At the moment we still have a fridge full of Christmas food leftovers…mainly because I had two sick kids and a Dad on Christmas day ..and that was a whole lot of fun as you can imagine!
Even with leftovers though I will soon hear the familiar cries of ‘I’m hungry’ ‘There’s nothing to eat’ and ‘where’s my….’ and that is just from the teen, the twins are usually a whole lot worse as they need me to find/prepare/cook whatever it is they are absolutely needing…right now! And of course I always have the time to drop whatever I am trying to get done just to serve the precious ones 😉
Holiday time is especially trying as we don’t have the usual lunchboxes and there always seems to be the need for more snacks on the go rather than meals as they keep themselves busy with holiday fun. So to ensure they are all still getting some sort of nutritional goodness throughout the day via all that snacking (well, to be honest, I just wanted something to make it easier for me, the nutritional thing is an added bonus!) I have begun making up ‘Holiday Snack Boxes’ and trays to keep in the fridge. These work well for when I am really busy with my family day care kids as well. It sounds like it should be easy to get your own children’s lunch while the others are eating and because I am at home but it really doesn’t work out that way!
By packing a few little snack boxes the night before with lots of quick to eat finger food type snacks the girls know they can help themselves throughout the day or I can grab them quickly to take with us if we are out somewhere for the day. They have saved me from needing to stop and make sandwiches, get just that right biscuit or cracker or peeling and cutting fruit when I am attempting to get things down around the house or with the home daycare kids.
Is it just me or do kids want to eat more when they are on holidays? Miss Teen has been wiping out my weekly fruit and veg shop in just 3 days since finishing her senior year of schooling and being at home every day! I put together one of those pull out refrigerator trays of snacks in the fridge for her and have asked her to use what is in there for her week’s worth of snacks and lunches. My hope is that she will understand portion sizes and budgeting a little better and also be more responsible for preparing her own food in a way that is considerate of the rest of the family also.
Since I started offering family day care my 3 year olds have been exposed to others lunchboxes and often the packaged goodies they contain. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of that food in the house mainly because I am very wary of the amount of salt, sugar, numbers and colours in the many snacks offered to children. I’ve seen the effect some of these things in food can have on a child’s behaviour. Some aren’t proven but all I know is what I have seen in my 20 year’s of working with children.
But I am a busy Mum and sometimes it is a real help to have a few of those easy to grab packaged items in the house – I do try and choose ones I feel are the healthier options though.
One of the latest snacks to be added to our daily boxes are some tasty mini rice cakes. Small rice cakes have been a favourite of Ruby’s since she was a small toddler, it was one of the few finger foods she would eat without gagging and seemed to be perfect for her oral aversion issues. I’ve been buying them for a few years now but in the baby food aisle which as we all know means they are expensive for the tiny pack you get!
I was recently offered some SunRice mini bites to review and when they arrived I was surprised to see they were the same size the girls are used to but come in bright little portion controlled bags. They are available in 3 flavours; Spooky Original, Devilish Chicken and Creepy Cheese
They are seasoned with tasty natural flavours which obviously give them a lot more taste than the baby ones they are used to but they don’t seem overpowering to young tastebuds and you can still easily taste that familiar crunchy rice!
I was pleased to note they are packed with whole grains and contain less fat than regular potato chips. They have certainly made a yummy and healthy addition to the holiday snack boxes and would obviously be perfect for the lunchbox too.
The individual packs are actually a very generous serving so I have been splitting one pack between my two girls, I just empty them into a snack zip lock bag. The only problem is one loved the cheese, one loved the original and I loved the chicken flavour.
I like that the Mini Bites have a high wholegrain content and nutritional value which makes them National Healthy School Canteen Amber compliant. More surprising news for a packaged snack…Just one of those little packs provides almost 70 per cent of the recommended daily intake of wholegrain for toddlers and around 40 per cent of the target intake for 4-9 year olds according to the Grains and Legumes Nutrition Council (bet you didn’t know we had one of those!!)
The girls are really loving these mini bites and because they are in fun packaging they also feel like they have something a little special in their lunchboxes when the comparisons begin with the family day care kids! No need to mention to them that they have the healthier snack option 😉
Like the sound of keeping some snack boxes ready to go for the holidays but all out of new ideas to keep the kids happy without resorting to the usual treats?
Here’s some ideas and inspiration for you to help get started!
Easy snack box ideas for kids……
Here are some of my favourites and usually accepted by my twosome…on their good days of course!
Small bite size rice cakes – our current favourites are SunRice Mini Bites
Cheese cubes and sultanas…sometimes diced dried apricots
Mini savoury muffins – Ham, cheese and vegetable are a favourite and easy to make and freeze. Fantastic for school lunchboxes too.
Two fruits (just buy the large tin and spoon into a small container…don’t spend money on fancy little tubs!)
Want to give the SunRice Mini Bites a try? You can find them in the health food aisle at Woolworths…and I won’t tell if you say you are buying them for the kids but actually snack on them yourself instead!
What would you add to a Holiday Snack Box?
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Nice idea, Jodes. I confess that many holiday days I still pack a lunch box for the kids. It stops them from bugging me about food 24/7!!!
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