Once again, I’ve had the good fortune to be a judge for the annual food awards run by Healthy Food Guide magazine which help shoppers discover the best packaged products to buy for nutrition, value and taste. The complete list of the winners and finalists has been announced in the November issue of the magazine (which comes out on 5 October).

What I liked

I’ve summarised the judge’s favourite five convenient, yet healthy, new products. I’m thinking of these as ideal for busy women - like me - who don’t have a lot of time to cook from scratch but still want healthy snacks. Something sweet to satisfy a sugar craving and to tide you over until the next meal.

I never cease to be amazed at the innovation and creativity of our food manufacturers. I’m also glad that a magazine like Healthy Food Guide takes the time to select time-saving and nutritious products which is a win-win for shoppers and producers alike. 

The five finalists

Here are the five Finalists in this Category of sweet snacks: Chocolate Roasted Chickpeas, Salted Caramel Roasted Chickpeas, Cacao Craze Almonds, Munch Almond Blueberry pieces, and Perkii Apple and Ginger drink.

1. Happy Snack Company Chocolate Roasted Chickpeas

Within each box, there are five handy packs, each weighing 20 grams. I guess these means the manufacturer has decided that 20 grams is a serve and what you’ll eat! This gives you 419 kJ or 100 Cal of energy, which has a nice ring to it. It also meets our nutrition criteria of less than 800 kJ in a serve (more later). after the official tasting I bought these and found them yummy and great to eat – they definitely hit the spot after dinner in the evenings!

Cost: $5.30 though we have seen them for $4.20

 2. Happy Snack Company Chocolate Salted Caramel Roasted Chickpeas

These got my vote as they were crunchy (like a nut) but lower in fat and kilojoules.

The flavour was light and on point – if you like the combo of salt plus caramel, then you’ll like these.

I’m not usually a fan but these really got to me!

There are 7.5 serves per pack. Yes really! Each serve is 20g.

Cost: $6.50

3. Macro Cacao Craze Almonds

These are a packet of whole almonds comprising 90 per cent almonds coated with a dusting of cocoa comprising 3 per cent. They make a good single-serve snack using a standard handful of 30 grams (around 18 almonds). Yes, it’s over half fat but with little saturated fat, so you get to satisfy your chocolate tooth at the same time.

Unexpectedly, at 3 g per serve, you also get a good dose of fibre.

Cost: $1.00 

4. Thinkfood Munch Almond Blueberry

Pieces of crunchy mouth-sized bites are worth buying and taste crunchy yet delicious. Being mainly almonds (think nuts), they are high in total fat but low in the dreaded saturated fat. Plus, I like that you get protein, fibre and minerals. A good snack. Just don’t consume the WHOLE pack of 120 grams! A serve is a handful which means about 30 to 50 grams.

Cost: $1.29 per pack.

5. Perkii Apple and Ginger Probiotic Drink 350ml

I like the smaller 350 mL size rather than the usual bigger 500 mL bottle. As with other drinks, this one is mainly sugars with a little fibre thrown in. Its big plus of course is its 1.23 billion Lactobacillus bacteria which gives it its probiotic title. This comes out of research done at the University of Queensland.

Cost: $4.99 for 350ml (we have seen it for $4.00) or $40 for an 8 pack of 350ml bottles. 

The winner?

And which one was voted the Winner by the judges? You’ll have to buy the November issue of Healthy Food Guide to find out!

The nutrition criteria for sweet snack category 

All these packaged sweet snacks are:

• Low in kilojoules (Calories)
• Low in total sugars (but if greater than 50 per cent, have some real fruit in their ingredients)
• Low in saturated fat
• High in fibre,

The bottom line

Congratulations to the finalists who all deserve a pat on the back for getting healthier foods out there. It’s good to see. All these choices are lower in salt, added sugar and total kilojoules while giving you more protein and fibre.

 For more information, visit the Healthy Food Guide website.