We did a fun thing the other night. After a long day of working outside getting the garden prepped and finishing some other landscaping chores, we were just too tired to come up with a real dinner. And being house-bound (thank you Covid 19), we just pulled stuff out of the fridge and created a big fat tray of snacks!


What made it so much fun, besides the ease of it all, was the variety. Nothing really related but it all worked. We loved the casualness of it as well, and of course, the clean-up was an absolute breeze! We were so impressed with our cleverness.

Well, impressed until I did some research and found that this idea has been around for a while now. Snack-boarding, it’s called. That’s OK, just goes to validate the old saying that there’s never really anything new under the sun. But it’s such a cool idea for a quick meal that it’s worth passing on, right?


Laden with a whole lot more than cheese and crackers, snack boards are basically an array of bite-size bits whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. On everybody’s favorite website, ALL RECIPES (www.allrecipes.com), I even found specific HOW-TOs regarding making satisfying snack boards for any occasion — from choosing what goes on your board to assembling the ingredients in eye-pleasing arrangements. Who knew?

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in the idea as well, if you haven’t already tried it. (Here’s a big “Thank You!” to ALL RECIPES for this snack board of education!)

KEEP IT SIMPLE: Don't drive yourself crazy trying to recreate the elaborate snack boards we've all seen on Pinterest and Instagram. Just choose 4 to 6 categories of items that taste good together — they could be all savory, all sweet (for a dessert snack board), or a combination of both.


BITES ARE BEST: Snacks boards work best with bite-size foods that are easy to eat without a fork and knife. Think sliced meats and cheeses, small crackers, cut vegetables, cherry tomatoes, mini muffins, pretzel sticks, pickles, sliced fruits...you get the idea. ALL RECIPES says to size everything so each item can be eaten in one or two bites. Even if you put out a saucy item like meatballs or franks, the bites should still be no larger than a modest mouthful.

BUILD-A-BOARD BASICS: Use a large cutting board, tray, baking sheet, or platter as your base. First, set down small bowls of dips, sauces, olives, nuts, and anything else that needs corralling. Crackers and breads can fan out around the dip bowls. Arrange groups of sliced meats and cheeses in lines, circles or waves. Then fill in color and texture with sliced apples, tangerine sections, berries, grape clusters, carrot and celery sticks, and pickles.


For beginner boards, try to keep ingredients grouped together for the most part; as you get more comfortable with arranging food on your snack boards, you can loosen things up and get more creative. Now stand back and look at your board as a whole. Is the colorful and appetizing and easily accessible? You're good to go.

MAKE-AHEAD MAGIC: Make big batches of dips, spreads, cut vegetables, cheese cubes, and so on, but don't put them all out at one time. Instead, keep everything fresh in the fridge and replenish your snack board as the food gets eaten. Fill airtight bags or containers with crackers and cut bread so you can easy refill those items, too, without having to spend party time in the kitchen.