Healthy Pregnancy Snacks

Cooking while pregnant and nauseous can be a gut-wrenching prospect. Here are some healthy pregnancy snacks that require NO cooking (or minimal cooking)!

Guess what y’all? I’m 11 weeks pregnant. YAY! I’m also a walking zombie. Yay! I run a food blog, and my desire to cook is absolutely non-existent. The thought of putting in the effort to cook is gut-wrenching enough. Doing so? Even tougher.

The smells, the commingling of textures, colors, and flavors… it’s entirely too much. So not only am I exhausted every second of every day- I am also nauseas AF, yet trying to eat healthy, while not barfing everything up. And I know how many of you ladies can relate! I still have yet to figure out why they call it morning-sickness, as opposed to all-day-and-all-night-sickness. But surely there are a few ways to navigate this together?

That is why I’ve taken the time to write this article about healthy pregnancy snacks. I know how difficult it is to find the motivation to cook and the guilt that comes along with that. You want to provide the most nutrients possible for your baby, but you also want to crawl into a hole and sleep for 500 years. Enter these minimal-effort, yet still-healthy pregnancy snacks!

You can easily make some of these choices healthier just by including the better version of ingredient. A plain white bagel + cream cheese should become a Whole-Wheat Everything bagel (with nuts and seeds) + organic cream cheese with vegetables. Absolutely ZERO extra effort is required on your part. You are going to buy ingredients anyway. All you need to do is choose BETTER ingredients (whenever possible), and you will have TONS of healthy pregnancy snacks / options at your disposal. Feel free to print this list and hang it on the fridge. It may come in handy when you are lacking motivation, lacking appetite, or lacking ingredients and need to run to the grocery store.

I’ve grouped this into 4 sections: Ready-to-eat (no cooking required), minimal cooking required (think eggs, toast, and things of that nature), less healthy pregnancy snacks but quick and easy, and healthy pregnancy drinks!

Healthy Pregnancy Snacks (No Cooking Required)

1. Organic cheese + healthy crackers. Think flax crackers, chia crackers, nut crackers, whole-wheat crackers, etc. I’ve taken to buying a block of cheese (it’s a lot cheaper this way), and taking an extra half a millisecond to slice the cheese myself. Easy peasy cheesy.
2. Organic Yogurt + Granola.
3. Veggies: Carrots, cherry tomatoes, sliced bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, jicama, celery.
4. Organic Milk + healthy cereal.
5. Whole-wheat Everything Bagel + Organic Cream Cheese w/ vegetables.
6. Organic string cheese.
7. Fruit + lime juice + Tajin.
8. Kimchi. This fermented powerhouse is full of probitics, is nice and cold, and requires zero cooking.
9. Sauerkraut.
10. Prunes, Dates.
11. Canned corn.
12. Oatmeal + fruit, nuts.
13. Sorbet or frozen yogurt.
14. Cottage cheese. Plain, with fruit, or pineapple.
15. Ginger snaps.
16. Fruit leathers.
17. Fruit salad.
18. Air-Popped Popcorn.
19. Fresh-pressed/homemade juice. Drink it that same day- you never want to drink old, or unpasteurized juice while pregnant.
20. Larabars. Healthy, clean ingredients.
21. Rice cakes + peanut/almond/nut butter.
22. PB & J Sandwich.
23. Warm bone broth.
24. Canned soup (Amy’s organics is a great brand).
25. Beef, salmon, or turkey jerky (just watch the sodium intake).
26. Healthy chips & salsa + guacamole.
27. Veggies & hummus + whole wheat pita.
28. Applesauce.
29. Flavored gelatin. They even sell gelatin that has chia seeds!
30. Olives- black, kalamata, etc.
31. Fruit / veggie / combo of both smoothie.
32. Smoothie bowl + fresh fruit, nuts, chia seeds, coconut on top.
33. Plaintain chips or sweet potato chips.
34. Pickles, or pickled veggies in general.
35. Healthy muffins.
36. Frozen grapes.
37. Dried fruit (apple slices, banana chips, plantains, apricot, etc).
38. Nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans).
39. Trail mix.
40. Fresh salad w/ toppings like hard boiled egg, sunflower seeds, bacon bits, croutons, avocado, etc if tolerable.
41. Edamame.
42. Nut butters + fruit or Nut butters + toast.
43. Whole wheat pretzels + mustard dip.
44. Popsicles.

Healthy Pregnancy Snacks (Minimal Cooking):

1. Frozen turkey meatballs.
2. Plain chicken wings.
3. Plain toast.
4. Avocado toast.
5. Quesadilla.
6. Hard boiled eggs.
7. Scrambled eggs (not for me, makes me queasy, but to each their own.. need that protein!)
8. Quesadillas w/ leftover fridge ingredients. I recently made one with leftover corned beef and manchego cheese. it was heaven. And a side of probiotic sour cream!
9. Very lightly seasoned chunks of chicken breast (homemade). Dip into salsa, homemade ranch, etc
10. Steamed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zuccini, squash).
11. Mashed potatoes (guess what? Instant potatoes are a godsend. I’m not saying to subsist off these things- but they are a great way to fill up and quell some nausea. Eat w/ a side of steamed veggies for added nutrition.)
12. Baked potato or sweet potato + yogurt.
13. Annie’s organic Mac n Cheese.
14. Frozen sweet potato fries.
15. Rice.
16. Grilled cheese w/ organic cheese and whole wheat bread.

Less healthy pregnancy snacks- but quick and easy!

Here are some much-less healthy pregnancy snacks, but I’m including these because who cares- you really just need to be eating whatever you can at a certain point.

1. Goldfish crackers.
2. Saltine crackers.
3. Graham crackers.
4. Poptarts.
5. Frozen tater tots.
6. Frozen Trader Joes dinners.
7. Milkshake.
8. Order some pizza or Thai food. You deserve it. Did I mention it’s quick and easy????

Healthy Pregnancy Drinks

1. Peppermint Tea- for nasuea
2. Ginger + lemon tea- for nasuea
3. Frozen gatorade
4. Sparkling water + grapefruit juice.
5. Chocolate milk.
6. Lemon water, or lemonaid.
7. Ginger Ale.

Snacks to avoid while Pregnant:

Please bear in mind the things we DID NOT include on our list of healthy pregnancy snacks. These were not included in our healthy pregnancy snacks because they are not healthy for pregnant women, EVER! Stay away from the following:

1. Soft white cheeses (Feta, blue cheese, gorgonzola, etc)
2. Sushi
3. Booze  Deli lunch meats
4. Raw sprouts
5. Raw or undercooked eggs.
6. Liver.

I’m sure there’s plenty I’m forgetting about or simply haven’t read about yet. I’m brand new to this and learning as I go!

Would love to know your thoughts- please leave me a comment! Are there any healthy pregnancy snacks that are missing from this list?! What are, or have been, some of your healthy pregnancy snacks? Or even your snack options that weren’t healthy, but at least filled your belly and avoided nausea? Please let myself, and our readers, know in the comments! I super appreciate any and all advice! 🙂

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