Summer snacking essentials make people feel this way

As Memorial Day marks the start of summer, summer snacking essentials fill people’s pantries. In some ways, those snacks make people feel a little more normal.

Even if summer plans look different this year, summer snacking essentials are still a mainstay. While snacks can bring smiles, the current environment continues to evolve how people buy and enjoy those tasty treats. Although the large summer gatherings might be replaced by home celebrations, snacks will remain on the table.

In the recently released Frito-Lay Summer Snack index, the iconic snack food company found that consumers are drawn to their favorite snacks. In a very telling finding, 85% of people feel “eating their favorite snack makes them feel normal.” Additionally, those favorite snacks bring happiness and spark summer memories.

For many people summer and snacking go hand in hand. Who hasn’t brought at least a bag of potato chips to a summer barbecue? Those snack bowls on the table are constantly refilled. It seems that snacks are a summertime constant.

Although the summer traditions might be modified this year, a few items, like snacking, remain the same. Even as more people stay home for Memorial Day gatherings, snacks will continue to be part of the event. Again, that snack bowl brings a sense of normalcy in uncertain times.

Since snacking brings a sense of normal, the survey findings show that people are buying even more snacks. No one wants a snack craving to go unsatisfied. As consumers shift their shopping methods, the online shopping becomes a higher priority and companies are responding.

For example, PepsiCo launched its direct to consumer site, snacks.com and pantryshop.com. On the convenient shopping platform, consumers can purchase all their favorite snacks and have them delivered to their door. With this shopping method, no one has the disappointment of going to the store only to find empty shelves.

As snack cravings continue to climb, it seems that people have food rituals. Keeping the pantry stocked with their snacking favorites is a priority. It seems that people are willing to buy extra to ensure that they do not run out. Although no one should horde, it seems that an extra bag or two is more likely to go in that shopping cart.

In some ways, that full pantry gives people a sense of normalcy and offers a sense of control. While many of aspects of life are uncertain, opening the doors to a full pantry with all their favorite snacks can bring that smile.

Those happy moments around overflowing snack bowls will continue this summer, even in slightly different ways. Although the friends might be physically further apart, those summer snacking essentials are the constant that seem to make everything just seem a little more familiar.

From ordering online to sparking food memories, summer snacking can make this new normal seem a little better. Maybe that family gathering comes with a snack story on the side. Who doesn’t remember that story about Aunt Mary and how her Cheetle fingers that ruined your favorite summer dress?

What are your summer snacking essentials? Have your snacking habits changed this Spring?