Kid Snacks

I get asked a lot about snacks- we live in a world where we are all constantly moving from one thing to the next. Portable food is a part of all of our lives. It can be hard to make the right choices sometimes. A mom recently asked me to share my favorite snacks for kids and I knew this was a post that I would LOVE to write.

A little background, we have two kids. Evan is 6 1/2 and Edie will be 4 in June. My food philosophy with our kids is to encourage them to try anything once. I expose them to everything- different vegetables, grains, meats, smoothies, fruits and flavors. I once read that it can take up to 12 exposures to a food for a child to learn to like it. That is A LOT! Again, my personal perspective is to make food fun. We do not battle it out about finishing plates. I want to foster food as a space to enjoy good company, laugh, taste fabulous flavors and above all else ENJOY it.

We do snack- it is inevitable. They each take a snack into school, Evan loves a snack on the 30 minute ride home from school in the afternoon and Edie could basically eat on the fly all day long. She loves to graze and Evan loves square meals. They keep us on our toes and I couldn’t be happier about it.

So, onto snacks. I am going to share my favorite go-to snacks and products below.

For the record, these are the late morning snacks I give the kids. In the afternoon (because they generally eat dinner around 4:45-5:00 PM) we do fruit for a snack. They love apples, pears, bananas, watermelon, honeydew, frozen grapes, blueberries, strawberries. I find they started gobbling up their dinner when we shifted to fruit for snacks in the afternoon.

Each family and child is different. Play around with what works for your family- nutrition, like anything else, is not one size fits all. I am going to share what works for us and what we enjoy, and if you have any questions about your family, just let me know.

I am happy to be a resource or answer any questions you all have anytime.

My Top 10 Kid Snacks:

1. Buddha Bowl: Avocado-licious Popcorn
2. Blueberry RX Bars
3. Fit Foodie Finds: Banana Sushi
4. Van’s: Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles
5. Simple Mills Crackers + Hope Foods: Original Hummus
6. Smoothies made with Kachava Tribe
7. Ambitious Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Coconut Flour Banana Bread
8. Sweet Potato Fries (Cut a cleaned sweet potato into a “fry” and coat with 1 Tbsp. avocado oil and a sprinkle of pink salt. Place on a cookie sheet and roast at 375 for about 25 minutes or until golden brown)
   1. And then, I get to put the leftovers on my salads!
9. Cut up fruits and veggies (pick the ones that your kiddo likes) in a Stasher Bag
10. Good old fashioned hard boiled eggs (awesome protein, easy to transport and sure to fuel them all day!)

The beauty of this list is that it is constantly evolving and changing- because Evan and Edie are, too. What is working today, may not work tomorrow, and we will roll with it. That is one thing that being a mother has taught me- no two days will ever be alike.

Wishing you all a wonderful Saturday morning- we have plans to soak up sunshine, swim in the pool and relax.

xx