Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

it usually comes at 1... i'll totter downstairs barefoot and pretend i'm gonna be nice with a couple of leftover brussel sprouts and asparagus but then the next thing you know i'm head first into a jar of hellman's mayonnaise trying to wedge a piece of french bread down far enough to get a good goop and then tabasco is flying and 15 minutes later i have my tail between my legs for what i've just done.

My favorite bed time snack is salty pretzels.

I'm with you on the 3-4 a.m. and sometimes not at all brooke. My doc gave me some ambien, but not that many. I'll use them on nights when I haven't slept for days. I know it's stress combined with physical pain for me. What's your excuse? Some days I do really well, in spite of not sleeping, and other days I drag all day long. I used to try to nap, but that makes sleep nearly impossible at night.

I know one thing for sure - if I'm really hungry, I don't have a prayer of falling asleep, so I may as well get up and find something to eat. Sweets don't tempt me, but if I had a bowl of cherries - yowser - jackpot! ;)

I never go to bed before midnight either. But I do get hungry sometimes around that time. It's going to be either #1 or #3. Sweets never do the trick, and although I've tried veggies with dip or dressing, same thing. I've gotta have protein, and savory protein at that. So it's almost always leftover meat from dinner, which is probably why I like cooking whole roasts and chickens. Nothing like slices of cold pork or beef roast, or a chicken leg at midnight! If that's not available, I always have cold cuts or hot dogs on hand. If that's not available, I always have canned Spam or vienna sausage in the cupboard. Which brings us full-circle to another post!

Hmm....it's almost midnight....!

@Perky - I have thoughts:-) And often I'm too tired to sleep - I know, it doesn't make much sense, does it? Sometimes I give up and take something - like you say, when I haven't slept in days. And like you, if I'm hungry, there is simply no chance for me to ever fall asleep, so off to the kitchen I go!

@brooke29 ~ since we have the same truly weird schedule and acadian rhythms, maybe I should take you up on your offer. Do you play Scrabble or card games, or have some great chick flicks?

@Perky - I can do all of the above! OH has a very extensive DVD collection, so there's alway something to watch...worst case scenario, we can always settle for "Cheers" - it can be really good at 3 am:-)

Do you play backgammon or Yatzee?;-)

@pjracz10 - this was just evil of you...[Homer Simpson's voice] must... have... potstickers [Homer Simpson's voice]

@Brooke ~ I'll bet you know cribbage. I used to play it with my grandmother and then my mother. It's been years, but I still have a cribbage board. We'll need snacks. Popcorn and fruit? And drinks - a little alcohol might help make us sleepy. Yeah, that's the ticket.

You have brie and wine? I have some grapes and crackers. I'm on my way!

The wine is in the cooler...and I'll take the brie out of the fridge, this way it will be at room temperature by the time you arrive (and don't forget those grapes and crackers)!

Well, the best way for me to fall asleep is to tell myself I have to get some work done 'since I'm up' that's really boring, like fact-checking, doing my bills, or so forth. Either I feel much more tired or I get something done :p

It's been a long time since I got the 'hungries' late at night--even in college, where it was normal to hit a diner and order a whole breakfast or pizza at midnight, I just didn't feel starving.

On the rare occasion that I have a late-night snack attack (I'm a lark rather than a night owl) usually a tablespoon of some sort of 'fat' like a nut butter or something carbohydrate-like a heavy like oatmeal is what I go for. I love sweets but agree that the glucose spike makes me more rather than less awake.

where do toe nails fall in the kingdom of snackfood?!

Hand to mouth. Whatever is quick. Could be a nuked leftover or a handful of granola - or if I'm having sugar withdrawal, a handful of chocolate chips or a spoon full of Nutella.

Typically a handful of cereal or a few animal crackers dipped into some Nutella.

i get home from dance classes at 10:30 pm usually, and because i've been dancing since 6 pm on those days, i'm too tired and too hungry to make something real. Depending if the Mister is or isn't hungry, it's either order a pizza, stop on the way home for a bite or if there is any energy left... a sandwich. Yesterday for example, it was popcorn...

If i'm really luck there will be leftovers for lunch. But as I usually cook lunch for one, there usually aren't any.

@beth1 ~ Said: "Now if I'm in danger of losing an ounce, the fat cells force the rest of me into the car. We drive to the taco barn around the corner and ensure the survival of the unfittest. "

Those fat cells are pesky little buggars. If I had a taco barn, mine would force me to drive there, too. Ensure the survival of the unfittest - so funny!

Usually something like cheese and crackers, or apples and cheese, or bread and cheese (please note the recurring theme), but sometime, if I'm really hungry, I just break down and do whatever the thing is that I'm craving. Just last night, at 10pm as a matter of fact, I made spam musubi, with wasabi instead of furikake. It was a deeply satisfying meal.

Most of the time I will probably just suck it up and wake up in a few hours and have breakfast as I usually only sleep for like 5 or so hours. But if the pangs are too great I will open up my jar of pickles and down a couple.

Fresh popped popcorn with butter and Kosher salt.
Simple and good

Cereal or my latest obsession, crunchy Sunbutter on wheat toast.

Just last night I was out a little later than usual. I told myself when I get home I'm going to have some yogurt. Needless to say I ended up eating chili cheese fritos,pepperoncini's and some salami. So much for good intentions.

laughing cow cheese on ritz or celery works or a small bag of peanuts.

I usually grab a box of cereal or a bag of trail mix or anything that doesn't have to be prepared in the kitchen and retreat to my room so that my roommates don't think I'm a fat-ass.

Leftovers, cereal, or icecream. If I'm feeling especially lazy I just lay in bed hungry until I fall asleep.

Hmm... if it's 10 pm, I can still bake, especially if I don't work the following day. If I don't have any baked goods around the house, the quickest thing with the least amount of clean-up would be apple crumble. I made it a couple days this week while watching The Daily Show.

If I don't feel like baking, I'll turn to making oatmeal from rolled oats, with cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg, and a dollop of maple syrup atop the finished mound before eating.

If I don't feel like preparing much at all, I'll just make a cup of tea and snack on some dried cherries or cranberries.

Right now, at 11 pm, I have a hankering for some Danish blue cheese and green apples in my fridge, perhaps with the combo-team of bread and fig spread. Generally, I have a sweet tooth, and have been known to start making chocolate chip cookies or banana cupcakes at hours traditionally reserved for slumber. But late-night snacking actually was a true meal in its own right back in Europe's Middle Ages (see Food in Medieval Times (reresoper).

My father was Norwegian - pure bread! When i would stumble home at 3/4/5/6 am (we lived in New Orleans) he was always at the kitchen counter eating a "snack". Did I mention my ENTIRE family suffers from horrible insomina? (If I get 2 or 3 hours of sleep a day I count myself good! Been this way since I was 13 and no - all the little special drugs DON'T help). Anyhoo - Pumperknickel or Rye bread, mayo, cold sliced baked potatoes, salt, pepper, horseradish, sliced creole tomatoes and more salt & pepper. I admit this is still one of my favorite early am, can't-sleep-gotta-snack-snacks. My husband was raised on the bayou in really, really, south Louisiana - can't wrap his head around this. My dad was raised in New York city - gimme a break - and there's a dozen or twelve dozen other things he'd be eating when i stumbled in at bizarre hours of the am - I crave them all on a regular 3 am basis! Too bad I just can't survive it anymore - wish I had his stomach lining and now I want some serious snacky food!!!!! Gotta love the dad that teaches you to snack seriously!!!

I'll either nibble on Nori Sheets or eat a can of tomato paste or I will simply try very hard to ignore it and go to sleep with an empty stomach because I tend to sleep better with a less full stomach.