How to engage consumers with healthy snack recipe content

49% of British snackers are more likely to turn to healthy snacks at home than outside of home and in the workplace. With many companies adopting a more flexible approach to working from home than pre-pandemic, more of us will continue to work at home at least some of the week. More time at home means more opportunity to snack and while it has never been easier to pick up healthy ready-to-eat snacks, increased interest in home cooking opens up opportunities to engage consumers with healthy snack recipes.

What sort of healthy snacks do consumers want to eat at home?

A recent Glanbia survey revealed the following:

· Low calorie snacks are the most popular healthy snack category amongst Gen Z

· High protein snacks are the most popular amongst millennials

· For those 55 and older, low or no sugar snack are most popular

What should you keep in mind when curating healthy snack recipes?

While nutrition is a significant factor for consumers when choosing a snack, it is not the only consideration. Hunger aside, consumers snack for a variety of reasons, including boredom and stress. This means that snack recipes should be quick and easy to encourage consumers to make their own snacks when they’re dealing with a busy day at work, for example. If your target audience is consumers who work from home, healthy snack recipes that can be thrown together using store-cupboard ingredients and fridge leftovers in minutes are the ideal place to start. Since millennials are interested in high-protein snacks, for example, snack recipes that use leftover chicken or toasted nuts will grab their attention.

Not everyone has time to put together a homemade snack during the day however, so an important consideration should be how well the snack can be stored for use over a number of days. Low calorie, high protein, low sugar snack bars have been ubiquitous in supermarkets over the past few years. Recipes that recreate that experience at home are a great option to grab the attention of busy snackers who want to grab-and-go in their own kitchen, particularly if they can be kept in a container for a number of days. Snacks that can be frozen and quickly defrosted, such as mini frittatas, are another great healthy snack option.

Like any recipes, it is vital that healthy snack recipes are high in flavour to avoid consumers turning to ready-made options and encourage home cooking. Healthy homemade snacks that taste good are guaranteed to keep snackers coming back for more, increasing website traffic and brand awareness.

Recipe curation was focused primarily on lunch and dinner pre-pandemic, but with more people spending time at home and cooking more frequently, now is the time to curate and share recipes that suit the new at-home cooking occasions the pandemic has created. Healthy snacking recipes will continue to trend, and if you’re not jumping on board with them, you’re missing out on engaging consumers from every generation.