Celery and peanut butter snack - Patti Adair
When families are on the go, it's so tempting to resort to eating overpriced junk food. There are cheap, easy and healthy snacks you can make ahead of time.
There is no need to resort to the fast food drive-through. Just follow simple tactics and ideas for snacks that are healthy, inexpensive, and can be grabbed as you fly out the door.
As a general rule, when making healthy snacks for kids, you want to:
- Look for foods that are as fresh and unprocessed as possible. It isn't helpful if you make a snack ahead of time that is packed with sugars or unappealing preservatives.
- Make it yourself, if you have the time, so you can control quality and contents. You can do this a couple days ahead of time for a trip, or each weekend to last you through hectic and busy weekdays.
- Strive for a balance of carbohydrates, fat, protein and fiber. This will ensure children maintain a stable blood sugar level, which is good for everyone involved. Good examples of this are celery with peanut butter, cheese and crackers, or tortilla chips and bean dip.
- Have some useful containers for the food, such as zipping storage bags or plastic food containers. Keep these in your pantry at all times so you aren't tempted by pre-packaged and less healthy foods or, worse yet, tempted to leave the house with no snacks. If you're forced to get snacks at fast food restaurants and convenience stores, you'll have few healthy choices.
- Make the healthy snacks in bulk ahead of time, if possible. If you can make something that freezes, that's all the better. Keep a big stash frozen, then pull out the night before as needed.
- Make the kid snacks fun, to be sure your child will actually eat them. You can put all the effort in the world into healthy snacks, but if they go uneaten, the work will be in vain.
- For travel, pack the snacks into a handy Super-Mom travel tote. This will allow you to keep snacks, toys, books and all other kid needs handy and within reach.
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Healthy Kid Snack Tips and Recipes | Super Mom Travel Tote | Minivan Mom Confessional | Destination Family Reunions | Family Road Trip Planner
Copyright Kelby Carr. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Kelby Carr - Kelby Hartson Carr is an Asheville, N.C. mother of three, a seasoned travel writer, and has extensive experience traveling with children. ...
