These Healthy Snacks for Kids On The Go are perfect for wherever you're headed! The park, the library, errands, or the beach, snacks for kids are an important "meal" in their day! Give snack time substance with these quick to prepare, unprocessed and filled with real foods, kid's healthy snack ideas! These snacks can be put together in just 5 minutes!
Kids Are Always On The Go!
We call them "Snack Packs," healthy snacks for kids on the go! And with young kids, we can be on the go a lot! So relying on processed foods for all their outings just isn't enough.
Adventures and car trips can run into lunchtime. So, I pack snacks that can be lunch if necessary.
Snack packs in general, are just a mix of what's in the fridge, but are substantial, hearty, and healthy to keep hungry kids going strong!
Check out these Bedtime Snack for Kids and these Healthy Lunch Ideas for Kids!
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Ingredient Ideas
Taking a few minutes to throw together a few fresh snacks for kids before heading out the door can replace most of the prepackaged processed food found in the snack aisle.
They are a far healthier option for active kids than packages of cheez its, goldfish, veggie straws or fruit snacks!
A few processed foods as extras is fine, but the idea is to keep them on the side, not front and center. This is really just a snack pack idea list, try different things and see what works for your kids!
Any small containers will do, and I've found my kid's like the idea of having their own little cup. Keep fresh foods with fresh, and dry with dry.
- Start with Fruits and Veggies! Try carrot sticks, cucumber, broccoli, berries, grapes, melon, pears, oranges, or dried fruit. Pack things you know they like, with something extra you hope they might try. Bring whole bananas or cutie oranges as extras, if they don't get eaten they aren't wasted.
- Add some Healthy Fats! Try cheese (sliced, cubes or cheese curds) or beef sticks or salami.
- Leftover Pasta is an easy addition. Whenever I make a short pasta for dinner like this Creamy Tomato Pink Sauce Pasta, I scoop out a few plain noodles before adding it to the sauce, to add to snacks for the next couple days.
- You can also do a separate container of dry ingredients with things like nuts, seeds, pretzels, cereal, raisins, or Homemade Almond Vanilla Granola. Kind of a quick homemade trail mix!
- Homemade Treats from the Freezer - We love baking treats that are actually healthy enough to be considered snacks. Keep them in the freezer and pull a few out to take to go!
Tips for Healthy Snacking
- Toddler Snacks on the Go - Snack Packs can grow and evolve with your kids. When they are toddlers, make them smaller and have everything cut up in the appropriate sized bites.
- If you'll be out all day, make 2 smaller containers instead of one large. I've found that my kids don't like to go back to one they've already half eaten. They can get kind of "mucky" on an all day outing, so multiple fresh containers are better!
- Road Trip Snacks for Kids - Snack packs are the perfect car snacks for kids! Road trips are often messing up meal times, so a snack pack can stretch those hungry kids until the next stop!
- Plus road trips and vacations are often accompanied by some unhealthy eating. It's okay, you're on vacation, order pizza and get ice cream! But adding a few fruits and veggies during the car ride helps balance it out. When you hear the first hunger whine from the back seat, hand over a healthy snack pack!
- And don't forget a water bottle for everyone, including mom!
- Mix Fresh with Packaged - There is nothing wrong with a treat now and then, and it's pretty unavoidable with kids. So just keep the fresh fruits and veggies right along side! A banana with goldfish crackers, carrots with cheese and ritz crackers, chex mix or trail mix with an apple are all great healthy snack combinations.
- Don't forget to pack enough for yourself! I often do a banana or a couple little cutie oranges with a granola bar, a Morning Glory Freezer Muffin, or a few Healthy Freezer Zucchini Banana Cookies for a quick snack.
- If we are going to be gone awhile on a hot day, I like to turn the snacks into lunch. I put it all in a little cooler with things the kids like, and mom will eat too! If not I just throw them in my bag, along with a few prepackaged snacks for emergencies!
- Snacks for School - My elementary kids need to bring a peanut-free snack to school each day. Somedays we do prepackaged fig bars or fruit leather. But other days we do a smaller variation of a snack pack. A cup with a cut up plum and some grapes. A few whole strawberries and a couple carrot sticks. A cheese stick and a cutie orange. Just something small and unpackaged!
- Banana Carrot Oatmeal Muffins are also great for school because they are nut-free, delicious and pretty healthy!
- Leftovers - I throw leftover snack packs back in the fridge, and spread them on a plate for a Healthy Bedtime Snack!
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Healthy Snacks for Kids On The Go
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- Fruits and Veggies Try carrot sticks, cucumber, broccoli, frozen peas, berries, grapes, melon, apples, pears, oranges, or dried fruit.
- Beef Sticks, Salami or Cheese curds or slices
- Leftover Pasta Whenever I make pasta for dinner (a short pasta like penne, bowtie, rotini, etc.) I pull out a half cup or so before adding it to the sauce, and keep it in the fridge all week to add to a snack pack.
- Nuts, Seeds, Dried Fruit, Almond Vanilla Granola, Cheerios or Chex, Pretzels Put these in a separate container, a quick trail mix!
- Peanut Butter and Banana (or jelly) sandwich
- Healthy Zucchini Cookies or Muffins or Peanut Butter Nutella Protein Bites I like to make batches of these, freeze and just pack them frozen, they thaw on the go.
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