Trail mixes—typically a mix of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits—are a common enough sight across supermarket shelves today. The term trail mix alludes to the fact that this energy-packed snack was recommended for long-distance trekkers, basically those on a trail.

Trail mix is a very popular snack in the United States. It is now emerging in India as a healthy snack!

People are so busy with their lives that some of them often forget to snack or eat a healthy snack. Whether you’re a hiker looking for easy eats, a mom on the go, or a busy professional, you turn to trail mix as a guilt-free, healthy snack with sweet ingredients.

WHAT IS IN YOUR TRAIL MIX?

Trail mix should be portable, filling, and full of ingredients to give you energy. In order to make sure it fits that description, add an ingredient or two from each of the categories below:

Nuts – Peanuts, Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans
Fruits – Raisins, Cranberries, Dried Blueberries
Seeds – Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Flax Seed
Extras – Chocolate, Cereal, some even add seasoning to the trail mix

Totally according to your own preference!

IS TRAIL MIX HEALTHY?

If you make it right, trail mixes can be extremely healthy. However you should remember, it is a calorie-dense food, therefore I would advise you to eat it in small portions. You can make trail mix less caloric by adding some lower-calorie, volume foods like popcorn, whole-grain cereal, fresh fruit (like blueberries) to your mix.

HOW TO STORE TRAIL MIX?

Mason jar or air-tight glass jar is recommended for storing trail mix. Most mixes will last a few weeks, but some trail mix ingredients don’t hold up well. 

HOME RECIPIES TO MAKE YOUR OWN TRAIL MIX!

Mixing all the ingredients for trail mix without any knowledge of how it is going to taste can be a little bit overwhelming. But we’ll never know unless we try it ourselves.

Power-packed cereal and nut mix

All you need is 1 cup popcorn, 3 tsp chopped walnuts, 2 tbsp dried pineapple pieces, 3 tsp roasted sunflower seeds, 3 tsp roasted broken banana chips, 2 tsp flaked coconut to make the perfect trail mix.

This recipe, shared by Amiya Sunith, a clinical nutritionist at the Sakra World Hospital in Bengaluru, is an energy-dense snack with a combination of cereal, fruits, and nuts that provides excellent nutritional power, satiates hunger pangs, and provides usable energy for the body. However, since it has high-calorie elements such as banana chips, coconut, and dehydrated pineapple, Sunith wouldn’t recommend it to those trying to lose weight.