Every gamer knows this: during a cozy gaming night, you need something to snack on. But chips and the like often end up crushed in the keyboard or as remnants on the buttons or character sheet. Cleaning is annoying. MeinMMO presents you with 7 snacks that don’t crumble or grease – and they taste good too! Why? Well …
It’s August 2021. Corona is hitting hard, Blizzard is knee-deep in the swamp of sexism and a gaming drought plagues the gamers. Somehow, positive news is lacking. MeinMMO is therefore holding a brainstorming session, just like trendy start-ups from Berlin do successfully. The editorial manager Schuhmann asks for article ideas that will interest everyone:
- Benedict at the end of the session, more jokingly: “How about snacks you can eat without ruining your battlestation?”
- Cortyn (off-screen): “You can do that with anything, you just have to eat it with chopsticks!”
- Schuhmann: “Sounds good. Grothaus, you’re a trained chef. Do that.”
- Benedict: “But then-“
- Schuhmann: “Any more ideas?”
- Benedict: “…”
Now it’s October 2022. I’ve successfully managed to procrastinate this article for a year and hoped that it would be forgotten. But some overachiever kept it on a list. And my new colleague Maik Schneider remembered it. Thanks, Maik!
Well, I’m a professional writer and take every article seriously. And indeed, I know about cooking and nutrition. As a veteran of the famous LAN parties back in the day, I’ve also tried pretty much every gaming snack.
Moreover, I can handle this to avoid testing games that I actually don’t want to play.
So what do you find here? My goal with the list was to find treats that are genuinely “snackable” – meaning you can quickly grab them with one hand between two frags or while waiting for the respawn. Ideally without cutlery.
In the selection, I tried to include both sweet and savory items. However, what you WILL NOT find here are specifically healthy snacks. I’m neither a nutritionist nor a doctor. For all the snacks mentioned, if you have allergies or intolerances or need to monitor blood sugar and similar, make sure to check the ingredients when buying. The snacks are not intended to replace meals.
Using chopsticks is especially common in Asian countries. Here, not so much, although it can definitely be useful. If you want to learn, here’s a little tutorial from yamyamfoods:
In this list, I’ve mainly recommended snacks that I enjoy eating myself – even if I don’t do it very often anymore. Use them as inspiration for the next game release you want to binge. Personally, I also love licorice, especially the salty kind, but since they can vary significantly in their “edibility” while gaming, I’ve left them out.
Feel free to share your tips for the best gaming snacks in the comments!
By the way, these non-greasy and non-crumbling snacks are not only suitable for video games. Analog pen and paper also appreciates it when the character sheet isn’t transparent from chips grease. And board games should not be neglected either:
Gaming without the internet: The best coop games you can play with friends at the table
If you’re not watching your line, I can recommend the “perfectly preserved cake” from Fallout. I baked it here – with a recipe!
Gummy Bears
Unsurprisingly, the list includes the tasty little gummy creatures available in dozens of shapes and flavors. “Bears” is just the umbrella term for everything available in this form: worms, dinos, and bats from Trolli, Katjes, Nimm 2, or Haribo.
However, I can only recommend gummy bears without “sour powder” around them, as this makes the fingers greasy and quickly sticks to the controller. Also, don’t lick your fingers and then go into the bag.
That’s not only slightly disgusting but also has the disadvantage that sticky fingers easily dissolve the gummy creatures. This makes them sticky quickly, and their positive effect disappears.
Gummy bears are especially advisable in colder months, as they tend to melt quickly and become sticky at high temperatures. Personally, I enjoy the “original” Gold Bears from Haribo, especially because they are available as a “Wacken Edition”.
If you’re looking for a vegan or organic option, check the pharmacy for juice bears or products from Katjes. These may cost a bit more, but they also taste excellent.
Marshmallows
Marshmallows, which I still know as Mäusespeck from my childhood, are an excellent sweet snack while gaming. They are softer than gummy bears, a bit sweeter, but with a pleasant chewiness.
Marshmallows come in various flavors, with plain “sugar” and sometimes strawberry being the most common. You’ll find marshmallows mostly in fair mixes or as ever-popular marshmallows.
As with gummy bears, the rule here is: do not stick wet fingers into the package and store as cool as possible. Marshmallows tend to stick even more than gummy creatures.
Glucose or Fizz Sweets
Many probably only know fizz as a packet of powder that you either dissolve in water, lick off your finger, or dump directly. Crazy people also sniff it – but usually, you only do that once, and then you learn from it.
However, fizz is also available as sweets that can be sucked or chewed. The sweets fizz pleasantly in your mouth and come in various flavors.
If you’re not into sour flavors, you can opt for glucose. This also comes in solid forms of sweets, small tablets, or pearls, like on chains and the like. The advantage over powder is that you have portion sizes immediately, and nothing sticks when you pop the sweets straight into your mouth.
Older generations probably still know PEZ. These small sugar tablets come in handy dispensers, where you don’t even have to touch the sweets. However, as PEZ is disappearing from stores more and more, I recommend the World of Sweets website for nostalgic and unique candies.
Chocolate Buttons
Everyone knows them; probably everyone had them at least once as a child. Chocolate buttons are usually small chocolate drops coated with a sugar shell that crack nicely in the mouth and melt chocolaty.
The most famous chocolate buttons are probably the famous Smarties. Their advantage is that they come in cardboard tubes and boxes, so you can easily dump them into your mouth.
Personally, I generally don’t like Smarties and chocolate. However, as with all listed candies, they become sticky quickly in heat and moisture.
Dried Meat
What is otherwise primarily known as a protein source by fitness fans is also an excellent snack. Dried meat is (almost) completely devoid of moisture, quite tough meat. Essentially pure protein with a little fat and no sugar.
Dried meat comes in many forms and with different spices. It’s easy to snack on and lasts quite a long time, as you have to chew for a while – unless you’re gulping it down.
The downside is that dried meat is quite expensive. Consider it more of a “premium” snack. Jack Link’s dried meat is probably the most well-known and is okay, but with a little searching, you can find similarly good products for cheaper.
My tip: Just search for dried meat, biltong, or droewors on Amazon and browse a bit. For vegetarians, there are also dried vegetable chips or dried fruits, and for pescatarians and adventurous types, there are dried fish or squid at well-stocked Asian or specialty stores.
Feeling like a snack? Grab one; here’s a fitting video with gameplay for the upcoming Wild Hearts:
Pumpernickel
No joke. Gamers from Southern Germany probably don’t know this bread, but pumpernickel is a specially made, almost black, and slightly sweet whole grain bread made from rye. “You recommend bread? What’s wrong with you?”
Legitimate question, but: as a quasi-Westphalian, I really like pumpernickel and the advantage of this bread is that it comes in small slices that are about the size of a 2-euro coin. So ideal for snacking.
If you want to make a bit more of an effort, you can prepare small bites right away. I recommend something like melted cheese, air-dried ham, and a slice of radish between two of these pumpernickel discs as a “mini sandwich”.
Alternatively, you can stick a piece of cheese and a grape or a date and some bacon on the slices with a toothpick for a fancier Amuse-Bouche. However, we’re already moving a bit away from “simple snacks” here.
Student Mix
There are dozens of nut-fruit mixes, of which the classic “Student Mix” is probably the most well-known. Various seeds and nuts combined with raisins should quickly provide energy and get your brain going.
It never worked for me as a student, but I still enjoy munching on the stuff. You’ll find various variations in almost every store – with and without raisins, with specific nuts or without.
But watch out that certain nuts like peanuts can be quite greasy. If you want to keep your peripherals in good condition, pay more attention to almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts. In my experience, they are the least greasy, even though they contain a lot of fat.
Bonus: Fruits, Vegetables, and … Chopsticks?
For those looking for a healthy alternative, you can always chop up some fruit or vegetables and place them in a bowl next to the PC or on the coffee table. Apples, cucumbers, peppers, and all kinds of berries are particularly suitable.
However, for many types of fruits and vegetables like bananas or olives, cutlery is advisable if you don’t want to smear them everywhere. Plus, you usually have to prepare things, which contradicts the idea of a “open the bag and munch” snack a bit.
As MeinMMO demon Cortyn correctly explained back then: Chopsticks help. With chopsticks, you can even eat chips without getting grease on your controller. However, it does require some practice.
Using chopsticks is especially common in Asian countries. Here, not so much, although it can definitely be useful. If you want to learn, here’s a little tutorial from yamyamfoods:
In this list, I’ve mainly recommended snacks that I enjoy eating myself – even if I don’t do it very often anymore. Use them as inspiration for the next game release you want to binge. Personally, I also love licorice, especially the salty kind, but since they can vary significantly in their “edibility” while gaming, I’ve left them out.
Feel free to share your tips for the best gaming snacks in the comments!
By the way, these non-greasy and non-crumbling snacks are not only suitable for video games. Analog pen and paper also appreciates it when the character sheet isn’t transparent from chips grease. And board games should not be neglected either:
Gaming without the internet: The best coop games you can play with friends at the table
