Healthy Snacks To Make With The Kids
Half the sugar children are having comes from snacks and sugary drinks.
If you are shopping for packaged snacks for your children, use this helpful tip: look for 100 calorie or less snacks and only let them have two a day max! Fruit and vegetables are always the best choice – they contain vitamins, minerals and are a good source of fibre.
We know it’s not always easy convincing your child to have the healthier option so below are some helpful tips as well as some fun recipes for your little ones to try.
Top Tips For Snack Time
Here are some top tips for replacing your usual snacks with fruit and vegetables.
1. Keep it in easy reach – have a fruit bowl in the house so fruity snacks are nearby when your kids are peckish.
2. Fill the fridge – have ready-to-eat fruit and veg, like carrot, cucumber, celery and peppers, pre-prepared for an easy snack kids can eat with their fingers.
3. Pack a snack – save money, and time, when you're out and about by taking bananas, apples or chopped up vegetables with you.
4. Get the kids involved – try making snack time exciting and more hands-on. Get your child involved by getting them to chop up the fruit and vegetables they're going to eat, they'll love chopping it up themselves!
Healthy Fruit And Vegetable Recipes
Encourage your children to help you make these tasty fruit and vegetable snacks. They are more likely to try something new if they’ve had a hand in cooking it!
Rainbow Fruit Skewers
These are a fun way to eat fruit! Don’t worry if you don’t have all the fruits listed in the recipe, get creative and make your own rainbow!
Ingredients:
- Raspberries (1 per skewer)
- Hulled Strawberries (1 per skewer)
- Orange / Satsuma segments (1 per skewer)
- Mango cubes (1 per skewer)
- Pineapple chunks (1 per skewer)
- Kiwi Fruit chunks (1 per skewer)
- Red Grapes (1 per skewer)
- Green Grapes (1 per skewer)
- Blueberries (2 per skewer)
Method:
1. Take your wooden skewers and thread the following fruit onto each – 1 raspberry, 1 hulled strawberry, 1 tangerine segment, 1 cube of peeled mango, 1 chunk of peeled pineapple, 1 chunk of peeled kiwi, 1 green and 1 red grape, and finish off with 2 blueberries.
2. Arrange in the shape of a rainbow and let everyone help themselves.
Fruit Lollies
As the weather starts to warm up these homemade fruit lollies offer a great alternative to ice cream.
Ingredients
- 200g of fruit
- Juice of 1 lemon or 15ml of fruit juice
- 375ml plain natural yoghurt
Method
1. Blend the fruit until smooth and transfer into a bowl
2. Stir in the juice and yoghurt into the fruit puree
3. Pour mixture into 6 lolly moulds and free for at least 3 hours before serving. If you don’t have a lolly mould you can use small Tupperware containers and inserting a lollypop stick into the middle.
2 Ingredient Cookie
These cookies couldn’t be easier to make! They are delicious on their own or why not add a filling of your choice – we recommend blueberries or peanut butter!
Ingredients
- 2 Bananas, mashed
- 90g oats
- Any additional flavouring or toppings
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 and grease or line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. In a bowl, mix together the mashed banana and oats and add any fillings you choose.
3. Shape the mixture into small balls, flatten them into patties and place on the baking tray.
4. Bake your cookies for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Yoghurt Bark
Ingredients
- 500g tub of Greek Yoghurt
- 2 tsps of maple syrup or honey
- 100g of fruit
- 50g of granola or oats
Method
1. In a bowl mix together the yoghurt and maple syrup/honey.
2. Cover a 9”x13” baking tray in foil or baking paper and spread the mixture into the bottom of the tray.
3. Sprinkle your fruit and granola/oats onto the yoghurt gently pressing them into the yoghurt with your hands.
4. Freeze for at least 2 hours.
5. Remove from the freezer and cut into slices – this should make around 12 portions but will vary depending on the age of your child.
6. Serve immediately or store in a bag or container in the freezer.
Vegetable Crisps
Create crisps at home! These oven-baked crisps make a simple, healthy snack.
Ingredients
- Carrots
- Sweet Potatoes
- Parsnips
- Beetroot
- ½ tsp Salt
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 150.
2. Using the thick slicer on a grater or finely slice the vegetables into long pieces – they really shrink in the oven!
3. Place the vegetable slices in a single layer on baking trays lined with baking paper – make sure the vegetables are spread out and aren’t touching each other.
4. Bake for 1.5 – 2 hours or until dry, crisp and cooked.
5. Sprinkle a little salt over the crisps and serve hot or cold – if your children aren’t averse to spice why not try sprinkling some chilli flakes over the crisps.
Vegetables And Dip
Everything tastes better when you can dip it! Try smashed avocado or natural yoghurt if your child isn’t a fan of hummus. To make this snack even healthier you could try making your own hummus!
Ingredients
Vegetable Sticks: Carrots, Peppers, Celery, Cucumber
Dips: Hummus, Smashed Avocado, Natural Yoghurt mixed with mint and cucumber seeds.
Method
1. Slice the vegetables into sticks/batons
2. Place some of your chosen dip into a small container and serve the vegetable sticks on the side or pop them in the container so they stick out like a hedgehog.
