After-School Snacks

I always have fruit available (the ones they will eat) - mostly strawberries, apples, blueberries, raspberries and bananas - no sugar or sauces. For my youngest son, he likes pretzels & peanut butter, crackers, carrots and granola bars. For my oldest son, he likes beef jerky, pepperoni slices w/ cheese slices and crackers. Lance's peanut butter crackers and graham crackers are always a staple in the pantry. Occasionally, they make a fruit smoothie. Or for a real treat (not often), a homemade molten chocolate cake using the choc chip muffins from Costco or Sam's, warm it up in the microwave then scoop a whole in the top and put chocolate syrup and a scoop of vanilla ice cream top w/ hardening chocolate syrup.

Mine also have early lunches so when they get home they are allowed things like Tyson's Chicken fries, lunch meat, peanut butter with an apple, they love beef jerky and nuts. They also get pizza rolls, a bowl of cereal or yogurt with granola mixed in with a banana. I hope these ideas help.

I don't know how you feel about carbs, but I think those are really filling! My kids love to eat hot pretzels (SuperPretzels come 6/box in the frozen section of the market) and I usually will melt a little cheese whiz on it. Another option is a bagel with cream cheese or fruit spread. Or, Oatmeal. Or, even, non-sugared breakfast cereal like Kix or Cheerios. I sometimes give my kids a PBJ sandwich. We also like to eat yogurt (Danimals crush cups have no HFCS or red dyes) and also we love cheese sticks, or just sliced cheese with crackers.

HOpe this helps!

My daughter is not allowed to have sugary things after school. Yogurt, cheese, crackers, a bowl of cereal, etc. are all filling healthy choices.

Hi B.

You don't want to "fill them up"; you just want to tide the over till dinner. Protein is good for that and good for them (Cheese and crackers, peanut butter and pretzles, homemade granola or trail mix, baked tortilla chips with salsa).

Hope this helps! Happy, healthy snacking!

B.

My kids love when I set out a plate with lots of different types of crackers, pretzels, cheese and peanut butter then they can mix and dip. They also like make your own s'mores with graham crackers, choc. chips and mini marshmallows. Popcorn, fruit, and occasionally we have cookies and milk.

I have two young boys who are starving after school, and I'll make up a platter of mostly goods stuff, mixed with a little sweet or chips. I give them the platter and say that's it till dinner, then we eat around 5 or 5:30. Nuts, cut up carrots, raisins, trisuits with hummus, beef jerky-these types of foods. Next week i'll rotate some snacks so its not boring. Good luck to you

cheese with rice or wheat crackers, oatmeal cookies, apples with peanut butter, edamame (soy beans), carrots with ranch or other veggies. these are things my daughter likes for snacks and are healthy. good luck

Hi there! Wow that's a long time for young boys to go without chow! One thing we did when our kids were younger was to put a labeled snack box in the fridge for each of them with healthy snacks and things that they'd have access to right when they got home or needed something to tide them over. It was full of baggies of veggies and peanut butter or dip, healthy crackers and cheese, yogurt cups, fruit, etc, plus an occasional treat like a cookie or candy bar as a surprise.

I have a lot of recipes and snack ideas listed in a category on my parenting blog if you want to take a look there: http://parentingzoo.com/members/?cat=24

Hope it helps!
A.