Healthy Kid’s Snacks can be the most important meal of their day! Get kids eating right with a “Taste Test”, a snack plate to share with simple ingredients like apples, cheese, berries, nuts, carrots, or whatever’s in the fridge! Give snack time Substance, especially if you have a picky dinner eater!
Snacks with Substance
The Picky Eater is just one of the many mom-battles we face. But, sigh, it can be a tough one. You work hard on those dinners only to have them push their plate away and turn their nose up. I think all kids, mine definitely included, go in and out of picky eating. So, I try no to let it get to me, and instead make healthy kid’s snacks.
Kid’s seem to be snacking all the time, so we can’t afford not to make snack time healthy. The Taste Test was born! My kids are serious bedtime snackers. We eat an early dinner in our house, everyone is starving by 4:30, so we eat. With an early dinner, the kids get a big snack before bedtime, also known as “a Taste Test.” This is a plate of snacks to share. Sharing works in mom’s favor here, kids shoving vegetables in their mouth for the main reason of out-eating the sibling! It’s an assortment of whatever is in the fridge. The name stuck after a day in preschool when my oldest got to taste new foods like jicama, different pickled veggies, and tart vs. sweet apples. That night we made our own taste test, and we’ve been making them ever since.
Ingredient Ideas and Combinations
A Taste Test can make up for a picky dinner, prepare for an overnight growth spurt, or have it as an afternoon snack if you eat dinner later. The ingredients for a taste test can really be anything, but keep it simple! I like the plate to share, what I do not want is 2 half eaten snack plates! I figure, if one doesn’t like something, the sibling will eat it. So I try to include ingredients that I know each of them like.
Fruits & Veggies
Start with fruits and veggies! This is often where kids get picky, so start with the basics you know they like. Try carrot sticks, cucumber, frozen peas, weird but my kids love these, mix them with frozen corn if they don’t. Fruits are often more likable, so add berries, grapes, melon, pears, or oranges.
Healthy Fats
Then add some healthy fats! This can give you more substance and make up for an uneaten dinner! Try cheese or beef sticks. Apples, celery or carrots dipped in peanut butter. Handfuls of nuts, seeds, cereal, or granola are great on their own or sprinkled over sliced banana. Try pretzels or crackers dipped in hummus. Leftover plain pasta is an easy addition. Whenever I make a short pasta for dinner, I scoop out a little plain before adding it to the sauce, to add to snack plates for the next couple days. The possibilities really are endless, my 5 year old is starting to dream up his own versions!
More Kid Friendly Favorites!
- Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Kids!
- Healthy Lunch Ideas for Kids!
- Kid’s Snack Packs To Go
- Homemade Popsicles
- Family Pizza Night
- Healthy Zucchini Cookies
- 8 Minute Mac & Cheese for Kids
The Taste Test
Ingredients
- Fruit berries, apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, melon, kiwi, anything they like
- Veggies carrots, cucumber, baby tomatoes, frozen peas- my kids eat these which is weird
- crackers or veggies with hummus
- pretzels dipped in peanut butter
- cheese curds or slices
- beef sticks cut up
- peach slices or strawberries dipped in yogurt we like plain whole milk yogurt
- raisins or any dried fruit
- nuts or granola
- handful of cereal
- banana dipped in sunflower seeds
- leftover pasta whenever I make a short pasta for dinner, I scoop out a little plain to keep as a snack for the next couple days
- popcorn we have a cheap air popper–so easy!, and better for you than microwave
Instructions
- Put on a plate to share, and serve!
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