Snacking is important for kids because they have smaller stomachs than adults, hence they can’t stay full till the next meal is served. It is recommended for them to take at least two or three snacks each day and that is between meals so that it will fill up the nutritional gap. The best snacks to give kids are the healthy snacks as they provide energy to the body energy and keep them full for longer.
Avoid giving junk snacks as they contain a lot of sugar and calories which are quite unhealthy and may cause health complications. Give small healthy snacks so that they can get essential nutrients.
Healthy snacking builds a great foundation for children as they grow up knowing what food choices to make. As a parent, you should ensure that you provide healthy snacks for your kid every time he/she is hungry, and it is not mealtime.
Although some snacks can be expensive, healthy snacking doesn’t have to be expensive. Depending on your grocery budget, you can plan to buy cheap snacks or even ingredients to make snacks. They can be homemade, and this is important as you get to choose what ingredients to use while making the snacks. When selecting cheap snacks for your children, ensure that they have essential nutrients, i.e. iron, fiber, calcium, vitamins and minerals with low sugar and calorie content. Make sure they are varied too.
Some of the cheap, healthy snacks for kids include:
- A simple fruit such as a banana, apple, pears.
- Oatmeal is filled with fiber, and you can mix it with raisins, fruits to make sweeter. You can also bake oatmeal cookies and serve them with milk.
- Whole grain cereals when mixed with fruits and yogurt.
- You can cook pancakes, or bake muffins, banana bread, crackers.
- Hard boiled or scrambled eggs.
- Mix vegetables and leftover chicken or beans and make a simple quesadilla
- You can buy cheap fruits and make fruit salad. A colorful salad has more nutrients, and it will be more appealing to the child. You can also put their favorite fruits on a bamboo skewer and make it more entertaining.
- You can buy sweet potatoes and bake them. They have a high content of vitamins, fiber, and minerals and they are better than regular potatoes.
- Children love sweet treats so you can make a healthy one by making yogurt popsicles filled with nuts or strawberries and this will be an excellent dessert.
- Blend fruits such as bananas, mangoes with yogurt to make a smoothie or mix with milk to make a milkshake.
- Do a snack mix and mix nuts, cereal, bananas and baked sweet potatoes to have different tastes in one snack,
Portion control is very important because if they take more than the required calories, it will make them obese. Talk to your child and let them know the importance of taking healthy snacks and why unhealthy snacks aren’t the best.