Ask HN: What do you snack on while coding?

I try to avoid snacking whenever possible but you always have to plan for at least one trip to the kitchen per day. I can’t tell if there’s some subtext in your question about “healthy” snacks, but that’s what you’re gonna get from me.

Bell peppers are an awesome snack. Just sweet enough to stop the craving and I never need more than one.

I boil 6 eggs whenever I’m out and leave then in a bowl in the fridge. I love boiled eggs but rarely have more than 1 at a time, and I’ll never take the time to boil a new one in the moment. Boiling 6 at once takes care of breakfast and snacks for a couple days.

15 almonds is about 100 calories. When I want something crunchy and savory I’ll eat that with a bit of salt.

Yogurt. Again, it’s one of my favorite snacks and 1 cup is a bit under 200 calories.

Stay hydrated. It’s amazing how often you’re actually slightly thirsty but feel like you need food. I keep a liter of water at my desk.

If I find myself hanging out in the kitchen for any longer than 1 item, I go for a walk or stretch for a few minutes. I need to physically distract myself to give my body the time to realize it just ate something.

When I absolutely need sugar, I try to reach for an apple but it often transforms into a handful of Mike and Ike’s.

I think snacks are dangerous. Eat while your attention is elsewhere, grow obese, suffer ill health.

And going away to prepare a meal gives me time to step back and think over the bigger picture of whatever I’m in the middle of.

I used to snack on salted unshelled sunflower seeds. The process of sucking the salt off the shell, breaking the shell open in my mouth, separating the two, spitting out the shell and swallowing the sunflower seed was just the right level of physical distraction to block out most other external stimuli while not breaking my coding concentration. These days I don't snack but if I did, I'd probably go back to sunflower seeds. The pile of chewed up shells is a bit unsightly, even if you have a paper towel to sit them on before dumping them into the trash, so that's something to keep in mind if you share your workspace with others.

My go-to is cashews. I used to eat raw, unroasted, unsalted cashews, but during the pandemic, I developed a sensitivity from eating too many, I guess? (tingling mouth/tongue, elevated heart rate) so I’ve recently started roasting them myself, which takes care of the relevant (natural) bacteria. Put them in a pan for 15 minutes at 350F. They taste much better than store bought roasted nuts, too.

Other favorites:

- Cheddar cheese

- Beef/turkey jerky

- Salami or other thin-cut cured meats

It’s important to watch salt intake, though. Cheap stuff generally has more.

And then every afternoon, after 3 or 4, coffee and a “coffee snack”, usually a fig newton or other fresh baked good.

Not much of a snack eater personally, in the odd situation where it comes up I'll have a banana or something.

Caffeine though, that's my weakness

High carbonation sparkling mineral water. It gives that same “hit” as sipping a can of soda, but is much healthier.

I drink a lot of tea. Snacks are usually fruit or nuts. I reserve unhealthy snacks like chips for a rare night of late work.

Water and coffee in the first half of the day. Water only in the second half. Snacks don't work for me at all.

I avoid eating before dinner time, say five o'clock in the afternoon. I try not to keep snackable foods in stock.

I kind of gave up on this when the pandemic began and my weight went out of control. Then, I would have said peanut butter pretzels. I'm back on the wagon now.

Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

I stopped grazing when WFH started, since I don't care to replicate the office's snack stash.

I signed up for a premade meal service, so I throw a box in the microwave and eat whatever's inside (e.g. salmon/rice/veggies). I end up eating like 3 lunches a day this way, but I'm trying to gain weight so it works out.

Bugs

I don't snack, because I'll get fat. I saw a guy who snacked on carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes throughout the day that he brought to work in the morning. Even though I think that's pretty cool, I never picked up that habit

Just coffee these days. I feel like I stopped snacking in the last 2 years. I snacked much more when we were in the office. lots of trailmix, wasabi peas, M&Ms, and bowls of cereal. I always had wet wipes lol because of snacks.

I actually forget to eat (including snacking) while coding. It is not good as when I come out, I eat fast and more than I should. However, I have not been able to break these habits in the past 3 decades.

I've developed a routine of walking to my local grocery store (Metropolitan Market) and getting a soup from their lunch counter / deli area and sipping on it while I work.

My most common snack is a green sour apple (granny smith) sliced into 8 semi-equal pieces with the core removed. I put them on a small plate and subconsciously eat while thinking.

Depends if the keyboard I'm using is easily cleanable. If not, I avoid anything crumbly, drippy, or apt to leave orangey-coloured dust on my fingers.

I don't snack. I avoid carbs until I eat my one meal a day.

The closest I get to a snack is the heavy whipping cream in my coffee in the morning.

Ever since I started wearing my Invisalign trays, I do zero snacking. I feel great though, since my eating habits are better

Water/tea. Anything else seems like it could be an unhealthy habit. Even the tea is pushing it because of the sugar.

Mini-carrots and/or mini tomatoes.

Snacks typically make me feel drowsy or lose concentration. I will typical eat gum if I need something.

if you're body says it's hungry, feed it.

i like mixed nuts, hummus, dark chocolate covered almonds, bananas, apples (great air fried with cinnamon), tons of sparkling water, coffee, date rolls, cliff bars, dark chocolate, spicy sichuan peanuts, dried mango

edit: almost forgot fancy cheese!

Almonds, crunchy and healthy

(yes I'm aware they're pretty bad for the environment)

My favorite snack while coding is homemade beer and wine.

Tea, water. Sometimes a digestive biscuit with said tea.

Just cofee. I don't eat during the coding sessions.

"Simply Gum". I like the fennel flavor.

grapes old grapes that you can drink

(but really i do love grapes) maybe celery or baby carrots. the high water content keeps me awake

hummus with:

- veg

- pita/bread

- crackers

- cheese

- fruits (olives, dates, apples, pear)

easy, riffable, modifiable (add olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, fresh pepper, jam). Pretty healthy.

Nothing.

pizza, french fries, ice cream, chips, doughnuts, chocolate, pretzels

Non caffeinated tea

coffee in the morning and a decaf in the afternoon

Cheese and salami

peanut butter filled pretzel bites