Easy Healthy Homemade Kids Snacks

It’s the end of the school holidays (finally!) and I still don’t seem to be able to enter my kitchen without finding one of the kids with their head in the snack drawer. I’m constantly amazed at the amount they eat. It’s also really expensive when we go out for the day – on top of lunch out, a couple of snack and drink stops really adds up.

I then feel bad as they’re tucking into a snack that I really don’t want them eating. I have a philosophy of eat well at home, then relax when we’re out (the 80/20 rule), especially if they’re with friends. I don’t want to be the mother giving them an apple and tap water when the other kids are enjoying an ice cream.

But in holidays things are a bit different: we’re out so much, before I know it ice lollies, muffins, cakes and croissants are regular features, washed down with a sugar laden hot chocolate or let’s face it, a much larger bottle of juice than we know they should be drinking.

A coffee shop stop, for example, with a juice, and a muffin easily contains at least 10 teaspoons of sugar. That’s double the amount of added sugar kids (and adults) should be having in an entire day. Plus I just can’t afford to be doing this on a daily basis in the holidays!

So our solution, at least part of the time, is to take picnics or snacks from home with us. And if we have friends over to play, the snacks also need to go down well with the other children. This means a few things:

  • They’ve got to be interesting and tasty snacks – a battered banana or portion of almonds in a pot doesn’t quite make the grade in front of other kids. But fruit skewers (see main photo) are a different matter entirely – especially if there’s melted chocolate around to dip them into!
  • They’ve got to be quick to make, hopefully with ingredients that I’ve got in the cupboard. Invariably I’m disorganised with snacks, so I usually end up having to put them together in a matter of minutes at the start of the day.

We’ve got a load of snack ideas throughout our website, most of which we like to think are extremely yummy for both adults and kids alike. A few, like our gorgeous bounty bars , cupcakes and healthy hobnobs take a little more organisation to make, so for that reason we’ve left them out of the list below.

Our top ten easy homemade kid’s snacks this summer have been:

  1. Coconut chips – just ten minutes to make and we’re loving both versions – tangy lime and sea salt as well as cinnamon and maple syrup
  2. Healthy Homemade Ice Lollies – we’ve worked on some fab new flavours (blackberry and peach, mint choc chip, raspberry lemonade) this summer, as well as returning to some old favourites
  3. Healthy chocolate chip cookies – these don’t last long in the biscuit tin
  4. Kale chips – a staple for the kids and adults in our house
  5. Seaweed Squares – portable and great for when you have a salty craving
  6. Chocolate Flapjacks – need we say more!
  7. Cherry Oat Cookies – making the most of the fresh cherry season
  8. Chocolate Tasty Bites – making chocolate just that little bit more nutritious
  9. Energy Balls – Mint chocolate, Sunflower and Apricot (for the nut-free version)
  10. Veg Crisps – savoury and healthier than crisps

The great thing is that although summer holiday snacking is ending, our recipes work just as well for those all-important, quick after-school snacks, so we’ll be keeping them going into September!

 

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