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Here are over 27 portable ski snacks you can take to the ski mountain with you. It’s a mix of healthy and not-so-healthy snacks, so you can take your pick!
I’ve saved some of the more interesting ski snacks for the bottom of the list — so make sure you read the entire thing!
Skiing and snowboarding can make you really hungry. Because time out on the slopes is so precious, it’s understandable that you might not want to stop your entire day and sit down for a meal. Additionally, food at the ski lodge tends to be really expensive, and you’ve likely already spent enough on the lodging and lift tickets.
Contents
1. Larabars
It may be kind of cliche, but Larabars are my #1 go to snack to eat on the ski mountain. Not only are they delicious, but they’re made out of almost 100% whole foods without any refined sugar or oil. Perfect for well-rounded energy while you’re skiing.
Another great thing about Larabars is that there are so many flavors. They even have a cookie dough flavor made out of cashews, dates, dairy free chocolate chips, and sea salt. And yes, it does taste like real cookie dough.
2. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
Ah, the classic PB&J sandwich. If you’re trying to make ski snacks for a lot of people and don’t want to spend the money on pre-packaged bars, then look no further than a regular PB&J. I like to buy some whole wheat or Ezekial bread to make them a bit more nutritious.
For easy storage in your ski pockets, you can cut the sandwiches in half and stack them on top of each other. That way, they’re more square and less like a rectangle that’s going to take up a lot of space in your ski jacket pocket. Use some tin foil to keep it compact, and you’ll be good to go!
3. Peanut Butter in a Pouch
If you want to skip the bread and the jelly, they also make handy peanut butter pouches from Justin’s. You just open ’em up and eat them on the spot, kind of like those Go-Gurts that were popular in the 90s. With around 190 calories a pouch, they provide a ton of energy while taking up a very small amount of space. If you’ve got limited room in your ski jacket, they’re the perfect treat.
4. Fruit Leather
Fruit leather is sort of like the long fruit snacks you may have eaten as a kid. The difference is that “fruit leather” is usually made with 100% whole fruit purees rather than fruit juices and colors.
They’re a refreshing and easy-to-eat ski snack while you’re skiing. I find that they taste better when they’re a bit cold, too!
5. Clif Bar
Regular sized Clif Bars will give you more calories/energy than Larabars as they’re a bit bigger. If you’re going to be doing harder runs and burning a lot of calories, they’re great to have on hand. Clif Bars were designed for endurance sports like long distance bike-riding, so they’re great for keeping your energy stores up for multiple hours of intense skiing and snowboarding.
There’s so many different flavors of Clif Bars that it’s hard to list them all, but here are some of my favorites:
Maple Nut
Chocolate Peanut Crunch
Chocolate Almond Fudge
Cool Mint Chocolate
Be sure to look for the Gingerbread flavor as well if you’re going around the holidays.
6. Citrus Fruit (keeps you warm)
Citrus fruits, such as oranges, clementines, or tangerines are all great ski snacks. Refreshing flavors aside, there’s a real reason why these fruits are great for skiing or snowboarding: they can help keep you warm.
Plant-foods have phytonutrients, which go beyond the regular vitamins and minerals that most people already know about. Citrus fruit contains a phytonutrient called hesperidin which has been shown to increase blood flow. Researchers have actually dipped people’s hands in cold water and proved that citrus helps bring their temperatures back to baseline quicker than a placebo group.
Pretty amazing stuff — and it’s super easy to un-peel and eat on a lift.
7. Oatmeal Squeeze Packs
Oatmeal squeeze packs are kind of a new phenomenon. They look like little juice boxes, except they have oatmeal that you can suck through a large built in straw. Because they’re easy and quick to eat, you can gulp one down on the lift ride up and then properly dispose of the package at the top.
They’re small enough to eat in just a few minutes, so you can get those nutrients in quickly and get right back to shredding.
8. Trail Mix
The great thing about trail mix is that it’s kind of an open-ended term. You can pre-mix it yourself or buy it in the store. As long as it’s got dried fruit and nuts, the possibilities are endless. A healthy trail mix is dense in nutrients and perfect if you’re going to be doing a lot of hard runs.
I personally like to have:
Two types of nuts
Two types of seeds
Small dried fruit pieces (like raisins)
Chocolate chunks (if I’m feeling bold)
Shake it up in a resealable bag, and you’re good to go!
9. Energy Chews
If you’re really shredding that day and want to avoid crashing mid-afternoon, an energy chew might be just what you need. These ski snacks are blended to keep you going and give you the extra edge during a long endurance workout. They also come in small packages, are typically fruit flavored, and are extremely easy to eat.
You’ll usually find that they have:
A small dose of caffeine
Brand chain amino acids
Electrolytes
A small caloric toll (usually 80 calories per services)
Coffee pouches were made wildly popular when the brand Get Grinds did a pitch on Shark Tank. They don’t contain many calories, but are great for some vitamins and a quick caffeine boost.
If you have no idea what it is, you’re either going to be excited or disgusted. They’re pouches full of coffee grinds, vitamins, and flavors that you just stick on your gums between your teeth. The caffeine and vitamins are then absorbed through the lining in your mouth. Popular among baseball players, they can also be used on long rides on the chair lift.
You’ll find all sorts of flavors such as:
Peppermint
Cinnamon Roll
Caramel
Mocha
I would just make sure you spit it out before doing the run to make sure you don’t swallow it by accident. While all the ingredients are food-grade, it could pose a potential choking hazard.
11. Figgy Pops
If you’ve never heard of Figgy Pops before, they’re basically balls of dried fruit. Some of them are coated with coconut, and they make a delicious and high energy bite that you can just pop in your mouth. The ch-ch-cherry flavor is so good!
12. Plain Nuts and Seeds
You can’t go wrong with plain old nuts and/or seeds for your ski snacks. They’re high in calories/nutrients and can be an easy source of energy throughout the entire day. Some great varieties that come to mind are:
Raw cashews
Pumpkin seeds
Almonds
Shelled pistachios
Hulled sunflower seeds
Shelled macadamia nuts
Mix them up for a greater variety!
13. Pre-Bagged Cereal
Have a favorite cereal? Why not just stick it in a small Ziploc bag and bring it up on the slopes? Add in some nuts, seeds, and dried fruit to make your own custom cereal plus trail mix combo.
14. Instant Hot Chocolate Packet
Okay, so you can’t actually eat a hot chocolate packet when you’re on top of the mountain, but you can do it between runs if you can manage to find some hot water at the lodge. Some resorts might not be too happy with you bringing your own hot chocolate rather than buying a $4 packet, but other ski places might not even sell it.
Beet chips are a great alternative to regular potato chips that won’t leave you feeling sluggish on your ski runs. The good brands have one ingredient: beets. When they’re dried out and the flavor is concentrated, you won’t miss regular potato ships one bit.
16. Packet of Oatmeal
It might seem a bit weird, but there’s a few ways that you can eat a packet of oatmeal that are conducive to a ski mountain or resort.
You can eat it directly from the packet (which might sound gross, but it’s actually not bad!)
Mix it with some cold water from a fountain.
Find some hot water at the lodge, and eat it normally.
17. Complete Protein Cookie
You could just pack some regular old cookies for your ski snacks, but I prefer something that’s a little more well-rounded. Granted, they don’t taste as good as a fresh, homemade cookie, but many brands are pretty darn close. This is especially true when you’ve worked up an appetite from shredding the entire day — anything that gives you the nutrients you’re craving will taste good.
If you don’t want to feel like you’re eating candy, a high cacao percentage dark chocolate bar is the perfect way to go. Any chocolate bar that has above 85% cacao is going to be rich enough to satisfy you and curb your appetite until dinner time. They’re pretty low in sugar to keep you going without crashing before dinnertime.
19. Freeze Dried Miso Soup
Did you know that they make miso soup where all you need to do is add hot water? The entire contents of the soup is condensed into a little block which hydrates into what you’d expect at a restaurant. It’s even got the tofu and the seaweed!
All you need to do is get your hands on some hot water from the ski lodge.
20. Coconut Jerky
Coconut jerky is highly satisfying and comes in a wide variety of flavors. It’s one of my all-time favorite ski snacks to eat on the lifts because it’s one of the few packaged foods that have a complex umami flavor profile.
21. Dried Edamame
If you like eating edamame at your local Japanese restaurant then you’ll love dried edamame. They come in a convenient pouch (without the pod), so you can literally just open them and dump a bunch into your mouth on the ski lift. Chocked full of essential nutrients, they’re the perfect snack to keep you going on the slopes.
As an added bonus, there’s all sorts of different flavors to enjoy. Some of the most popular are regular sea salt and spicy wasabi.
22. Crunchy Chickpeas
Not only are crunchy chickpeas healthier than most regular potato chips, they’re way easier to eat with gloves on. Because they’re so small (like the edamame), you really just need to get the pouch open and pour them into your mouth. There’s also a wide variety of flavors to choose from such as Korean BBQ and Bombay Spice.
Just be careful when eating these strong flavors in a closed ski lift — your fellow riders might find the flavors to be a bit overwhelming!
23. Mary’s Gone Crackers
While there are tons of crackers that you can potentially bring onto a ski lift, Mary’s Gone Crackers is probably my favorite. These crackers are made of almost 100% whole foods, chock full of seeds and whole grains. They’re well rounded and are the perfect size to eat even with your ski gloves on.
Their Everything cracker is my personal favorite, but there are tons of other to choose from including Onion, Black Pepper, and Seaweed with Black Sesame.
24. Seaweed Crisps
If you’re a sushi lover, then you’ll love eating seaweed crisps. They’re tasty enough to leave you satisfied, but light enough to not leave you feeling sluggish. It would be annoying to eat the kind that comes in the little trays when you’re on the mountain, but Annie Chun makes a bag variety.
25. Wasabi Coated Peas
Wasabi peas pack a nice spicy kick and are packed with vitamins and minerals. There are plenty of brands available to try out online, or you can check the bulk bin of your grocery store.
Many of the commercial brands will have coatings or artificial flavors the health conscious person might not want to eat. If this is the case, you can very easily make your own and bag them up before heading to the mountain.
26. Freeze Dried Corn
If you’re looking for something plain and satisfying, look no further than freeze dried corn. While they don’t typically come flavored or spiced in any sort of way, corn has a really deep, rich, and earthy flavor that you notice a lot more when it’s freeze dried. And just like the edamame, there’s no need to take your gloves off to snack on them!
27. Veggie Go’s
Veggie Straws are kind of like Funyuns, except they have the bonus of having healthy potatoes and vegetables and without artificial flavors and artificial preservatives. They come in a wide variety of flavors including:
They’re made to be bite-sized, and the bags are small enough to fit perfectly in your ski jacket pocket.
28. Dried Apple Chips
Freeze dried apple crisps have a deep, toasty flavor and won’t leave a lingering taste in your mouth like some of the savory snacks. Get them coated with cinnamon, and they’re a perfect, warmly spiced snack on a cold day.
