It sounds like not buying junk food is the best option here. If it’s in the house they will want it. Setting the healthy example starts with what we buy and eat in front of them, so taking a break from it might help. Easier said than done, for sure. Hopefully they found a solution that worked in their house

My mum stopped buying M&Ms bags as I used to eat them all as soon as we’d get home.
I know they’re not good for me now but to this day if they’re in front of me, I can’t stop!!!
My kids are really into eating laughing cow cheese and jelly… but will also go for fruits which is good

Home made is better, mixing veggies with meats etc will be more accessible

Make your own. Then you know exactly what’s in the treats. Anything home made will be healthier for you then shop bought any day

I’m so glad I didn’t have the lunchbox police to worry about when my kids were going to school. I didn’t even have the peanut allergy to stress about

Maybe put up a list of what is allowed as snacks in the pantry
Fruit is ok for 4 and 7 year olds for the 4 y.o. you need to make sure she/he can chew the carrot properly before swallowing it. I would be wary of giving a 2 year old raw carrots even though a lot of Mums do. A 2 y.o. doesn’t have enough teeth to chew carrot enough. We had friends call in one day with a little boy when we were washing home grown potatoes outside in a bucket. He ran across the lawn, stepped into the bucket, the spotted some washed potatoes in an old dish draining rack, reached out, grabbed a potato and started chewing on it. Luckily they had been washed twice. He also loved frozen peas so his Mum had to put them up on a high bench to put some in a steamer saucepan. Lucky he couldn’t get the freezer open. Our home made cake and biscuits were rationed even though my Mum never put full quantity of sugar listed in the recipes. At least Mum knew exactly what it was made from. When we were old enough we were allowed raw fruit as long as we didn’t eat too much close to meals. We had a bag yard with a lot of fruit trees as did relatives and friends. We all shared our surplus so we had a good variety too. We also had home made jam (again less sugar added than the recipe and it was sweet enough – it would have been too sweet otherwise) and chutney (tomato and also plum.

I keep a few tubs of ‘approved’ snacks on the middle shelves of the pantry and they can help themselves from there only without permission.

I think a lot like adults they just want what’s easy so if there are cut up carrots, cheese sticks, cherry tomatoes, bite size fruit, nuts, dried fruits where they can easily get them and the other stuff out of reach that might help.

As far as healthy snacks go, you can’t go past fresh fruit and veggies. Add a healthy dip such as hommus

Mr. 3 has two main favourites – apples and cheese.
If he visits relatives his favourites are “thin” sliced cheese and strawberries grapes or watermelon. Other times it is apple juice and yoghurt or flavoured straw in milk. I checked the nutritional values and discovered that they contain less sugar than drink powders you add to milk.

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  • • june11 replied
    • 26 Mar 2016 , 8:48 pm

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  Warning: some schools have a NO NUTS policy. I know of one school has a sign on every classroom and on the office door too.

All of the above, fresh fruits and veggies. Dried fruits. Rice crackers, vita weats, unflavoured popcorn. Yoghurt, but I guess this is a fridge food not a pantry food

Luckily my kids loves banans, apples and carrots. So easy just to grab one of those.

That was an interesting article! Thanks for sharing!

Keeping a fruit bowl with washed and cut up fruits and veggies like carrots and celery works. Also home made trail mixes with Puffed rice are a great filling snack for little tummies.

yeah it is amazing how much kids can eat

Our little men love cheese and fruit, plain yoghurt dip served too. Simple yet fresh and nutritious

It’s so hard feeding kids healthy foods at times being on a budget – it seems to much easier to cook cakes and things especially if you want to share the experience with them.

fruit and veggies are always good and if you have them cut up in the fridge they will hopefully go to them first.

set aside school snacks or put them out of reach, have made up home snacks, pots of nuts and dried fruit, carrot and celery sticks cut up ready to go. little parcels of snacks that she is allowed to eat at home.

Plenty of wholegrain crackers and dried fruit in the cupboard. Cheese and yoghurt, hommus and veggies in the fridge.