Simple Healthy Snack Ideas for You and Your Kids

This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see our full disclosure for further information. If not otherwise stated, all prices are intended in US$.

It’s incredibly easy when you get hungry to reach for what’s easy and convenient. Most of the time that means something in a box or a bag that we bought prepackaged from the grocery store. We have become a society of convenience, eating fast food, microwaved meals, or whatever we can easily grab in the pantry. But convenience and health don’t always go hand in hand, especially when what we are grabbing is usually chips or cookies.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t snack or that snacking should require a lot of preparation. Having kids in the house, and I’ll have to admit I’m a 24 hour a day snacker too, we are always on the lookout for easy food to eat while we head to the park, outside to kick a ball, or even into the other room to build with Legos or put together a puzzle. We never stop moving around here, and so our snacks can’t be complicated either.

We need something we can toss into a bowl or into a napkin and run. Over the years, I think my toddler and I have come up with a great list of things we can grab quickly from the fridge or pantry, and most of them can be prepared ahead of time for little fingers. I think you’ll be surprised how quick and easy these snacks can be! Let’s check some of them out.

1) Apples and peanut butter
2) Crackers and cheese
3) Apples and cheese
4) Chopped up veggies: bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots, celery, radishes, broccoli, sugar snap peas, cauliflower…
5) Whole wheat tortilla and lunch meat
6) Yogurt and berries
7) Celery and peanut butter
8) Homemade granola
9) Whole wheat toast with jam and banana
10) Whole wheat tortilla with cheese and pasta sauce
11) Chips and salsa
12) Chips and cheesy bean dip
13) Veggies and hummus
14) Whole wheat tortilla with spinach and hummus
15) Mixed nuts
16) Boiled eggs
17) Grilled cheese in the oven
18) Fruit: watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, apples, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, oranges…
19) Mexican tortilla pizzas
20) Homemade fruit leather
21) Homemade applesauce
22) Roasted chickpeas
23) Watermelon/honeydew sherbet
24) Sweet potato chips
25) Kale chips
26) Dried fruit
27) Cinnamon apple chips
28) Yogurt parfait
29) Frozen peas
30) Cream cheese and cucumber sandwich

Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Obviously, you can get fresh fruits and veggies at the grocery store as is, or even get them pre-chopped for you. I wouldn’t try to get them all at the same time, but try to mix it up each week so they are getting something new and interesting. Both fruit and veggies can be served in a variety of ways as well. They can be frozen, roasted,  dried in a dehydrator or in the oven, they can be made into fruit leather or smoothies, they can be frozen into popsicles, used to flavor yogurt or applesauce, frozen they can be turned into sherbet, or they can even be made into chips.

Related Articles:

Teaching Kids to Be Healthy From the Beginning

5 Quick and Easy Healthy Meals for Your Kids at Dinnertime

Make Your Own Items

Mixed nuts I get from the bins at our local health food store, Sprouts, when they are on sale rather than getting them in the pre-portioned tubs, because the tubs are more expensive and contain tons of sugar, table salt and flavoring. Items like bean dip, pasta sauce, jam, hummus, applesauce, yogurt, refried beans and salsa can all be made very easily at home for relatively cheap, with few ingredients.

Chips, tortillas, granola, crackers and bread we also like to make ourselves. My toddler has already learned a great deal about making our own food in his short lifespan, and as a bonus, it’s lots of fun to do together. You get to use the ingredients you like the most, mix and match for different flavors, and they are extremely healthy for you!

Fun and Easy Snacks

We make our grilled cheese sandwiches in the oven by simply combining two slices of bread with a huge slice of cheddar cheese from the block on a cookie sheet in the oven under low broil. A few minutes until browned on one side and a few minutes until browned on the other and voila! Simple, healthy, fast and effortless.

Tortilla pizzas are the same and you can use different ingredients. Want a Mexican style pizza? Put some refried beans, salsa and cheese on a corn tortilla (or better yet, let your kids do the work) and you’ve got taco pizzas. For a more traditional pizza, try pasta sauce, cheese and hamburger. You can even toss chopped up veggies on your pizza for an even healthier snack.

And each and every one of these is delicious for me as well. I find myself making the same snacks for myself regardless of whether my little one is going to indulge as well.

I don’t want to leave you hanging though. I hint at so many great snacks but then I don’t include the recipes?? What?! For some of the bigger projects like pasta sauce, you’ll have to be on the lookout for those recipes on my blog.

But I’ve got a deal for you today! I’m going to write up some of the easier recipes for you and offer them to you as a FREE BONUS for subscribing to my Recipe blog right now. Get recipes like the ones for roasted chickpeas, salsa, boiled eggs and veggie chips right now by signing up for my bonus. I’ll give you a second…

While you’re waiting to get that in your email, I’ll give you a couple fun recipes right now! Now I do a lot of canning in my house. I make most of my own food products like carrots, green beans, marinara sauce, applesauce, refried beans, jams, etc. and then can them up so they last for a really long time, but canning isn’t necessary to enjoy some of these wonderful foods.

Homemade Applesauce

Ingredients:

• Apples

Instructions:

Fill a large crockpot with apple slices. I don’t know exactly how many apples it’s going to take. It just depends on the apples you choose and the size of your crockpot. Just chop your apples in half and half again. Cut out the cores (the peels on or off is completely up to you) and cut each piece in half one more time and toss them in.

Cook on high for a few hours, or on low and leave all day long. No additions necessary as apples are super sweet and flavorful all by themselves. I like to hit them with my immersion blender in the end to make it super smooth, but that’s not necessary either as the apples will be incredibly soft and easy to stir up.

Store your applesauce in the refrigerator, freezer, or eat it right away.

Mixed Berry Jam

Ingredients:

• Fresh strawberries, blackberries and blueberries
• 1/2 cup honey

Instructions:

Just like in the above recipe, I simply dump all of my berries into my large crockpot until it’s full and then squeeze about 1/2 cup of honey on top. Without the sugar from the honey, it won’t thicken up for you.

Cook on high all day with the lid on. When the fruit has wilted and softened, I then once again hit the mixture with my immersion blender to make it nice and smooth. Then take the lid off of the crockpot and continue cooking until it reaches the thickened consistency you want.

You can store it in the refrigerator, freezer, or even eat it right away. Yum! This is my favorite jam!

I told you this could be easy. Enjoy! Here’s that bonus once again for you.

Pin It!