In an on-going battle to help our children eat healthily, here is a “cheat-sheet” on some healthy snack options to have at home, pack for a multi-hour trip, or throw in the lunch box for school.
- Fruits (all of them – take advantage of seasonal options)
- Fruit salads – why not combine several fruits?
- Veggies – again the world is your oyster here. Add a healthy dip such as hummus or red pepper dip. Some examples; peppers (all colours), cherry tomatoes, broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, cucumbers, green beans, peas, baby carrots
- Applesauce (look for sugar free, or make it yourself and add cinnamon)
- Trail Mix (customized)
- Cheese
- Ants on a log – celery with peanut butter and raisins (go for nuts only peanut butter, or try other nut butters)
- Ants on a log supreme – add additional seeds (sesame, pumpkin, sunflower)
- Apple volcano (cut the core out of an apple and put peanut butter in the middle)
- Plain yogurt with fresh or frozen fruit (add a bit of maple syrup, or honey if too tart)
- Cottage cheese (with fruit if desired)
- Hard boiled eggs
- Soup in a thermos (add cheese and whole grain crackers as a side)
- Wraps (add low sodium, nitrate-free turkey, or other lunch meat, chicken or tuna/salmon)
- Edamame – heat up and serve as a side dish, or a quick snack.
- Smoothies – tons of options here; mix fruit with milk and yogurt.
- Fruit kabobs – with a wooden skewer place cheese cubes and a variety of fruits.
- At-home salad bar – get out greens, veggies, nuts and let your kids build their own custom salads.
- Lettuce wraps – take romaine hearts and place a low sodium, low nitrate lunch meat, cheese, peppers in between it, with mayo or mustard. Close with a toothpick.
- Homemade popsicles – invest in a popsicle tray and buy a high quality, no sugar added fruit juice – pour, freeze and serve. Perfect for hot days!
What are your favorite healthy snack ideas?
Image credit: ubo_pakes
i am doing my homework and this is helping me with my homework.
It’s a great idea to put a little fun in your kid’s food to improve their appetite. Thanks for all these tips.
Corn is a grain, not a veggie
Children love dipping, so dipping carrots, vegetables, or fruits into a yogurt based dip can make the trick. Thank you all for your great ideas!
All great ideas! My kids love peanut butter dipped strawberries.
pork rinds do the trick in our household
Those ideas are really nice.. Its very useful for us.. Thanks for your thoughts..
A healthy diet is the best source of lot of vitamins and minerals which is essential for babies. This is a really great post with a lot of amazing information. Before choosing the right baby food, it is important that you talk with your child’s doctor first. I think vegetarian diet is quite good for healthy growing babies. Vegetarian food contains a lot of vitamins and minerals which is essential for babies. Beans, cow milk, yogurt (yogurt is easier to digest than milk.) are the best source for protein.
I do. I’m not a vegan, but I routinely eat carrots, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, celery, cucumbers, cauliflower, snap peas, and corn every week. It’s not that hard to eat all of those veggies if you eat a lot of salads/stir frys/veggie soups/etc.
If you mean culinary vegetables, then I definitely do – peppers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onions – plus carrots, lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, basil, parsnips – yum!
In our house we do….and we’re certainly not vegan or vegetarian – we just eat lots of vegetables!
carrots, radishes, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions. I eat some of each every week. Sometimes I don’t have spinach, radishes, lettuce and cucumbers, but there’s still enough variation and I might substitute with beans and peas (raw green peas are a good snack). I’m not a vegan, nor a vegetarian. It’s not hard, they’re tasty!
I simply cannot view an egg as a snack. Doesn’t fill me up and leaves me wanting more.
Who here eats more then 6-7 different vegetables per week? I want to find these veggie heroes who aren’t vegans.
I remember to have written an article on healthy snacks some time back and the list that you mention here has quite a few healthy snacks in common. I recommend this article completely. however, my readers had a different view on this.
like you mention fruits, many people emailed me and some even commented that fruits are not snacks at all. to be honest, people have completely forgotten about the health aspect of snacks, most of them only think that junk foods that tastes great are only termed as snacks. perhaps with more articles like this, which focuses on the healthy foods can change the general people’s attitude and mentality towards a healthier snack.
I do snacks like the ones you mentioned for my nephew. I sometimes do smoothies, too–I put yogurt, fruit, ice, and a little honey in the blender and mix it up.
Although I think the idea of healthy snacks for children is great and each of yours has merit, I am concerned that in our hectic daily life parents will not take the time to prepare the snacks. Instead, they would opt for the quick and easy, which we know is not going to be the best for any youngster.
RICK
I love to mix cottage cheese, walnuts, and a bit of honey – yum!
it is good for my kids