5 Healthy Kid-Friendly Snacks For After School or On-The-Go

We all know what it's like trying to get our kids to eat things that are healthy for them. If you are one of those parents who was blessed with a child that will eat anything you put in front of them…you might not know, but the rest of us know! It's not always about what you feed them from the beginning. As a baby I homemade his food, giving him a large variety of fruits, veggies, herbs, and spices. He loved everything I put in front of him until he turned 3 years old and suddenly became one of the pickiest kids I know. Seriously…it still blows my mind! Sometimes you just end up with a picky kid who will throw up after 30 minutes of trying to convince them they DID like this food before. It's not worth the battle. I stopped fighting and started getting sneaky with his nutrition. I'd hate to give him some sort of food complex later in life because I was forcing him to eat foods that he couldn't stand.

Hiding nutrition in his favorite foods

It hasn't been easy, trying to find ways to get Syfy the proper nutrition with foods that he'll actually eat. He is a meat eater, so things like meatloaf and meatballs are great ways to hide veggies in his meals, but snacks can be a bit harder to figure out. There are so many snacks on the market that lack nutrition, yet they are the go-to for many moms on the go. It has taken me a ton of experimentation to find ways to hide nutrition in his food without him knowing what I am doing. Some snacks are easier to pass the yumminess test than others. For many, smoothies are a great way to get in a quick little bit of nutrition…but of course, my kid doesn't like smoothies! (LOL What's a mom to do?)

5 Healthy Kid-Friendly Snacks For After School or On-The-Go

When it comes to healthy kid-friendly snacks, these are my 5 favorite snacks to secretly sneak nutrition into the kiddo's diet. All of these snacks travel well with the right travel storage containers and will help boost energy to get them through the rest of their day.

1. 3 Healthy Kid-Friendly Savory Dips - You would not believe the experimenting it took for me to come up with THREE tasty dips that are packed with a full serving of veggies in them, without the veggie taste! I have hidden nutrition in the BBQ Sweet Potato Hummus, Zucchini “Ranch” Dip, and the Pumpkin Black Bean Dip! Not only do each of them contain a full serving of veggies, but they taste AMAZING too! Syfy loves savory snacks, and these dips are definitely a favorite! He likes to dip different veggies, crackers, and even chips in them!
2. No-Bake Coconut Lemon Bars - Believe me when I say these bars are DIVINE! My whole family loves these bars and they usually don't last longer than 24-48 hours in my fridge! Jam packed with vitamin C, protein, fiber, and more, these bars are deceivingly good for you!
3. Homemade Chia Seed Pudding in 7 Different Flavors - Who doesn't love a chocolate pudding pack for a snack? While chocolate pudding is a favorite everywhere, this nutrition packed pudding can be made in 7 different flavors including chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter cup, strawberry, raspberry lemonade, pumpkin pie, and even orange creamsicle! The best part? Chia seeds are a nutritional powerhouse, jam packed with antioxidants and full of fiber, magnesium, zinc, iron and calcium.
4. Healthy Homemade Strawberry Apple Gummy Fruit Snacks - What kid doesn't love gummy fruit snacks? When homemade, they are very healthy and can be made with all sorts of different fruit and juice options! I have even made Elderberry Orange Immune Support Gummies using my homemade elderberry syrup and orange juice!
5. Lightlife Smart Jerky - Even though my kiddo is a meat eater, I still try to get him to eat vegan foods, hoping to get him a variety of nutrition sources. One of the few plant-based snacks that he will tear into like it's meat, is Lightlife's new vegan Smart Jerky! It's hard enough to keep a bag around with my hubby eating them all, but now the kiddo has joined in and they never leave any for me to take on my hikes! At least I can feel confident that he is getting veggies and protein in every bite!  He's also a big fan of Lightlife's Smart Dogs!

Lightlife, a plant protein pioneer since 1979

Founded in an old converted car wash in 1979, Lightlife (then known as Tempeh Works) became the first tempeh product on the mainstream market. Over time, they plowed the way for other plant proteins, until the 90's where they introduced their fat-free Smart Dogs, now the #1 best-selling refrigerated vegetarian products in the United States. Throughout the years, they have revolutionized the market further with Smart Deli and Gimme Lean Sausage. Due to concerns about the sustainability of ingredients in the food chain, in 1999 Lightlife publicly pledged that all products will be GMO-free, eight years before the Non-GMO Project is founded. Now, in 2017, all of their products are enrolled in the Non-GMO Project! They truly have been paving the way for the rest of us veggie heads, since before this Hippy was born ('83 if you were wondering!).

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