The Best Snacks for Studying

I’m no longer in school (thank god), but if memory serves, there are a few things that make snacks ideal for studying. Study snacks should be easy to eat, keep your hands clean, and help you stay awake and alert so you’re not snoozing in your textbook. I was always partial to fun and smart snacks when I needed to hunker down and get through a study session—burning the midnight oil can be torturous otherwise. Reward yourself and fuel your large, powerful brain with a motivational treat—and good luck on those finals!

Sprouts Market Corner Low-Moisture Part-Skim String Cheese

Give your hands something to do while your brain is being crammed with knowledge, and grab one of these Sprouts string cheeses. As we all know, the correct way to eat string cheese is slowly, string by string—if you’re biting into your cheese sticks, stop studying and seek help immediately (just kidding; keep studying)! No matter how you get down on string cheese, we gotta say that Sprouts string cheese is just about the best string cheese you can buy. According to Sporked senior writer Jordan Myrick, it’s “the perfect balance of waxy and pliable,” while bringing a full-fat flavor even if it is part skim. Plus, cheese is packed with protein and protein is brain fuel.

HiLo Life Nacho Cheese

I know what you’re thinking, “But Vinz, you just told me that the best snacks for studying don’t get your fingers all scuzzed up.” Well, this is where the Oscar Isaac method comes in. Eating chips with your hands is sooooo 2000 and late, all the cool kids are eating them with chopsticks. But even if you are eating these with your hands, licking the flavor dust off your fingers only makes it easier to turn the pages of your textbook. Brilliant! Plus, HiLo chips are junk food, but they aren’t just empty calories. These low-carb chips are made with almond flour, which means they pack way more protein than your average nacho cheese-flavored tortilla chip. See how smart you are?

Sour S’ghetti

Haribo Goldbears are a timeless classic, but they’re too damn chewy! I said it. Come for me all you want, but I just can’t do that to my jaw when it’s time to focus. Haribo Sour S’ghetti, on the other hand, is easier to chew and fun to mindlessly eat strand by strand while you zone out over the history of modern civ notes you swiped from your roommate. Plus, the sourness really packs a punch! Every time you feel yourself nodding off, pop one of these in your mouth and wake the hell up!

Totino’s Supreme Pizza Rolls

When it’s 2 a.m. and you feel like dying, a hot snack can be just the thing to warm you up and keep you from crashing. If you don’t have the time or energy to heat up a whole pizza, Totino’s Pizza Rolls are the truth and the way. They cook up in mere moments in the microwave so you can get back to the books. Plus, they taste really, really good. “The actually taste like a supreme pizza you’d get at a good local pizza place,” Jordan wrote in their review. Eat these with a fork to avoid greasy fingers (and to let the steam out so you don’t wind up at the ER with third degree burns on your tongue).

Baken-Ets Traditional

If you eat meat, Baken-Ets Traditional pork rinds may be the perfect study snack. They are packed with protein, low in carbs so you don’t feel all tired and heavy, and they’re flavorful without being covered in flavor dust. (You can put the chopsticks away for this one, Oscar.) Managing editor Gwynedd Stuart described these as being “light and airy, without being styrofoamy or turning into that soft, gelatinous mush in your mouth.” Plust, they pack a satisfying crunch that keep you from nodding off. You’re going to be so full of knowledge by the time the sun comes up!