7 Midnight Snacks Dad Swears By

April 10, 2018

Dads snack. A lot. By our rough estimate, 70% of a dad’s caloric intake happens after the kids have gone to bed, usually while watching PBS or ESPN. But what are his top munchies? Here are seven classic snacking standards that dads swear by.

Cereal

The average house has roughly eight different boxes of cereal lying around, and each box has had handfuls at a time pulled from it by a snacking dad. Sure he might pour himself a bowl, but more often than not he’s just going to eat it dry, straight from the box. No one will be the wiser.

Homemade Nachos

Every dad has his own lazy nacho recipe.

It’s usually not intense, though some dads might go all out. At the very least, a dad is going to take a plate full of nachos, cover it with whatever shredded cheese is in the fridge, and will toss it in the microwave for a few minutes. If he’s got a jar of sliced jalapeños, he might add that. Or a dollop of sour cream.

But more often than not, this is just a cheap, quick, easy snack to give dads that cheese they’re craving. Though sometimes they’ll want even more cheese, at which point they hit the microwave to make…

Quesadillas

A classic (and easy) dad-approved midnight snack involves putting a bunch of cheese on a tortilla, microwaving it a minute or two, and folding it. And…well that’s it. Listen, it’s a midnight snack, not a five-course meal.

String Cheese

Fun fact: it is physically impossible to eat only one string cheese while snacking. Also, anyone who bites into a string cheese instead of peeling it deserves to go to prison.

Sandwiches

The key to snacking is to find the perfect tasty-to-time-consuming ratio. You want something that you can whip together with minimal time and effort that’s still worth getting out of bed and downing 2,000 calories while everyone else is asleep.

So midnight snack sandwiches tend to be pretty basic; some cheese, some mayo, some mustard, whatever cold cut you’ve got in the fridge, and maybe just a chunk of lettuce from the crisper. You’re not running a deli here, you don’t need to go crazy with it.

Swanson Chicken Pot Pie

The chicken pot pies in the freezer section of the grocery store cost, like, a dollar, take four minutes to microwave, and contain roughly half the salt in all the seas of the world. But they sure hit the spot while you watch the SNL sketches from the end of the night that no one else stays up to watch.

Leftovers

Naturally, leftovers make the ultimate snack. It’s perfect, really. Every dad has roughly three different types of leftovers in the fridge, and all those leftovers will be consumed after midnight at some point.

It’s easy, delicious, and helps clear out some clutter in the fridge. It’s a win-win, really. Especially if there’s leftover pizza.

Now, a dad’s snack of choice varies from dad to dad, but one thing is for certain. All dads love a good midnight snack. Especially leftovers.

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