Healthy Lunch Box Snacks for Kids
It’s that time of year when we are busy getting the kids ready to go back to school. Planning what goes into your children’s lunch box and what they are eating at school is vital for optimal learning. Children that eat healthy foods throughout the day are have stable energy levels, positive moods and a high motivation to learn. On the other hand, a child who snacks on highly processed and nutrient-poor foods will find learning and concentrating during class a difficult task. With the huge variety of snack foods on the supermarket shelves in their bright coloured and enticing packaging, finding the right snacks for your child can be challenging. Here is a list of my top snack for kids that are full of nutrients and taste good too!
- Apple slices with nut or seed butter
- Raw oat bars (3/4 cup quick rolled oats, 1/4 cup almond butter or seed butter, 1/4 cup chia seeds, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup water – blend together in a food processor. Press into a lined tin and leave to set in the fridge)
- Oven roasted chickpeas
- Cherry tomatoes and cheese cubes
- Chocolate date balls (blend together 1 cup of softened dates, 3 tablespoons of raw cacao powder and ½ a cup of ground almonds or seeds)
- Homemade kale chips
- Greek yoghurt and blueberries
- Sliced cold omelette
- Banana pancakes (whisk together 1 mashed banana and an egg, cook in a pan with a little coconut oil)
- Beetroot hummus with baby carrots
- Homemade guacamole with buckwheat crackers or carrot sticks to dip
- Organic rye bread with a nut butter spread
- Seed crackers
- Homemade trail mix (nuts or seeds, goji berries, coconut flakes and dark organic chocolate)
- A small fruit smoothie – freeze overnight and it will be defrosted to drink by morning tea
- Baked sweet potato, beetroot or carrot chips (slice vegetable thinly, mix with coconut oil and roast in the oven until cooked)
- Organic buckwheat crackers
- Sugar snap peas
- Edamame
- Organic homemade popcorn
- Chia seed bircher
- Homemade falafels
- Strawberries and blueberries
- Homemade dehydrated fruit such as apple, banana and apricots
- Boiled eggs
- Cacao chia seed pudding
- Banana Blueberry fritters (2 ripe bananas, ½ cup blueberries, ¼ cup ground almonds, sprinkle of cinnamon – mix and cook in a pan with coconut oil)
- Fresh fruit kebabs
- Apple and cinnamon wedges (slice apple into wedges, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake in the oven with a little coconut oil)
- Raspberries filled with Greek yoghurt
- Celery sticks filled with peanut butter and topped with raisins
About our blogger: Chloe Moir is a nutritionist and personal trainer from Auckland, New Zealand. She has a food and nutrition blog dedicated to helping you make long-term changes to your diet and lifestyle in an easy and enjoyable way. Stay tuned to Ripe blog for more of her guest posts about nutrition, fitness and overall well-being.
