Easy to Prepare Healthy Snack ideas for Kids

 

The Nutritionist in me cannot deny the significance of snacking for kids. Snacks often get a bad reputation but if chosen wisely they are integral fillers in between big meals. Kids grow fast and need frequent refuelling. Snacks are saviours to meet the daily nutrient requirements of our kids.

Being a mommy , I can relate well to one of our pet peeves as moms ‘kitna variety banao?’. Breakfast, Tiffins, lunch, after-school snacks and dinner….

That’s a bit too much to take in everyday…especially since most moms are working now and our kids have an equally packed schedule post-school with their classes, tuitions,sports etc.

So how do we solve this conundrum without having to resort to sugary, fatty and junk. To keep them from grabbing chips or cola, let’s  get savvy with snacks for kids.

First things first!

Always Have A Plan

We take out time once a week and plan our family’s menu- Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner,right? Include after school snacks too in the planning. You might need to make an energy dense heavy snack for the day your child goes for basket ball straight after school while a bowl of fruits will do on days when it’s an art activity.

Once you know what kind of snack you need to prepare, it sorts out your mental clutter drastically.

 

Have Your Ingredients Ready

Shop for the week once your meal and snack timetable is ready. It will save you grocery runs in the middle of  week. And will also help avoid those impulse chips, cake and cookie buys too.

 

Keep Your fridge and Snack Cupboard Stocked

Teens and even younger kids have mood swings and get bored easily. You may plan to make the favourite and yummiest sandwich or wrap, and your kid will be like ‘not this today, please give me something else!’

Have stuff that you can fall back on. It may be peanut butter, hummus, dips, fruits, rawa, yoghurt, rice flour, oats, besan, green chutney, khajoor chutney, corn kernels, boiled potato or sweet potato anything that your family likes and eats readily.

Now, you can offer your young one something that’s handy and they like .It avoids the fights and the power matches. You may also consider involving your little one while planning the menu to avoid such situation frequently.

Beware: You will feed what you stock , so choose wisely and stock healthy!

 

Involve the Kids and Have fun

As moms, we are always in search of that new recipe – be it online, on what’s app, from the colleague’s tiffin or something your friend made at home…’kaise banaya?’ becomes our favourite question 😊.

Listen and learn, but adapt it to your family taste and likes. Don’t be afraid to experiment and include your children in your experiments…they might just get hooked on to.

Talk to your child about the new recipe you came across or ask him to youtube an easier version of same recipe. Involve them in meal planning, simple pre preparations like stirring the batter or packing their own tiffin. Not only will they eat better but they are nice bonding activities too!

Include junk in limits

Totally cutting off their favourite treats is going to result in one sulky kid! Include their favourite treats but as part of a snack – never make that the full meal. Include a cookie along with bowl of fruits or a some chips along with dosa. This  not only cut downs the junk but  also ensures more healthy intake.Special junk treats can be reserved for special occasions.

 

 

Make the food look interesting

Always remember, kids eat with their eyes. The way you present snacks makes a lot of difference.Try experimenting with interesting shapes, bright colours,contrasting textures to make the food look more appealing. Time pressed? Buy a new  tiffin or a nice colourful plate. See the difference this simple change brings in the way,your child eats the same old snack. For a child going to a class straight after class, you might want to provide a mini hamper of one heavy snack, a drink and a small sweet. You can even include a nice note if your driver or maid is assisting them to and fro. It makes them feel special and they will happily eat what you’ve sent.

Cute cherry tomato case I bought to make plain cherry tomatoes look interesting!

 

Now for some quick, healthy and yummy snack ideas!

Here’s a list of easy to prepare snack ideas and some tips that you can use as a reference for your meal-planning.

Fruit Smoothies & Sorbets

Don’t give up on a chance to serve those fruits and veggies! Combine interesting combinations into smoothies or shakes adding a little nuts or dry fruits or freeze them as sorbets for later.

Veggie Sticks & Dips

Cut veggie sticks with dips is another quick pick me up. Experiment as much as you like with yogurt based dips, hummus, guacamole or salsas.

Ready to eat Fruits & Veggies

Fruits or veggies of choice can be kept ready and chilled before your kid comes home. Let them eat them as soon as they come. They can have them plain or with  tangy chaat masala.

PS: Let the child pick fruits and veggies of their choice, take them for grocery shopping,let them experiment with different flavours and textures. Don’t force for a particular fruit or veggie.

Experiment with bread – go beyond a sandwich

Use whole-wheat bread, tacos, pita bread, pizza bases, mini burger buns, large subway rolls for more variety. Can be fashioned into mini sandwiches and roll ups as well.

Make your fillings in advance with healthy ingredients, say paneer or crushed chickpeas or mixed veggies or oiled potato or unprocessed cheese . That way you only need to take out your filling and use it on a wrap or sandwich.

Roti ,wraps or rolls

Here’s one space to get experimental with ingredients.

• You can mix flours (soya, wheat, corn or some local millets) to make your roti base. Spinach /beetroot/pumpkin can be blanched and added to the flour to make it more healthy and interesting.
• Toppings can be Indianised, Chinese, Lebanese whatever you prefer, will bring a twist.
• You may use finely cut veggies, corn kernels or separate some boiled beans or chickpeas or potatoes which you plan to prepare for dinner.

Dosas/Chillas

Doss can be of traditional rice and pulse, multi-grain, semolina(rawa), local millets(Jawar,bajra,nachni) and even oats. An interesting instant combination can be semolina(rawa), besan(gram flour). Moong dal chillas are a great way to get those sprouts in.

 Pancakes

• Pancakes again can be sweet or savoury. Use  whole wheat flour instead of refined flour.Can include some home-made almond flour in them if your kid is not a fan of whole dry fruits.
• You may even add beetroot for a fun pink pancake or pumpkin for golden yellow.

Left-over magic

How to reuse food is an art and a necessity for all of us.

• Left-over rotis: can be made into a khakra, can be torn into strips and made into a bhel, can be cut into small pieces, topped and served as quesedillas.
• Left over idli: simply break into pieces, temper and serve.
• Left-over dal/pulses: Knead them in a dough and prepare base for the roll or wrap.
• Left-over veggies: can be fashioned into rolls or sandwiches.

Bhel Varieties

We Indians love our chaat! Instead of just sev puri or alu tikki, try these ideas as well. Try sweet potato or sprouted green moong chaat or corn bhel or chana chaat. They are simpler to prepare and light on tummy too.

Traditional snacks

Stay in touch with your roots. Be it thepla, moong dal vade, ragda pattice, sabudana vada, uttapams, dahi vada, rasam vada – let your children enjoy the taste of their heritage. Try healthier cooking methods. Like baking the potatoes for ragda pattice or roasting the vada in rasam vada makes the unhealthy, super healthy.

Baked Falafel with veggies!

 

Stay Tuned! Our next write up on Ensure Balanced Diet for Kids -Coming soon.

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