Healthy Snacks for Littles On- the-Go
Your kids are what they eat! As a parent or grandparent, you are a role model for your children and one of those behaviors is choosing the food your family eats. When you teach your children to make healthy decisions with confidence, you begin to set them up for a lifetime of health. If YOU embody making healthy food a priority, you begin to steer future generations to make an even greater impact on the broken food system.
When I work with mamas looking to make healthy changes for their children, I always start with understanding the “why”, and then we go from there to personalize it to each family’s needs.
I love this part of working with mothers as they transform the health of their children and families. One of my favorite things to do is a grocery store shopping experience where we walk together through the store, talk through various ingredients in food on the shelves, and build up the confidence of parents shopping for their families. To schedule an experience to Navigate the Grocery Store Like a Pro, book here.
Below are a few options for easy and healthy snacks for on-the-go families.
On-the-go snack ideas for littles.
Organic fruit and veggies: sliced apples/ pears, berries, mandarins, jicama, grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes - your choices are endless. We personally try to stick with seasonal fruits and veggies in our house because….well….this is softer on the budget.
Organic snack bars - cerebelly, paleo valley
Grass-fed meat sticks or jerky
Lesser Evil Puffs
Cerebelly or Serenity Pouches
Solely fruit bars
Nuts - cashews, walnuts, pecans - I recommend sticking to easy to chew nuts (almonds are not always in this category) and please do not feed these to children who cannot handle them yet.
Organic avocado or hummus packs from Costco
Slices of chicken or turkey (or grass-fed beef) from last night’s leftovers
Water… if not water…. a little bit of kombucha, or some simple cooled herbal tea or raw milk. But honestly, all they need is water.
Snacks that are not so good (and some healthier alternatives):
Cheerios - considering subbing Lesser Evil puffs or LoveBird cereal
McDonald’s (or any fast-food) fries or chicken nuggets - sub: anything from the list above. ANYTHING!
Bars with added sugar (i.e. the back ingredients list says “cane sugar” or “brown sugar”). Bars with sugar that comes from dates are just dandy! Coconut sugar, maple syrup, and honey are all better options than cane sugar, but I still recommend keeping the added sugar down with these ingredients. It ADDS UP! The bars listed above are great alternatives that don’t break the bank,
Same goes for granola with added sugar (such as Kind). Look for low sugar options such as Purely Elizabeth, sweetened with coconut sugar. There are a lot of options out there these days, along with easy to make recipes.
Candy & cookies. Sub with high quality snack bars… or really anything else from the list above.
Sodas and juices - these are high in sugar and high in chemicals. Water does the job here and it is (mostly) free!
Fruit snacks - have you even looked at the value of these? These literally have no value. It is like drinking sugar water + food dyes. If you must offer fruit snacks, I recommend it most as a rare treat, and make sure you get the organic food-dye free ones (Costco has a great option).
What did I miss? What are some of your favorite and balance snacks for your littles?