Meal preparation for children and reducing packaged snacks – the fitnessista

Sharing some of my go-to meal preparation ideas for children, especially because we are in the back to school season. We have also made a mission to reduce packaged snacks, but I still have a stock for Pantry Essentials and favorites of Thrive Market. < - My link gives you a 40% discount on your first order

Hello friends! How are you? I hope you enjoy the week so far. We find our new routine with the home school situation + Liv takes a break of dance (I am a bit sad, but certainly don’t miss it to drive 30 minutes and back twice a day). Now that we are on the road and pack lunches again, there are a few things that I have tried to do otherwise.

Meal preparation for children and reducing packaged snacks

– Meal prepared a ton.

It is so useful to have a fridge full of healthy staples for snacks and meals.

Here are some of the things I made every week:

– Fruit preparation. If there is fruit, ready to go in the fridge, they will absolutely eat it instead of a bar or packaged treat. Melons are in the season and so good at the moment, so lately I have picked up a few different melons (the children especially love Piel de Sapo and Golden Watermelon) and heels to save in glass containers. I also soaked berries in water and vinegar for 2-5 minutes (1 part of vinegar up to 3 parts of water), rinse and let them dry completely. Then I put paper towels in the bottom of a glass container with a lid. They last so much longer in this way! We usually do a mix of berries: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. I also enjoy grapes and plums in water + vinegar for about 15 minutes, dry and keep in an open glass bowl in the fridge. The children will grab grapes with grapes all day long and I think it’s great that we all eat more fruit!

– ENERGY CHOPLES. I have quite a few different recipes on the blog here (such as this one!) But a favorite is equal parts cashew nuts and pit dates, cinnamon, a little salt, vanilla extract and a drizzle of Ahorn syrup.

(This is why I no longer make food photos for the blog LOL)

– Protein preparation: fragmented chicken, seasoned beef minced beef and egg bites

–Veggie Prep: I will peel some cucumbers, peppers, carrots and heels. They are easy for them to serve themselves and dive into homemade hummus or guac. They also love the ready-made edamame.

–Dip: Hummus and Guacamole are the fan favorites here.

– Breakfast optionsSuch as the egg bites, oats stay, gingerbread cookies (they still love these!), Chia pudding. I also make avocado in a snap for a school day bast and serve with applegate breakfast sausages.

– Another/new/fun thing every week. This can be like a chicken or pasta salad, Spanish tortilla, quiche or cold noodle dish with vegetables and proteins that they can easily grab out of the fridge.

– Reduced snacks.

We still have our Go-Tos, which I will mention below, but the reality is that many packaged snacks are expensive and have no great ingredients. I could make 20 great homemade energy kits for the costs of 2 small four packages at Whole Foods. Our snacks were a large part of our insane shopping budget and it is so easy to make them at home and adjust them for the children.

Some of the packaged snacks that we still buy:

– nuts, dried fruit, trail mix

– Blocked files (for hummus!) And they also love the lupini snack beans from Thrive Market

– Seaweed snacks

– Gomacro Bars

-Poshi Veggie Packs

-Snack-sized cheeses

– Hüttenkäse

– Chia – bags

– jerky

– Popcorn or Siete -chips

– Deli – Meat – They roll it up with cream cheese or Mayo

– Sardines. I usually melt a sardine, but the children will eat them out of the can

– Simple Mills products (such as the crackers, cookies and baking mixes)

Some of my favorite Thrive Market -finds and healthy brands are in this post.

– Go back to planning dinners and prepare as much as possible during the day.

We have done a lot of dinners on the fly since we came home from Spain, especially since the pilot has worked/traveled so much. Back to school was the kick in the pants that I needed to start planning and making more dinners, instead of last-minute picking up or random hood podge meals. (I have also discovered that I really have to plan dinners and prepare if I am solo parenting, because by the time we come home from sport, the dinner time.)

Some of my favorite solo -educators are in this post!

So tell me, friends: What are some of your homemade snacks for the children?

XO

Gina