Snack-spiration & lunch packing tips

 

“My 11-yr-old usually doesn’t eat breakfast and only nibbles at lunch, thus does most of his eating after school. I’m trying to care less about what he eats during the day and just load him with nutrients later on. Sometimes I will give him a straight-up meal upon landing at home, but this won’t fly once after school starts. Here are some sure-thing snacks in our home (in a range of nutrient density):

• Crispy roasted kale (sprinkled with nutritional yeast)
• Zucchini muffins
• Beef or turkey sticks (we like Paleo Valley)
• String cheese
• Clementines
• Pitted green olives 
• Medjool dates
• Mix of walnuts and chocolate chips
• Popcorn with various seasonings
• Toasted pumpkin seeds
• Trader Joe’s crispy crunchy okra, rice cracker medley, papadums crisps
• Smoothies (he likes to concoct them himself)
• Frozen grapes or clementine slices
• Cucumber sticks or seed crackers with hummus”

 

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“From most local stores, I like Nutrament shakes and Nature's Bakery Fig Bars...also cheese sticks if [the snack is] being packed from home.” 

 

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• “Dried fruit e.g. mangos, apricots, raisins
• Hummus and carrots and celery pre packaged from wholefoods
• Prepackaged salami with cheese and crackers” 

 

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“I feel like most of what we spend at the Food Coop is snacks for our 15 year old. Hah. He has started eating oatmeal for breakfast. He said it keeps him awake at school, and he is not hungry until lunch time. Anything that is going to crumble in the child's heavy backpack won't make the cut. I pack the following and will rotate or have other items every now and then. 

 

• Made for Good granola packs - Costco also sells them, and I buy 5 bags when on sale at Costco
• Newman's Own version of OREO (we only pack 4 max) 
• Crackers that don't crumble. I get the variety box at Costco
• Apple slices - Honey crisp apples from the Food Coop 
• Organic pineapple and mango slices from the food coop are amazing snacks 
• Seaweed packs - cheaper at Hmart 
• Welch's fruit snack pouches - from Costco - not often, but we need to rotate the snack list”

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“Nothing beats an apple. However, for kids who recoil at the sight of healthy snacks, try these.  (Sold individually at most grocery/bodegas, but no less economical than granola/fig bars if you buy in bulk.)”

 

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“My teen loves Perfect Bars (and I do too!). They can be pricey so we buy them in bulk from Costco or Amazon.”

 

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“I just started repacking their lunches (from the days of pre-school, elementary school). They used to go out to lunch and take more snacks like bars (see the end of the list)--but simultaneously (and at different high schools) they both asked for more lunch food.

Here's what my kids take to school (all very quick to make):

• Yakisoba with greens (very little) and tofu (I get it frozen from the Japanese store on 5th)
• Dumplings
• Samosas
• Annie's jackfruit buffalo nuggets with sauce
• breakfast cookies I don't use a recipe, but this seems close to what I do: 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
• coconut yogurt and granola
• hummus with chili and chips/bread
• apple Lara bars
• Wasa crispbread crackers
• fig bars (though we overdid these so less now)

 

I also admit to letting my kids eat homemade pumpkin pie and carrot cake for breakfast pretty often.  We only use white whole wheat flour (available at trader joes and coop).  From what I understand, it has the same nutrition just milder taste and paler color. 

Oh, and I think the containers matter.  We have a bunch of silver single serving containers which seem to be preferred.” 

 

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“I make a batch of hot lunches for my daughter every Sunday and put them in a thermos each morning for her to take with her. I feel like she should be taking care of her own lunch by now, but I also see that most kids who do either don’t eat lunch or eat junk. She’s not big on breakfast so by lunch she is hungry and she eats what I make. And I feel the trade-off is worth it for her to have a proper meal.

On Friday she buys lunch and it’s usually pizza, curly fries from the food truck, Korean corn dogs or grilled cheese. Once a week, this is fine.

Breakfast is something small if anything. And she cycles through things.

Hard-boiled eggs are portable and protein rich. So I sometimes make a few to keep in the fridge.

A corn tortilla with melted cheese takes 30 seconds in the microwave and is reasonably healthy.

Breakfast bars usually have more protein than other granola/nutrition bars so I try to buy those

For a while she was eating Trader Joe’s steamed pork buns. Also small and quick to microwave.

She would also cook 2 pieces of bacon in the microwave. Protein, even if not the healthiest protein.”

Recipes

 

“I’ve been making lower sugar banana bread loaves for my kiddo. I cut the sugar in the recipe down to 1/2C and add walnuts , dark chocolate chips and a sprinkle of sugar on the top for a crunchy top and I figure if the first bite has sugar it offsets the lower sugar product 😭 .

 

Here is the recipe

 

I thought I would share it to the thread for others who might be interested 

My teens are not ready for 100 whole wheat flour so I sub with 2/3 white flour and 1/3 whole wheat flour.”

 

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“My kid has a sweet tooth, so I do a ‘cookie dough’ dip and chocolate mousse/pudding a lot. These are good for breakfast or after school snacks, admittedly not great for on the go.

 

Cookie dough dip:

In a dough blender or food processor, blend:

1 can great northern beans or garbanzo beans

1/4 cup each: oats, peanut butter, maple syrup, unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

Transfer to container with a tight lid, then serve with mini chocolate chips

 

Chocolate mousse/pudding:

Put one block of silken tofu in big blender container.

In a double boiler, melt 1 bag of dark chocolate chips, once smooth. Add to the blender with the tofu.

Splash in 2 tsp vanilla and a pinch of salt, and blend. (If you want to add some cayenne pepper for a kick, it's super yummy like that.)

Transfer to a container with a tight lid, let sit for a few hours or overnight before serving. I love to eat this with peanut butter if it's not the spicy version.”

 

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“[The] post on cookie dough and chocolate mousse with tofu reminded me of this great healthy recipe which I have made over 30 times at night and don’t feel guilty serving at breakfast time or as an on-the-go snack for school:

6 ingredients + baking soda 

Fluffy and Moist Flourless, butter free & refined sugar free Healthy Chocolate cake 

There are no catches. This is truly delicious and super quick and easy to make. Just dump all in a food processor! 

No one can tell it’s healthy! 

Tip: you can play around with types of chocolate. sometimes I dump a combo of unsweetened with 85 %, 55% , milk chocolate even. Whatever I have on hand. And in that case I will reduce the number of dates”

 

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“I'm a big fan of the cookbook, Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys, by Lucinda Scala Quinn. She has a lot of recipes and tips for getting good food quickly to teens.”

 

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“Here's my favorite muffin recipe (inspired by this recipe)

Banana Chia Muffins
2 cups almond flour or almond meal
1½ cups rolled oats
3 tablespoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 eggs
2 mashed bananas
1⁄2 cup maple syrup or honey
1/4 cup avocado oil or coconut oil

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, oats, baking soda, chia seed, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, bananas, maple syrup, and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The batter will be thick.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each to the brim. Bake until a knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Store leftover muffins in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat in the oven at 300°F for 10 minutes or microwave on low power for 30 seconds.

I like to make these as mini muffins and crumble them on top of yogurt (cut baking time in half for mini muffins).”

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“For an eggless cake try this recipe?

I haven’t made it yet but it seems like it could be delicious”

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“I wanted to chime in with my offering --- lots of variations on these but mine are the basics--  dates (makes ‘em sweet), cacao powder, nuts, and coconut.

I used to have these at the expectant parents meetups and since my kids didn’t eat much at school they could have them when they got home.

No Bake Cacao Energy Bites (or bars)

Special equipment: food processor

Note: For a kid-friendly version, you can omit the shredded coconut & Brazil nuts. They will taste like little brownie balls.

• 2 cups organic raw walnuts
• 1 cup raw cacao powder – use raw cacao powder not cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine Celtic sea salt
• 18 soft Medjool dates, pitted –  I like the consistency of 18 dates, as the bites are moister – Make sure your dates are soft and fresh, hard dates will not work well in this recipe, if your dates are hard then soak them in some warm water for a bit, as this will help soften them.
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup brazil nuts, coarsely chopped – you can add in any type of nut, or feel free to omit the extra nuts 

Full recipe here.” 

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“I still make these Breakfast Cookies for the tween

Also: I make 12+ frozen burritos with beans, cheese, onions and peppers once a month. It's super easy to throw together. I wrap, freeze, and she can microwave them for two minutes after basketball practice. 

Yes, I could buy them, but these are a better size for her and less preservatives/more veggies, so I feel a little better about it.”

 

Solidarity 

 

“Our 15 year old came home from school and ate a 1.5 pound box of frozen ravioli. I didn't know that Costco sold anything in a single serving snack size. He then ate dinner about an hour later.”

 

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“I work in a high school, and I will say that most of the students don't eat either breakfast or lunch, and a good portion don't eat either but wait until afterschool  to eat anything. 

I will also say upwards of 90% of the students I see in crisis, have not eaten any meal that day, and have not slept, slept enough, or have had disrupted sleep, further fueling their 

emotional dysregulation.” 

 

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“I just want to say that I feel you on this so utterly!

 

Second, my almost 16 year old will no longer carry snacks from home (‘cringe’), and unfortunately, the snacks he buys on his own outside the house are things like a bag of Tate's cookies or a box of Entenmann's donuts, sigh. At home, I have pushed really hard to get him to have some sort of protein with his starchy snacks -- so he will have:

--a bowl of Cheez-Its with full fat / high protein yogurt (e.g. Fage 5%)

--rice cakes with tuna salad

--crackers with cheese

--favorite treat snack that I buy in bulk and freeze: ham & cheese croissant (or 2)

He, too, can have these as late as 5:00 or 6:00 and still have dinner at 7:30.

It's not a new story, but keeping an active 16 year old boy fed is no joke.”