Eating Healthy on the Go

When you’re hungry and short on time, you might want to eat whatever’s easiest. Preparing your own grab-and-go snacks and meals can help you eat healthier and maintain your dietary goals.

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Quick healthy snacks
Portable meals

Quick healthy snacks

Whether you need quick snacks for yourself or your family when you’re out and about, plenty of healthy options are available. Snacks can fit right into your dietary plan, whether you’re focused on overall health or weight loss. Choose foods that carry high nutritional value.

Include protein

For a snack that will fill you up until the next meal, try to include protein along with fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, or whole grains.

Low-sugar, 100% whole-grain cereals and fruit. You can pick up low-fat or non-fat milk or yogurt at a store or coffee shop to go with it.
An ounce of mixed nuts and a piece of fresh fruit, like apple or pear. While nuts are higher in calories and fat, they have many health benefits including fiber.
Low-fat or non-fat milk or yogurt and a homemade or store-bought low-fat, whole-grain muffin. Be aware that other kinds of muffins can vary in calories and fat.
Whole-grain crackers and reduced-fat cheese, like 1 ounce of part-skim mozzarella
Popcorn (around 2 1/2 cups). Instead of a high-fat butter topping, get creative with herbs and spices, like chili powder or garlic powder, to flavor your popcorn.

Vegetables

Vegetables and fruits provide many needed nutrients. Most are low in fat and calories. Snacking on them can help you meet your recommended daily servings.

Pack a lunch bag with chopped vegetables that you can eat whenever. Bring a small container of peanut butter, hummus, or non-fat ranch to dip your veggies in.

Try vegetables such as:

Red and green bell peppers
Jicama
Carrots
Celery sticks
Snow peas or sugar snap peas
Button mushrooms
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes

Fruits

Wherever you’re headed, you can bring along some fruit, whether it’s fresh, dried, or pre-packaged. You might also need to pack a knife or a spoon, depending on which fruits you bring and how you like to eat them.

Try:

Fresh fruit, such as pears, apples, oranges, peaches, kiwi, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas
Dried apricots, apples, peaches, etc. Keep portions small. Dried fruits can be high in calories.
Unsweetened applesauce
Sliced peaches in their own juice

Drinks

At the coffee shop, black coffee, espresso, or unsweetened black tea is best. Remember that flavored lattes and cappuccinos can have as many calories as a full dessert. Ordering these drinks with sugar-free flavoring and non-fat milk can help cut down on calories.
Boost the nutritional value of any snack with a single-serving container of low-fat milk. If you don’t want to carry a cooler, pick these up from a store or coffee shop.
For a lower-calorie drink option, try sparkling water with a dash of fruit juice.

Portable meals

Your schedule might not always allow for home-cooked meals served at the table. Sometimes, you and your family might need to eat when you’re running late or heading to music lessons, team practices, or dance classes.

Getting fast food might work sometimes, but the costs and calories add up. Instead, try making some meals in advance that you can grab on your way out the door. You can include fruits, vegetables, and low-fat or non-fat milk or yogurt. Keep some ice packs in your freezer and a cooler bag handy, so you can pack meals and drinks that will stay cool while you’re out. Bring water in a reusable bottle or keep empty ones in your car that you can fill up as needed.

Try these quick meal ideas:

Toast 100% whole-grain bread and make sandwiches with natural peanut butter. Add banana slices in place of jelly or jam, which can be high in added sugar.
Fill whole-wheat pita bread with tuna salad (made with low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise) and fresh spinach, romaine lettuce, or green salad mix. Take along fresh fruit, like a small apple, an orange, or some grapes.
Make a dinner wrap using a whole-grain tortilla. Fill it with grilled chicken, reduced-fat cheese, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts, roasted red peppers, black beans, and/or chickpeas (garbanzo beans). To add flavor and hold the wrap together, thinly spread low-fat cream cheese or hummus on the tortilla, or use a small amount of low-fat ranch dressing.
Try a hard-boiled egg, mini-bagel, and a banana.
Make cheese and crackers into a meal. Try 100% whole-grain, reduced-fat crackers with part-skim string cheese, an apple, and sparkling water with a splash of fruit juice.
Boost calcium and protein with ready-to-go products like low-fat yogurt in a tube, drinkable yogurt, or lunch-sized milk cartons. Single-serving Greek yogurt has even more calcium and protein, but you’ll need a spoon. Flavored yogurt can have high amounts of added sugar. Look for varieties that have less than 30 grams of sugar per 8 ounces.
Grilled chicken kabob. Make them with grilled chicken breast, low-fat cheese cubes (1/2 ounce each), and cut-up red or green bell peppers.

Written by
References

The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team

Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

US Department of Agriculture, Eat healthy with MyPlate. Accessed at https://www.myplate.gov/ on August 8, 2025.

US Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. Accessed at https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/ on August 8, 2025.

Last Revised: August 11, 2025

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