Snacking Suggestions for the Masses

We all have our reasons to snack. Whether its to comfort ourselves or to refuel our bodies, everyone has the occasional craving that can only be satisfied by something sweet or savoury. For that reason, I've made a list of the best snacks to have on hand whenever that feeling occurs. Feel free to refer to it before your next binge-watching marathon, or whether you have the munchies for 4:20-related reasons.

• Popcorn: Watching a screen isn't the same without this crunchy buttery snack, there's a reason why you buy an overpriced tub of popcorn when you go out to the movies.
• Ice Cream: Who hasn't lost themselves in a tub of Ben and Jerry's or Haggan Daz at one point?
• Cereal: The host of "Lip Sync Battle" and those "Broad City" chicks were on to something, ain't nothing' like a nice bowl of cereal to smooth you out. It's tasty, full of calcium, vitamins, and minerals (according to the commercials I remember from my youth on Saturday mornings), and as long as you know how to pour milk into a bowl, it's pretty hard to mess up. If you're curious about trying different combinations of cereal in a bowl but don't have multiple boxes of cereal on hand, head over to JAM Cereal, Ottawa's first cereal bar.  But if you do have any leftover Rice Krispies, why not use them to make...
• Rice Krispie squares: These have been a favourite since grade school. If you have to go to the store to buy the ingredients for it, save some time and grab a box of the premade ones unless you're a traditionalist with the patience to wait for them to cool when they come out of the oven.
• Shawarma: Thanks to the Ottawa influx of Lebanese immigrants in the seventies, this Ottawa specialty has been delighting drunks coming out of bars late at night for years. Slow-cooked meat, rolled into pita bread stuffed with various combinations of lettuce, hummus, tomatoes, onions, pickles, pickled turnips, topped with garlic sauce - it's strange it took a movie about superheroes for the rest of the world to discover how good this is.
• Nuts and seeds: Nuts are a healthy snack option as they are good sources of fibre and protein. Don't limit yourself to just peanuts (not an actual nut, they're a member of the legume family, but, whatever), mix it up with a can of mixed nuts. I love sunflower seeds as well; they don't taste the same if you don't pop them out of the shells yourself.
• Nutella: Fans of this chocolate-hazelnut spread have known for a long time about the joys of sticking a spoon straight into a jar of this stuff. Not only is it great on its own, but it can also be used as a dip for things like pretzel sticks, or globs of cookie dough, health concerns be damned.
• Doughnuts: With the options not limited to just Timmie's, these sugary treats aren't just for cops anymore. It's easy to go through a dozen of these things when they now can have bacon, Cocco Puffs, or M&M's baked on them.
• Ramen: You don't even have to cook ramen noodles to have them as a snack, ramen nerd Dave Chang has been known to take a bite from a brick of the instant-ramen noodles when hungry. If you insist on cooking it properly, the combinations you can create are only limited to what's in your fridge and pantry.
• Chinese Takeout: Perfect for when you're hungry and have no intention whatsoever to cook anything. And best of all, there's always leftovers for when you're hungry again.
• Nachos: Tortilla chips with cheese, salsa, chicken, jalapeños, onions, peppers, guacamole, and sour cream: nachos are the snack that eats like a meal.
• Pizza: It can be cold, in roll or pocket form, deep dish, with stuffed crust, or thin and crispy, pizza is a winner in any form. It's literally great any way you slice it.
• Chicken Wings: What's not to like about finger food that's also fried chicken? I dream of going to a buffet and grabbing the entire bin of crispy spicy goodness back to my seat and creating a pile of bones on a plate beside me.
• Gummi Worms: I like to freeze them to get the most out of their tangy sweetness; it's like eating sweet beef jerky.
• Potato Chips: Somehow pairing wine and potato chips became a thing thanks to those Miss Vickie's commercials. I'm sure you can justify how the acidity of the wine can play off the seasoning of the chip, but it seems like an unnecessary addition for fried thinly sliced potatoes.
• Girl Guide cookies: There's a reason Girl Guides make big sales when they set up outside of marijuana dispensaries, as these cookies always satisfy one's sweet tooth. I can't wait to see all the pearl-clutching and hand-wringing that will inevitably happen when some troop does in this in Ottawa.