Sharing some of my kids’ preparation ideas, especially as we are back in the school period. We have also made a mission to reduce packed snacks, but I am still stored in basics and faces by Thrive Market. < - My link gets you 40% off your first order
Hi friends! What are you doing? I hope you enjoy the week so far. We find our new routine with the Homeschool + Liv situation takes a break from the dance (I’m admittedly a little sad, but you definitely don’t miss the driving 30 minutes there and back twice a day). Now that we are on the go and pack meals again, there are some things I tried to do differently.
Lunch preparation for children and reduction of packed snacks
– The meal prepares a tone.
It is so useful to have a refrigerator full of healthy staples for snacks and meals.
Here are some of the things I’ve done every week:
– Fruit preparation. If there are fruits, ready to go in the fridge, they will eat it completely instead of grabbing a bar or packaged treatment. The melons are in time and so well right now, so recently I have taken some different melons (children especially love Piel de Sapo and gold watermelon) and chopped to store in glass containers. Also boil berries in water and vinegar for 2-5 minutes (1 part vinegar in 3 parts water), rinse and allow to dry completely. Then I put napkins on the bottom of a glass containers with a lid. They last much longer in this way! We usually make a berry mixture: strawberries, raspberries, raspberries and raspberries. I also strike grapes and plums in water + vinegar for about 15 minutes, dry and store in a light glass bowl in the refrigerator. Kids will only pull out handfuls of grapes all day long and I like to eat all more fruit!
– energy bites. I have several different recipes here on the blog (like these!) But a favorite are equal cashew pieces and pitted dates, cinnamon, a little salt, vanilla extract and a maple syrup.
(That’s why I’m not taking pictures for blog lol)
– Protein preparation: sliced chicken, seasoned beef and egg bites
–Veggie Prep: I will peel off and cut some cucumbers, peppers, carrots. It is easy for them to serve themselves and dive into homemade hummus or guak. They also like the edamame ready.
–Dive: Hummus and Guacamole are his favorite fan here.
– Breakfast optionsLike egg bites, one night oats, breakfast cookies (still love them!), Chia pudding. I also make avocado on a snap for a BFAST school day and serve with applegate breakfast sausages.
– a different/new/fun thing every week. This can be like a chicken or pasta salad, Spanish tortilla, quiche or cold dish with vegetables and proteins that can easily pull from the fridge on their own.
– Reduce packaged snacks.
We still have our go-tos, which I will mention below, but the reality is that many packaged snacks are expensive and do not have large ingredients. I could make 20 awesome homemade energy bites for the cost of 2 small four packages in Whole Foods. Our snacks were a huge part of our crazy budget for a grocery store and it is so easy to make them at home and customize them for children.
Some of the packaged snacks we still buy:
– Celsius, dried fruits, mixture of trails
– Canned beans (for Hummus!) And they also love Lupini snacks by Thrive Market
– Snack algae
– Gomacro bar
-Packs -posi veggie
-Size snacks
– cottage cheese
– Chia pouches
– Injured
– Popcorn or Siete chips
– Deli Meat – They will roll it with cream cheese or magician
– Sardines. I usually make a sardine but the kids will eat them out of the box straight
– Simple Mills (such as crackers, biscuits and baking mixtures)
Some of my favorite market findings and healthy brands are in this position.
– Return to dinner design and preparing as much as I can during the day.
We have made a lot of dinners since we arrived home from Spain, especially after the pilot works/travels so much. Return to school was kick to the pants that I had to start designing and making more dinners, instead of last -minute meals or Hodge Podge’s random meals. (I have also found that I really have to design and prepare dinners when I am a parents’ solo because once we get home from sports, it is a dinner time.)
Some of my favorite solo parents’ dinners are in this post!
So tell me, friends: What are some of the homemade snacks for kids?
xo
Tiger
