Snacking on the Go

According to my favorite book Complete Food and Nutrition Guide, kids 2 to 5 usually need to eat every 2 to 3 hours. If any of you are like me, you probably aren't going to drop everything every 2 hours so that you can sit down at the table for a meal or snack. Here are some ideas for snacking on the go:

- The most important suggestion that will keep you sane is to PLAN AHEAD
- keep food-group snacks handy
- an occasional piece of candy is okay but try to avoid labeling it as a special treat; be matter-
of-fact about it
- Avoid grabbing a box of goldfish and doling them out throughout the day
- Choose snacks to fill in the gaps from meals (ie: offer veggies at snack time if they aren't
enough from other meals during the day)
- The hardest suggestion: offer snacks when kids are hungry--NOT to stop a tantrum or reward
behavior (I have got to work on this one!)
- Be creative and make the snacks fun. Even if the snacks aren't creative, give them a funny
name...


- A big disadvantage when eating/snacking on the go is that it's easy to eat just because you have
food in front of you. It's hard to gauge how much or little your children are actually eating as
well as how long they are eating. By planning ahead you can treat a snack like a meal even if
you are on the go. Portion out snacks the way you would with a meal. Here are some snack
ideas:
- 1/2 cup goldfish cracker, cheese stick, grapes
- granola bar, go gurt, carrot sticks
- 1/2 peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich cut into strips or bite size pieces
- ham/turkey and cheese roll-ups, cucumber slices

- As important as sit-down meals are, I actually think Noah will eat better and eat things he normally wouldn't eat when we are on the go so it may be a good time to try things with them that they normally wouldn't eat at home. (Of course, it could be a disaster too so start small!)

Good Luck

I hope this helps Shellie!