Best bodybuilding snacks

The best bodybuilding snacks are ones that have high nutritional value, good taste, and don’t cost too much.

If you are a seasoned bodybuilder or even someone just starting out on with weightlifting, you will no doubt have come across the age old problem, of trying to fit the right amount calories and protein into your day.

If like me, you work long hours, and don’t necessarily always have access to a microwave or a fridge, this can make things challenging to say the least. The easiest way to supplement your macros during these times is to supplement your meals with the best bodybuilding snacks that money can buy.

Why eat bodybuilding snacks?

I have spent the last 16 years looking for the most nutritionally complete snacks I could find and during that time, I have found some awful ones, some pretty good ones, and some that are absolutely awesome. I decided to write this article to speed that process up a little for you and by sharing the best I have found.

If you have an outdoors job, or one where you are often travelling, like a cab driver, a police officer or a gardener, without snacks, you might end up going 8+ hours without any calories or protein. In turn, this could have a serious detrimental effect on your muscle gains if you are trying to fit in 3000+ calories and 180g or more of protein in the last few hours before you go to sleep. Let’s be honest, unless you are an absolute beast and eat competitively, it’s unlikely to even be possible.

Check out our suggestions for the best bodybuilding snacks you can eat whenever and wherever you are:

Best protein bars

We couldn’t do an article on bodybuilding snacks without starting with protein bars. They are small and easy to carry about in a pocket or backpack and are designed to be high protein. There literally couldn’t be a more convenient way of getting your macros in. We have listed our favourites below, based on the following priorities:

Best protein bars for taste in the UK

Cheapest protein bars in the U.K

Best protein bars for taste U.K

Probably the most famous protein bars sold in the U.K are grenade bars. They come in loads of great flavours with everything from fudge brownie, to salted caramel and the macros are great for anyone trying to fit in a bit more protein in their day.

Nutritional information:

Per 60g bar

Based on the salted caramel flavour

Energy (Kcal) – 226

Fat – 9.5g

of which saturates – 5.5g

Carbohydrates – 20g

of which sugar – 1.4g

Protein – 20g

The best price we have seen online so far is Amazon, which seems even cheaper than grenades OWN website.

At the time of writing this, you can get 12 bars for £17.99, which works out to just under £1.50 per bar

Cheapest protein bars U.K

The cheapest bars we have found online are Warrior RAW protein flapjacks. Again, they come in a variety of flavours and have a great macronutrient profile.

At the time of writing this they are currently selling for less than £1 per bar and have the same amount of protein as the grenade bars above.

Nutritional information per bar:

Based on the chocolate brownie flavour

Per 75g bar

Energy – 248 (Kcal)

Fat – 4.2g

of which saturdates – 1.4g

Carbohydrates – 33.5g

of which sugars – 3.4g

Protein – 20g

Best nut snacks for bodybuilding

Almonds

Almonds are one of the best foods you can possibly eat if you are looking to pack on some serious muscle. They are high in protein, vitamin E, HDL (reduces your LDL, or bad cholesterol) and contain lots of useful minerals such as calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. Studies have shown that they reduce the risk of heart disease.

Nutritional information:

Serving size: 100g

Energy – 579 Kcal

Fat – 49.93g

Carbohydrates – 21.55g

Protein – 21.15g

The cheapest we found Almonds online was Amazon – at £9.99 per 1kg bag.

With this you can split them down into small 100g boxes and you have a snack sorted every day for the next 2 weeks at work.

Peanuts

Peanuts are a great addition to any bulking diet. They are actually higher in protein per 100g than almonds, they also contain higher levels of B vitamins, iron and copper, but are lower in the other minerals mentioned above. They are higher in methionine and lysine which are amino acids. Almonds are low on these amino acids.

Effectively peanuts and almonds complement each other perfectly and provide a nutrient dense combo snack. You don’t have to buy any specific brand, just go for cheap and cheerful, there are plenty of brands out there that do flavoured peanuts, such as chilli, or honey roasted.

Best beef jerky bodybuilding snacks

If you have never tried Biltong/jerky then you are seriously missing out. Biltong is dried out beef. Because it is dehydrated its protein content per 100g is far higher than most other sources.

Our favourite BEEFit, has more than 52g protein per 100g (slight differences depending on the flavour you pick) and is an extremely easy way to get that extra protein in without having to carry around a huge bag full of food.

Summary

We hope you liked our suggestions for the best bodybuilding snacks out there at the moment. If you have any other suggestions feel free to send them in to us and we will add them to this article.

If you are looking for further information about how to build muscle, or how to keep fit, check out our Nutrition or Training articles, or try one of our workouts.