Beyond sweets

Snacking has been encroaching on meals for years, of course, fueled in part by the belief that several smaller meals a day are better than three big ones. Snacks now account for half of all eating occasions, with breakfast and lunch in particular becoming "snackified", according to the Hartman Group, a food industry consultancy.

But more recently, the blurring lines are making people reach for snacks with benefits they might otherwise get from a meal, like protein or fiber. That has led to ingredients like chickpeas, lentils and quinoa popping up in snacks. And it's inspiring some companies to try and transform everyday foods into more exciting snacks.

Snacks can have good profit margins, too. Prices will vary depending on the retailer, but the suggested retail price for a snack pack of Hillshire's grilled chicken is $2.49, while Kellogg's To Go pouch sells for about $2.

Kellogg is also marketing regular bowls of cereal as a late-night snack, and says it can do more to push Pop-Tarts as an anytime snack. Hormel recently introduced Skippy P.B. Bites, which are candy-like balls of peanut butter marketed as filling treats for kids.

A serving has 160 calories and 8 grams of sugar, with each canister containing six servings. The canister costs around $3.50 and isn't supposed to be a single snack, but Hormel president Jim Snee says "unfortunately it can end up being that."

Not a meal

Prescribing an ideal eating pattern for everyone is difficult given people's varying lifestyles, said Claudia Zapata, a registered dietitian in San Antonio, Texas. But she noted that snacks should generally be 250 calories at most and are meant to tide people over between meals.

"Well, that was the point of snacks back then. I don't know what the point is now," she says.

Zapata noted there is a lot of mindless eating going on, and that people should stop and ask themselves whether they're even hungry before diving into a snack. "It may be that you just need water," she says.