[SoggyGranolaMomma]

After discussing it on the GD board, I figured I'd bring it over here.

If I am going to have a "self serve" station for snacks, what kinds of things would you recommend me stocking?

 

[onlyzombiecat]

My dd is 6 and we have a "snack basket" and a fruit bowl. Right now the snack basket has graham crackers, pretzels, peanuts and dried blueberries. The fruit bowl has red apples, green apples, oranges and bananas.
Were you thinking about just non-perishable no prepare food items?

 

[SoggyGranolaMomma]

Yeah pretty much. I try to have formal "snack time" a few times a day in between "meal times" where I would fix something for them like yogurts and sliced fruits or something.

This needs to be something "self serve" for a 4 and 3 yr old.

 

[Thadea]

I just keep a fruit bowl in the fridge. Some kids can eat whole fruits sooner than others. I think a whole piece of fruit is fine for a three year old who knows that eating and running don't mix, but some parents are uneasy with giving their kids a piece of fruit to bite in to. I find that smaller fruits still work better, as in the apples that come packaged in three pound bags or the family pack of nongigantic peaches or the little blue prune plums that come out in the fall.

 

[MamaTaraX]

I used to have, and need to have again, a muffin pan in the fridge filled with cold goodies (carrot and celery sticks, raisins, etc) When the ants aren't in season I would have a bseket with crackers and fruit leathers on the counter, we still have a dish with fruit leathers in the bread drawer. Fruit is always on the counter. My 3-yr-old has only been able to open the fridge by himself for a few months (just tuend three) so I need to get back in the habit of making a self serve. I loved it with my oldest (and was dang proud to have come up with the idea myself!) Oh the muffin tin was cool because it kept food cold and there were little spots for everything. If one ran out, he (oldest son) would not be too unhappy because there were 5 other holes full of things

Namaste, Tara

 

[Jmo780]

I have one section in the fridge filled with applesauce, yougurt & pudding (yea the pudding isn't the best thing, but..)

and another with apples and sometimes oranges/blackberries etc...

I have bananas always sitting on the countertop-

A good idea, if you are unsure of giving your child a whole piece of fruit, cut one or 2 up, put them in little containers and keep them in the fridge, that way they have little pieces of fruit, vs a huge piece that could pose a choking hazard

 

[MrsCorell]

Snacks on hand at our house is always cherry tomatoes, grapes, apple slices, cheese cubes, crackers (wheat things, graham crackers, ritz), yogurt, raisins. I think that's about it.

 

[frogguruami]

I have a basket that has single serve microwave popcorn, organic fruit leather, and little tupperware containers (1/3 cup I think) with Annie's Cheese Crackers and Kashi Mighty Kids Cereal (my kids don't know it is cereal, I call them crackers

)

There is also bananas and I prewash some fruit and put it in a bowl inthe fridge. The kids know it is clean and they can get it whenever they want.

I will, on occasion, make organic natural PB and homemade organic jam sammie and cut them into quarters and put them in the fridge so they can grab one or two of those for snacks.

AM

 

[jkpmomtoboys]

I have a shelf (or two) in the pantry that is stocked with a variety of things they can have whenever they're hungry: fruit roll-ups (well, the healthy kind), graham crackers, dried fruit, nuts, Puffins, Joe's O's, whole wheat pretzels, whole wheat crackers, things like that. There are also whole wheat bread and whole wheat bagels to top with things like cream cheese.