Guest post by Lisa Cain, co-founder SnackSnoop, a website devoted to healthy snacking.
Feeding children snacks on a daily basis is a really big challenge. Since they are home from school, they seem to always be in the kitchen asking you for something to eat. They can really drive you nuts.
So what is a busy parent to do? First, you want to feed them something healthy. Secondly, you want to feed them something that they like. Finally it can’t be too expensive.
Healthy snacks, especially ones that aren’t in packages, aren’t hard to find. You just need to be organized and a little creative. Here are five tips to help you choose well:
1. Shop the perimeter of the supermarket. Since we are in Summer, it is easy to find peaches, plums, watermelon, cherries, and cantaloupe for a reasonable price. Yes, you will have to wash them off and cut them up, but any whole food that you choose will be much more healthy than anything you buy in a package. If you are lucky enough to have a Farmer’s market near by, shop there for the best deals.
2. If you only shop once a week, buy a collection of fruits and vegetables that you can serve immediately and some that you can serve later. For example, strawberries or peaches should be eaten right away, but you can store cantaloupe or watermelon for over a week (even cut up!). Keep canned pineapple on hand for when you run out of fresh fruit.
3. Use dips. Kids love to dip. If you are feeding them carrots or broccoli, have a little cup of dressing for them to dip in. Hummus, yogurt, and peanut butter, are also good choices for dips.
4. Make it a game for children to eat their snacks. Pretend the broccoli is a tree and everyone in the room is a dinosaur. Or fashion little faces out of apple slices, raisins, and add carrot sticks for the legs. Give them the raw ingredients and then let them “make” their snack.
5. Read the label carefully of any packaged snack. Too often, the label will say “all natural” or “make with real fruit” and you think you are buying something healthy. A good indicator of whether it should be considered a healthy snack is if it contains high fructose corn syrup. If it does, that food item is more likely a treat than a healthy snack.
Get some more healthy snack suggestions at http://www.snacksnoop.com
#6 if you can’t pronounce the ingredients chances are it’s not a Healthy Summertime Snack
It drives me nuts when people say things like that about food or body products.
Can you pronounce “dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate” or “Ascorbic acid”? I can’t but they’re not bad for you at all… they’re Vitamins E & C.
Just about everyone can pronounce “Aspartame” and “MSG”(mono-sodium-glutamate) but I wont touch either of them.
Just learn what the big words mean so you’ll know what you actually want to avoid.
Hi Willow,
Okay, you have a great point; however I might get all wound up and start a food fight.
I’ll bet you a cantaloupe that 1 in 3 people will mispronounce “Aspartame”
great tips. my little one loves to help me make hummus and eat it with carrot sticks. we have a small garden this year too and that is providing some fun snacks. it seems like he is constantly hungry and I’m always looking for new ideas.
Last year when my youngest was a newborn, it felt like even the simple process of cutting up fruit just took too long. I figured out I could cut a melon in half and give each of my older two an ice cream scoop or spoon and have them scoop it into a bowl. Sometimes they ate nearly as much as they scooped, BUT it was a way I could give them that healthy snack even when it seemed I barely had time to feed myself. :)
Squeeze some lime on watermelon…so yummy!
After reading several books on Raw, I was introduced the fact of shopping the perimeter of the store as this mentions. I dont eat totally raw but its a good habit to incorporate into your diet, especially snacks and changes for kids. We homeschool and we encounter these eating challenges regularly. Thanks for the ideas.
Thanks for sharing useful tips. It is also good to eat little more times instead of taking full stomach diets at one time. Also, we need to be more careful about the hygienic conditions of the fruits stored in the fridges. Never, store cut fruits.