbsp raw honey, and filtered water to cover. Seal, then shake well to incorporate.

3. Store in the fridge for 48 hours, shaking gently once a day.

4. Drain and discard brine, and rinse the chicken. Strain well and pat dry.

5. Add chicken to a large pot, then add filtered water to cover. Turn heat to high, then cover with a lid. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 5 minutes or until cooked through.

6. Remove chicken from broth. Save the broth for soups or stews. Cool the chicken, then store in the fridge. Chill at least 4 hours before slicing thinly.

Bacon

Oh, yes. Bacon, bacon, BACON. What is simpler than munching on cooked, uncured bacon strips to get both protein and fat in one go?

Simply add your bacon strips to a food-safe container, take it along with you to the gym, and bada-boom. Bacon snack! Bring a napkin just in case of greasy fingers so you don’t wipe ‘em on your bike shorts.

Can of Wild-Caught Salmon

Opening up a chilled can of wild tuna, sipping on the water, then eating the fish straight from the can used to be one of my favorite post-workout snacks! Then I learned how high tuna fish can be in heavy metals. (Gee, thanks, environmental pollution.)

Now I go for wild-caught salmon, as it is lower in metals and currently considered safer to eat. Wild Planet is a great brand because they use BPA-free packaging and use ethical fishing standards.

Sardines

Eat your ‘dines! These fellas are jam-packed with one of the highest levels of anti-inflammatory omega-3 of any fish in the sea. They also boast one of the lowest mercury levels. While these little fishies may be quite strong on the palate at first and not everyone’s cup of toxin-free tea, try enjoying one or two at a time with a squeeze of lemon juice and some pork rinds on the side for crunch. They might just grow on you, especially since the can fits quite nicely into your purse or that little side pocket on your gym bag.

Choose varieties that are BPA-free and packed in pure olive oil or water. Again I must vouch for Wild Planet because they do such an amazing job keeping food what it is supposed to be: clean and healthy.

Beef Jerky

You don’t need a dehydrator to make easy, clean, and tasty beef jerky. It’s portable, can require no refrigeration, and makes the perfect savory snack.

1. Set your oven to the lowest heat possible, around 175 F.

2. Trim the fat from a cut of lean steak, like London broil or boneless top round. Slice the meat against the grain (or heart or liver if you’re feeling truly wild!) VERY thinly.

3. Add the strips in a single layer to a baking sheet that has been topped with a baking rack. Sprinkle the strips with sea salt.

4. Bake for approximately 4 hours or until jerky is dried all the way through.

*If your meat was very lean and has been dried out well, the jerky can be safely stored at room temperature for up to two weeks. Though if you skipped trimming off the fat, you will want to store the jerky in the fridge to avoid it spoiling.

Cheese

Yup! Ol’ humble, delicious, creamy cheese is superbly snackable. If you tolerate dairy, go ahead and stock up on string cheese, cheese cubes, cheese slices, you name it!

Be sure to select grass-fed or A2 varieties like cheeses made from goat, sheep, or A2 cows to ensure your dairy is as anti-inflammatory as possible.

Carbohydrate Rich Easy Animal-Based Snacks

Mandarins or Bananas

These two fruits scream “take me with you!” You’ve got to love the built-in protective packaging thanks to their thick skins.

All you have to do to enjoy a mandarin (aka clementine) is peel the rind then enjoy the segments. Just be mindful to avoid ingesting any seeds that some varieties may contain, as these are a highly defended part of the plant and can cause digestive distress and other issues. Bananas are technically seedless, fortunately, so once you peel the skin away you can simply nosh and enjoy this starchy fruit right after your workout with no mess!

Grapes or Blueberries

Packing these little orbs of juicy, sweet-tart delight is a smart move for a carb boost. Since they have thin, protective skins, these are perfect for nibbling on straight from a food baggie using nothing but your hands without making a mess.

Plantain Chips

So long as you choose a brand that cooks their plantain slices in an animal-based friendly fat, and are seasoned with only sea salt, these babies are awesome to keep on hand for enjoying in between meals. They are loaded with starchy carbs to give you that boost you might need. A brand that currently uses clean oils in their cooking process is Barnana.

Baked Sweet Potato

Many a post-workout or pre-dinner blood sugar crash has been remedied by the humble leftover roasted sweet potato. Bake up a bagful of these moderate-toxin roots at 400 F until they are soft in the centers and caramelized just underneath the skins

You can enjoy them peeled and cold with a pinch of salt and a dash of Ceylon cinnamon, or reheat them and dollop their flesh with grass-fed butter or tallow. So simple, yet SO good.

Carrot Salad

It’s been rumored that enjoying raw shredded carrots can benefit hormones, balance out estrogen dominance, and will turn your car into a magical flying unicorn. OK, so the last part is made up…please don’t put carrot salad into your car’s fuel tank.

Regardless of hormonal health claims, I do know that keeping a cupful of raw carrot salad marinated in the fridge is a great way to fuel YOUR body with healthy carbs.

Here’s how to make a batch:

1. Toss together 4 cups finely grated raw carrots, 4 tsp raw honey, ¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and a handful of unsulphured raisins in a food storage container.

2. Marinate overnight, then enjoy ½ to 1 cupful at a time.

Pumpkin Coconut Soup

Last but certainly not least on the carb list is the easiest-to-make soup in the entire animal-based world. You can enjoy this pumpkin soup at room temperature, chilled, or hot. Mega time-saving bonus…you don’t even have to cook it (well, once you have bone broth on hand, that is)!

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 2 15-oz BPA-free cans pumpkin puree, 1 13.5-oz BPA-free can additive-free coconut milk (or equivalent of whole goat, sheep, or A2 cow milk), bone broth to thin as desired, and sea salt to taste.

2. Will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Freeze for longer storage.

I hope you love these Easy Animal-Based Snacks!