I have found that if I bring food to school with me when I pick up the girls I have a much more pleasant afternoon. By 3:30 they are starving and I have made the error of trying to get all the way home and through cooking dinner a few too many times. It usually results in a fight over whether Ella can have cereal right when I am about to put dinner on the table.
I started brining snacks, but they would usually be kids protein or granola bars. Kinda meh.
Here are some new ideas I came up with:
THE CROWD PLEASER
Apple and dark chocolate chips.
FRUIT AND CHEESE TO GO
BBQ LETTUCE WRAPS
(Ella did not like it, but Chloe did and I got to eat Ella’s.)
Leftover chicken, avocado, lime and iceberg lettuce.
Do you guys have any other ideas for good after school snacks? I would love it if you could share some in the comments below.
I just made these and had them as a kid. Easy and I add green onions : )
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/crescent-chicken-squares/
sauteed yellow squash, orange sweet pepper, black beans, and heat tortillas in a little butter. Really delicious.
How about freshly ground almond butter from Whole Foods on brown rice cakes, or apples, or carrots, or celery? You could add currants or dark chocolate chips if you want to sweeten it up. Guacamole with organic blue corn chips? Mozzarella slices with tomato slices and some … what’s that green stuff? Not mint … Basil. Fritos (I know, they’re completely GMO … okay, some kind of chip, but Fritos are the best) with 2% Knudsen’s Cottage Cheese. Yoplait original yogurt and almond butter.
I pack my daughters lunch for preschool and give her 3 kids of protein in it like yogurt, PB sandwhich and cheese stick or nuts. That’s in addition to snacks and fruits/veggies. What she didn’t eat gets eaten while we bike home.
“Ants on a log” (celery sticks with the hollow filled full with peanut butter and then dot the top all the way down with raisins). Greek yogurt of choice with the little sides of fruit, honey or mix-ins (or bring your own favorite mix-ins like granola, fresh fruit, dark chocolate chips and nuts, etc.) Little single serving cottage cheese with fresh fruit (or canned pears or peaches even). Fill a little tub with peanut (or other nut) butter and throw in some dark chocolate chips, plus bring little individual milk cartons to wash it down. Take sliced ham, slather in cream cheese, lay a few spears of cooked or marinated asparagus on it in the middle, then roll up (spear with a toothpick to keep rolled as necessary). Beef jerky (my kids love this stuff!). Tomato slices with small mozzarella cheese balls, drizzled in olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar, with some salt and basil (one of my girls in particular could eat her weight in this.) Slices of ham, turkey, or summer sausage, and slices of favorite cheese, stacked on cracker of choice. Two pieces of graham cracker with generous amounts of peanut butter sandwiched in between, with milk. Half a peanut butter and banana sandwich (slice the bananas on top of the pb or mash them and mix them in the pb, as your family prefers–if you mix it in, adding a touch of mayonnaise makes it creamier and easier to stir and eat, just don’t tell the kids.) Chunky dip of black beans, corn, chopped cilantro, diced avocado, diced tomato, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Make it ahead of time, bring in a tupperware bowl, and all of you eat it with some lime or regular tortilla chips. Tuna or chicken salad and crackers (if they like tuna or chicken salad). (My children won’t touch tuna salad, but one will just eat a mini pop-top can of tuna straight out of the can, which is a good afternoon snack in itself.) Take soft goat cheese, smoosh it all around a red grape to make a little ball, then roll in crushed walnuts or pecans til very well covered (a little bit of a pain to make, but oh-so-yummy mouth size bites of goodness). Apple slices and peanut butter. Nuts of whatever type or mix. Rollups of deli meat and cheese. And I thought your lettuce wrap idea was great!
my mom used to make us “pita pitza” – you take a pita (whole wheat, somehow she managed to trick us haha) put some pizza sauce and mozzarella and toast it – so yummy we loved it! Or “cheesy” squares – cheese on whole wheat bread put in the toaster – so yummy – both require toasting but those where all time favorite after school snacks
Thanks Chloe!!