Quick Paleo Meals and Snacks

I'll admit it:  I can be slightly lazy when it comes to cooking.  I do it, and I do cook quite a bit, but especially in the mornings when I get up to go to work, I basically am one of those that tries to stay in bed as late as possible.  For a while I was just fasting through work, but lately I've been having a hard time doing that without feeling awful, so very quick and easy fixes are in order.  This is a list of some of those.

Canned Tuna with Mustard
 My last recipe was for salmon with mustard, but really I put stone ground mustard on almost anything.  Canned tuna is cheap (the pictured can is Chicken of the Sea, but more sustainable, pole-caught canned tuna is often available, too).  I choose albacore tuna for its higher omega-3 fatty acids and usually without added salt.  And it's really easy:  Open can, add mustard, eat.  It's like tuna salad without the mayonnaise.

Canned Sardines and Herring
I don't usually put mustard on these... but you can.  Read the ingredients because sometimes they add non-paleo oils or sugar.  They're usually pretty salty, too, so if you're like me and trying to watch that you should pay attention to this.

Olives, Pickles, Dilly Beans
It should be clear by now that there are a lot of salty snacks on this list.  These are very salty (you can rinse off the brine if you want less sodium), but otherwise they're a good choice.

Baby Carrots
Baby carrots get a bad rap because they're literally just adult carrots that have been carved down.  I eat these for breakfast relatively often, though, because they're accessible, they taste good, and they're inexpensive.

Seaweed Snacks

I am pretty addicted to these things.  They are usually from South Korea and come in a wide variety of flavors.  Unfortunately many of them are made with sketchy oils.  The brand I've pictured--SeaSnax--is the only brand I currently eat, which only uses olive oil.  It is, of course, up to you if you want to get a cheaper one that isn't quite as ideal in the oil department.

Plantain Chips
You need to be really careful with this because plantain chips vary a lot as far as added ingredients.  There are plantain chips available that are nothing but plantains and either coconut or palm oil.  They're starchy and have lots of carbohydrates, but if this doesn't matter to you, go for it.

Fresh Fruit
I will mention this even though I've been having lots of problems right now overeating cherries.  It isn't making me lose weight much slower, but it is giving me stomachaches.  Fruit is sugary, but not all paleo eaters are going for low- or reduced-carbs anyway.  For those of you who aren't, go right on ahead.  Go for the whole fruit, not a smoothie or juice.

Boiled Eggs
Boiled eggs are easy to make by just... well, boiling eggs for about twenty minutes (a lot of people are really picky about things like getting the yolks perfectly yellow... I don't actually care, although you're welcome to go research and perfect your technique if you do.  Pre-cooked hard-boiled eggs are also common in cafeterias and gas stations, so when I'm off at work or visiting my alma mater and need to eat something, these are often there for me.

Jerky
Packaged jerky often has ingredients that you might not want to consume, like sugar and soy products, so if you buy it you really should read the ingredients.  When I'm not doing strict paleo I might get a bag at a gas station because it's a better option than, say, a granola bar.  Typically, though, you should just make it yourself.  If you have a dehydrator, an easy thing to do is take lean ground beef, mix in spices you like (salt, coconut aminos or soy sauce if you eat it, various types of pepper, I like adding celery salt and sesame seeds), make thin patties from it, and put it in a dehydrator until it's... well, dry.  If you don't put salt in it, you will need to pay close attention to where you keep it and don't let it sit around.