Suggestions for easy, healthy, kid-friendly school snacks?
November 10, 2022 3:28 PM   Subscribe

Even places like Trader Joe's and Costco, it seems like all the "snacks" are terrible for you. I want my kids to eat healthy snacks at school but I want them to like them and for them to not take forever to make. No nuts allowed at their school. Any suggestions? Can be easy to make or store bought
posted by Easy problem of consciousness to Food & Drink (16 answers total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Fresh fruit
Yogurt
Yogurt and granola (packed separately)
Carrot sticks
Cheese sticks
Pretzels
Scrambled eggs and cheese rolled up in a tortilla
Smoothie in a thermos
posted by Winnie the Proust at 3:36 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


Variations on raw veggies + dips:

Celery + sun butter + raisins
Broccoli + queso
carrot + ranch
Cucumber + hummus

Plain popcorn with various seasonings
posted by hydra77 at 3:37 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


I know it sounds like a cheap cop-out, but string cheese was always a welcome snack with our kids. We could pack whatever else, but the cheese was always guaranteed eaten.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:52 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


fruit's the easiest, and even if you spring for the best, still the cheapest.

The new fancy apple varieties (honeycrisp, cosmic crisp, etc) are superb and don't brown easily, so they stay appealing even once sliced. organic grapes. persimmons. mandarin oranges.

Trader Joe's has the healthiest peanut butter, for the best price.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:57 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


My kids love hummus with an assortment of substrates: carrot sticks, pretzels, tortilla slices (not chips), sliced red pepper, etc.
Mandarin oranges/clementines
edamame
homemade seaweed snacks (less salty and less packaging than the TJ's)
string cheese or babybels
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:07 PM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


I'm responsible for making lunch for everyone so I get this problem every day. My kids take 2 snacks for the day. I will let one of them be a junkier snack like some cookies or chips if we have them at home.

I'm not a fan of giving my kids cut fruit or veg for snacks because if they don't eat it it'll just go to waste. I will still do it but it always feels like a risk, unless it's pineapple, my kids will eat all the pineapple I can give them. A tangerine or other easy to eat fruit that they like like grapes is always good. I need to be mindful of the size of the fruit because they only have a couple of minutes for their snack and they are talking with their friends at the same time so it's got to be something small.

I like giving them dried apricots or other fruit and sometimes they like eating them. Not the biggest deal if they bring them back because they'll still be good to eat.

Crackers are good. Tasty, reasonably healthy, many different varieties, and won't go bad. Plain tortilla chips always go well too.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 4:09 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


.....incidentally, all of the above healthy snacks that ppl recommend are at TJs and (mostly) at Costco.
posted by lalochezia at 4:23 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


For snack, I pack half of a Nature's Bakery fig bar (they come in a twin pack, I cut the twin pack in half, the other half goes in the lunch) and a tangerine. In the summer, I do an apricot instead of a tangerine.
posted by vunder at 4:24 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Cheese and crackers. If saving time is worth it, the pre-sliced variety.
posted by lookoutbelow at 4:56 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


TJs has roast nori snack packs that are more plastic than I prefer but easy and tasty, and I have seen kids at the school where I work eating them.
posted by lgyre at 5:08 PM on November 10, 2022


Dried fruits are pretty great, other than the potential for diarrhea. Mango, dried bluebs, not to mention Pears, Apricots, and Peaches, and, Prunes... (Who eats prunes?)
posted by Windopaene at 5:15 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon. If you let the apple slices soak in salt water for a few minutes before adding the cinnamon, it will keep the apples from turning brown.
posted by orange swan at 5:49 PM on November 10, 2022


At Costco find Nature’s Bakery fig bars in raspberry and blueberry. Check reviews, they’re delicious and healthy.
posted by artdrectr at 7:23 PM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


Do your kids like rice cakes? The plain ones are good with many kinds of toppings or dips. I like Lundberg brand which I've seen at several Trader Joe's. This brand is very crunchy and hearty enough for dipping. I like to top them with spreads like hummus, cream cheese & jam, or cheese and deli meat.

Other tasty snacks I didn't see mentioned are deli meat rollups (cheese or their choice if spread inside, or just meat, and you can buy fairly low sodium high quality meat at TJs), peeled hard boiled eggs, a small serving of sunflower seeds and dried fruit, air popped popcorn, pretzels and dip, or a piece of bread spread with toppings of your kids' preference (sun butter, jam & cream cheese, spreadable cheese like laughing cow, just pieces of cheese, tons of thinly sliced veggies and hummus, etc ... ) . You can roll the bread up or make a half sandwich to preserve the toppings in a lunchbox. A piece of pita filled with hummus is great too.
posted by Red Desk at 1:56 AM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]


Apple Squisher fruit packs are pretty benign.
Baby bell cheese.
Pita bread, pretzels.
Dates
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:20 AM on November 11, 2022


  • Japanese rice crackers (aka senbei) can be had at any Asian market, they are light and tasty and usually individually packaged (both a pro and a con). Start with plain ones, then go for soya or curry flavoured ones.
  • Fruit cups, or canned fruit dished out in reusable cups are also great.
  • charcuterie of crackers/meat/cheese/dried fruits/nuts are always a pleaser
  • hard boiled or devilled eggs
  • sandwhich cut into fun shapes, like crustless fingers (bars) or quartered into triangles
  • homemade cobbler is good at room temp

  • posted by furtive at 11:46 AM on November 11, 2022


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