Not-too-messy toddler snacks

[escher]

I'm looking for suggestions for healthy, vegetarian, not-too-messy snacks for our 15-month-old. We're happy to give him things like yogurt, nut butter, or hummus at meals, but he's a fairly messy eater and we need more ideas of things we can give him on the go. Apple slices, berries, pieces of bread, cheese sticks, and smoothies all work well for us, but we need more variety and more protein options. Any suggestions?

Thank you!

[newmamalizzy]

Hard-boiled eggs are good, and my DD loves raw tofu, pressed, cut into little cubes, then shaken up with some soy sauce. We do a lot of trail mixes with coconut flakes, dried fruit and nuts/seeds, but 15 months is a bit too young for that. Some other ideas are leftover pizza bites, grape tomatoes, steamed carrots, and hummus/pita sandwiches. This is still a challenge for us, too, so i hope you get sone good ideas.

[grethel]

At that age, some of my dd's favorite on-the-go snacks were beans (cooked but still firm - we just rinsed them and threw them into a container cool or at room temp) -- black, pinto, lima, etc), corn, peas (frozen peas and carrots are still one of her faves), edamame (bonus with edamame: high in protein, fiber and iron!). She also liked freeze dried peas and corn, freeze dried fruit (although that was more a treat than everyday snack), sunflower seeds, whole-grain tortilla slices, lightly steamed veggies like broccoli (so they're not as hard as raw -- I'd just steam them and then refrigerate them until we needed a snack). Homemade chewy granola bars also started to be a hit at that age (more like fruit-nut bars, like Lara bars). Banana, zucchini, pumpkin bread spread with cream cheese (or plain if the cream cheese is too messy -- I used to put them into sandwich form for taking out of the house).

[escher]

These are great suggestions! We're still trying to convince our son to eat eggs, but the idea of being able to use hard-boiled eggs as a snack is new motivation to keep trying. It's nice to imagine that some kinds of trail mix may be an option soon. The idea of steamed veggies is a smart one--I hadn't thought about those being an option when they are cold, but it makes sense that they would work. And I'm going to try to make some granola bars for him. Thank you!

[sageowl]

At that age, I mainly did granola bars, bananas, yogurt (added rice cereal to thicken it so it wouldn't be so runny), cereal, rice crackers, small cheese cubes, and frozen vegetables (thawed), beans/corn, and edamame.

[escher]

Thanks, Sageowl. Those are good suggestions.

[nilatti]

I bought my son an egg slicer at that age, and he loved slicing his own eggs for snack.

[escher]

Interesting! I can see why a toddler would love an egg slicer!

[marsupial-mom]

Edamame (shelled) cold with a bit of salt
Lima beans with a little oil or margarine
Mashed black beans or pinto beans
Cubed cold plain tofu (use a high quality brand of silken tofu)
Corn tortillas slightly warmed
Peanut butter (or almond or cashew butter) and jelly sandwiches
Oatmeal (ok it might get a little messy but it's easy to clean and won't stain anything)
Cold cereal no milk
Crackers
Raisins/dried cranberries/ dried blueberries
muffins/ energy bars
Veggie deli slices
veggie meat balls
Hummus pita

[escher]

Thanks, Marsupial-mom! Those are some excellent suggestions!

[Shanesmom]

Let's see, I have a 16 month old.....he snacks on.....

String cheese
Olives
Berries
Banana
Cold cereal
Loves peas!
Sliced mushrooms
Mini pancakes
Orange slices

I'm the kind of mom who wants their kids to eat their meals, so I'm not big on snacks in between. hope I helped a bit

[tracyamber]

sweet potato...in slices

[escher]

Thanks! We'll have to try those!

[demeter888]

Hi,

My son is big in to fruit and not very in to beans and grains.  I just roll with it and try to give him bread or pasta at least twice a day and otherwise he is in to fruit/dairy.

I'd like to add (I apologize if I didn't see already):

bowtie pasta tossed with thick-grated parmesan or tiny cubed chicken or egg, etc

pieces of cheese (I buy cracker barrell's mild cheddar individually wrapped after much experimentation)

grapes sliced in half

cut up grilled cheese (is still good not hot too)

Cubed tomato with mozarella (my son will pick up an entire tomato and eat it like an apple)

obviously: strawberries and melons

blueberries are perfect and nutritious

shrimp

fish sticks (haven't tried yet and kinda eeyew but wortha shot)

My son's day care fed the other babies cereal, crackers, or trail mix at snack times.  While these are certainly less messy, I don't feel that processed foods are something to feed more than once a day or even week and they tend to be really high in sodium.  But I will sometimes do a tuna salad squished between some crackers or bread.  If you make the tuna salad and squish it really well into the bvread it's not messy.

I Love the idea of an egg slicer!

Egg tip: Unfortunately my son doesn't prefer boiled eggs: I got him into eggs by serving scrambled, gourmet style. I have to beat them really hard in a large bowl with a good whisk and add a tiny tiny amount of water just to get them to a foam-like stage then cook on very low heat with lots of butter and remove early to finish cooking on the plate. These are like butter clouds and even better with a tiny bit of cheese.

ETA: By processed foods I mean highly processed: I realize that some processed foods are good for bebe, like whole grain bread etc.