TF on-the-go snacks for toddlers/preschoolers??

[kellykins]

I posted this over at cookingtf, but mothering is much more chatty so I thought I would double post

I am trying really hard to cut out the "boxes" from our life and get at least 90% TF. We have a hard time with snacks...goldfish, pretzels, graham crackers, cheerios, etc keep finding thier way into my pantry. My ds was dairy sensitive as a teeny babe, so Ive been dairy free as has he. DD and DH on the other hand can.

I'm looking and trying to rack my brain for some TF friendly, portable ideas for us for snacks!! halp!

[roseoffred]

I just got on to look for the same thing. My Mil usually watches ds once a week and either doesn't feed him at all or feeds him cookies or some other such thing. He comes home on either a sugar high or low. It makes me furious! I always send him with food but its too messy, he wasn't hungry, he didn't like it blah blah. I'm beginning to think she doesn't even look in the bag.

Tomorrow I'm sending sliced cheese, popcorn (home-made), carob chews (from nourishing traditions) and crispy pecans. Not terribly well balanced but I just don't know what else to send.

[kellykins]

For this reason only - I am glad my momma is in FL and I am in IN! My kids would be hopped up on froot snax and lil hug "drinks" all the time!!!

See, I'd do nuts and popcorn for big sis, but Logan is just shy of a year...I would be afraid of choking.

[highlandmum]

cubed raw milk cheese, 'snack mixes' like nuts, berries, seeds, etc., there are some great snack ideas in NT, breads with nut butters, ... I'll see if I can think of any others.....

[emmaegbert]

I'm having trouble w/ this too- DD is just shy of 15m and she really can't handle nuts or popcorn or dried fruit,- at least not safely yet. And we're vegetarian. Cheese, fruit, works. I also will cut strips off her big brother's sprouted-grain-bread sandwiches. I do make them low- or no-grain muffins, and I pre-chop the seeds and raisins that i put in, so that works okay for her. She loves berries, kefir-fruit smoothies, and sprouted-lentil-and-veggie stew. Fine snacks at home, but none of these are really tidy when on the go. Oh, and she doesn't like eggs or avocados. the little troublemaker. Those were my go-to snacks when her bro was little.

I never buy any processed grainy stuff for the kiddos (no pretzels, crackers, etc) but then I am kind of at a loss as to what to give her! I know by age 2 or so it will be much easier when she can properly chew...

She LOVES those nori seaweed snacks. And I have resorted to some (plain) puffed kamut. I consider both of these snacks that keep her busy w.out providing much nutrition...

[provocativa]

meatballs are great. you can cook them and freeze them. over time gluten free i've come to realize how much people in the US are afraid to touch meat. why? because they have to wipe their hands a bit afterward? not all meat is covered in ecoli nor will it grow such on you every time you touch it. we do lots of meat snacks- thinly sliced ham rolled up, braunschweiger bites. . . you can freeze anything and it will thaw on the road, but mostly we just bring cold bags with us. i also reached a point in my studies where i came to believe that for my family, occaisional nitrates are better than constant carbs. so now that we're old enough, they will eat msg-free beef jerky if we have a snack emergency, rather than chips! my mom made homemade granola bars when we were kids. i also made tf gelatin bars- kind of like a fruit roll-up married to a jello jiggler. but i stopped that when i began to believe that we all eat too much fruit, and that fruit was one of the easy to understand things others could give them.

you know you're a tf mama when yr car looks like someone lived in it from all of the kefir smoothies spilled in there. . . .

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by provocativa

meatballs are great. you can cook them and freeze them. over time gluten free i've come to realize how much people in the US are afraid to touch meat. why? because they have to wipe their hands a bit afterward? not all meat is covered in ecoli nor will it grow such on you every time you touch it. we do lots of meat snacks- thinly sliced ham rolled up, braunschweiger bites. . . you can freeze anything and it will thaw on the road, but mostly we just bring cold bags with us. i also reached a point in my studies where i came to believe that for my family, occaisional nitrates are better than constant carbs. so now that we're old enough, they will eat msg-free beef jerky if we have a snack emergency, rather than chips! my mom made homemade granola bars when we were kids. i also made tf gelatin bars- kind of like a fruit roll-up married to a jello jiggler. but i stopped that when i began to believe that we all eat too much fruit, and that fruit was one of the easy to understand things others could give them.

you know you're a tf mama when yr car looks like someone lived in it from all of the kefir smoothies spilled in there. . . .

Provocativa, do you do meatballs cold? I'd love to hear more about your various meat snacks. If ds could do corn, I'd prob do a lot more pre-packaged meats (lunchmeats, etc.) for snacks. (I personally have a pepperoni obsession, and work on getting good sources of it, but resort to the bad stuff at times...I just it...

HB eggs--did anyone mention these as a great snack on the go? I often will peel them and throw them in a baggie w/ salt and pepper so they are ready to eat.

I'm also thinking of doing up big batches of mini muffins, coconut flour style--very nourishing IMO, and easy/not too messy to eat because they are little. I keep baked goods in the freezer and find taking out a couple to thaw works well on the go too...

Smoothies in a sippy cup. My new favorite smoothie is (homemade) coconut milk yogurt (I'd do dairy based yogurt if we tolerated it) w/ greens and berries, a little vanilla extract (I use a little stevia to counteract the sourness of the yogurt, but you could use honey or a banana instead), all together in the blender. YUM! Ds LOVES it as well, and its pretty filling as its so full of good fats. If you did it w/ real milk/yogurt, then you'd get the protein benefits too...

[velcromom]

I just read in a blog about drying sauerkraut in a dehydrator to make a crunchy snack. Don't know if that sounds brilliant or horrible, but I'm willing to try it!

[happysmileylady]

My dd is 20 months old. For us, most snacks are either fruits or cheese. We occasionally throw some cheerios in but for the most part, raw fruits, raw veggies, or cheese slices/cubes/sticks are our go to snacks. I just buy whatever is on sale so we are always rotating anyway.

[kellykins]

How do you make your own coconut milk yogurt?????

[FairyRae]

Here is one method for making coconut milk yogurt from another MDC mama Kathy: http://www.kathysrecipebox.com/?p=136

This time I just bought so delicious vanilla coconut milk yogurt, used half of a container (single serving size) and added that to two cans of coconut milk, all in a sterile (just poured boiling water in it) jar, added a couple tsp maple syrup to feed the good buggies, stirred it all up (with a sterile spoon) and put it in my yogurt maker for 24 hours. (I'm REALLY bad at being sterile a/b this, and don't boil my coconut milk first, as I figure it was sterilized prior to canning. I know that is terrible, and just don't do what I do! But we are all alive, which I'm happy for. ) Anyway, it is tangy and delish, and I couldn't even taste the vanilla flavor of the so delicious, or the maple syrup which I think was munched up by the good bugs. (I even used it in my mashed cauliflower, and it had a sour creamy taste, so seriously it came out kind of like plain yogurt ) I didn't thicken it, hence using it in smoothies. But I'm thinking to try using chia seeds to thicken again sometime soon, just doing it right before eating, letting it sit for 10 minutes, then blending. (See my chia yogurt experiment/failure here if you're interested.) We'll see about that though--I might not get around to it. These yogurt smoothies are easy and delicious!

You can make coconut milk kefir w/ kefir grains in coconut milk as well--a lot simpler than making yogurt too...(but I do LOVE the taste of yogurt )

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by velcromom

I just read in a blog about drying sauerkraut in a dehydrator to make a crunchy snack. Don't know if that sounds brilliant or horrible, but I'm willing to try it!

Would the enzymes and such still be there? Seems like they would--that is AWESOME!

[mama2mygirl]

Broccoli is working out great for my baby. She's six months older than yours though. I think she was eating it whole at one. Chick peas are great. If you are worried about choking, hummus is a good take-along. (Obviously not great in the car seat though) I make my own sourdough loaf each day and we all eat a lot of that.

[mama2mygirl]

Also cooked sweet potato--yummy and a nonchoker, totally.

[Faliciagayle]

our go to snacks are: cheese, deviled or plain hard eggs, nuts & raisins, and fruit & peanut or almond butter. If she's in a sitting mood, I can sometimes get in cottage cheese or yogurt. DD has an alarming capacity for raw chocolate milk, which isn't exactly a snack, but satiates

She frequently (daily ) asks for PB&J which we do on sprouted bread (ezekiel) and I save the bits she doesn't eat for snacks later.

[serenbat]

frozen peas defrost really fast and are great on the go, string beans too (I par-boil them and freeze them)

[alireb]

any fruit, veggies, hard boiled eggs, hummus (in a little container), turkey slices

[tngirl11]

Everyone has pretty much already mentioned most of the stuff that I normally feed my kids for snacks (fruits, veggies, cheese, etc) but I wanted to add that I periodically bake cookies that my kids love for snacks. I know that sounds bad, but I make them with sprouted flour and honey, so I figure they're actually pretty nutritious, especially when they contain lots of butter and eggs. I usually just use any regular cookie recipe and just swap in my healthy ingredients for the bad ones.

[tanyalynn]

When I need a sweet baked good when everyone else is eating one (we're gluten/dairy free, so the kids already _can't_ share many snacks), I use this grain-free cookie recipe (almond butter, eggs, some type of sugar, plus salt/vanilla, etc), the sweetener amount is adjustable and almond butter/eggs are healthy enough for us...

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/...r-cookies.html

This blog has other recipes that may be of interest too.

I've also recently started buying and craving dried fish. They have them at my Asian market in the refrigerated section--the first ones I found that weren't refrigerated had a lot more salt and sugar and spices, but the ones in the refrigerated section are just anchovies and salt. They're shockingly addictive.

[leila1213]

Larabars!!! You can make them yourself too. Pretty easy, but not a huge savings if you can stock up on them on sale.