School Snacks
From Email:
With school starting soon I am feeling lost on what I can buy for treats to take and share with my children’s school classes. Our state requires that all treats brought to school are store bought. I just can’t seem to find anything I want my kids to eat that is store bought and reasonably priced to share with 30 other children. One of my kids also has a child with severe peanut Allergies, complicating things even more. The youngest is still in Preschool, and part of the contract is that we all take turns bringing in the treats. Does any one have any suggestions or ideas?
Thanks so much!
Posted in: Relationships, Whole Food
Dried fruit is sold in most heath food bulk bins. My kids take dried mangos in their lunches. Dried pineapple is also loved by kids. Fresh fruit and something to dip it in would be fun.
Costco has fruit leather that is individually wrapped… Boxes of raisins…. go to costco, they’ll find something. Good luck!
Wow, that makes me want to home-school even more!
In addition to those suggestions, I get things from the health food store for my kids’ teachers, as alternatives to the junk treats handed out. Each teacher keeps treats in a drawer for my child. Naturally sweetened granola bars, black licorice made from whole-wheat flour, etc. (The “naturally sweetened” gummy bears and the like are a slight improvement on corn syrup counterparts at the store, but they aren’t great.)
What about individual bagged apple slices or individual bagged baby carrots (I know I’ve seen the individual bagged apples at Costco)
Bananas.
And as far as homeschool goes, control over food and the time it is served is another great reason to homeschool.
I’m struggling with the snack issue right now, too. My 3-year-old daughter is about to start in a co-op preschool–taught by me and five other mothers. At a planning meeting, I reminded everyone that I’m concerned about what my daughter eats–even during snack time at school. I felt a lot of pushing back when I told them that we usually eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts/seeds for snacks. They are all sure that their kids won’t get enough calories or variety on that kind of a snacking regimen. (One small victory, though: I did convince them to serve ONLY water as a drink–no juice, so I don’t have to police what is or is not really juice!) So I’m trying to come up with a list of approved foods that are fast and easy to prepare. A lot of them seem easy to me, but it’s because I’ve changed my lifestyle and kitchen supplies to accommodate a healthy lifestyle, so I know that a lot of the items will still seem intimidating to the other moms. I’d love any input, too!
Here it is, so far:
– “frogs on a log”–celery with natural peanut butter and raisins
– frozen grapes
– any fresh fruit or vegetable
– any raw nut or seed
– dried fruits
– fruit salad with chopped fruits and walnuts on top
– whole-wheat tortillas with hummus dip
– trail mix of raw nuts and dried fruits
– healthy cookies from Robyn’s ch. 11
– green smoothies and peanut butter sandwiches
Want to add to my list???
You can make your own fruit leather with whatever fruit is in season. When it’s ripe just chop it up, throw it into the Blendtec with a little water and maybe a dash of orange, lime or lemon juice. Then pour that onto dehydrator trays. You can make quick jelly with it too. Just peel it off and then reconstitute it with a little water.
My kids love just cut up apples, bananas, cauliflower and carrot sticks. Try cutting up celery and putting almond butter/raw honey mix on top and then put raisins on top of that. It’s really really good and the kids love the crunch and sweetness. Call it ants on a log. Oh! I just read it up above!! The kids also love Robyn’s granola in a baggie.
My kids also love kale and collard green chips.
I’ve thought of sending honey straws as a snack for my daughters class. You can get them from many farmers that sell honey and some health food stores. The honey’s not raw, however.
Around here, they’re $.25 each, so it would be $7.50 for 30 kids. It’s not a very big snack, but perhaps the amount of calories in it would be satisfying for a child.