Stocking Your Fridge with Healthy Snacks
Families are so busy these days that planning and prepping ahead are a necessity. Here are a couple of ideas to help you stock your fridge with healthy, nutritious snacks a week in advance.
A balanced snack for kids is a carbohydrate (which can be a grain or a fruit) paired with a little protein or dairy. At the start of the week, try pre-planning 3 different carbohydrates and 3 protein or dairy options to have ready in the fridge to make packing school snacks or after school snacks a breeze.
Ex)
| Carbohydrate | Protein |
| Mandarin orange
Small homemade muffin (pulled from the freezer) Grapes |
Individually wrapped cheese
Beef jerky Greek yogurt |
Having these items washed, portioned in baggies or containers and set aside allows for quick and easy snacks, with 9 different combination possibilities. You can always change up the type of fruit, muffin, yogurt and/or cheese for more variety.
- Orange and cheese
- Orange and jerky
- Orange and yogurt
- Muffin and cheese
- Muffin and jerky
- Muffin and yogurt
- Grapes and cheese
- Grapes and jerky
- Grapes and yogurt
Some other favorites snack options that can be easily put into rotation are:
- Smoothies (make extra and freeze as popsicles for later in the week)
- Crackers with hummus and/or veggies
- Grapes and dried black beans
- Homemade energy balls
- Tomato and boiled eggs
- Cottage cheese and fruit
- Banana roll-up (a wrap with nut or seed butter rolled up with a banana)
- Nut or seed and dried fruit mixture
- Apple and nut or seed butter
- Ants on a log (celery, nut or seed butter, and raisins)
- Egg muffins with fruit
- Homemade mini pizza bagels (mini bagels or English muffin, tomato sauce, leftover ham and cheese)
Taking a few minutes to plan and about 30 minutes to execute over the weekend keeps you organized trough out the busy week. For example, when I make muffins, I make mini muffins as well so I can have snacks to stock our freezer. Homemade mini bagel pizzas are also easy to make ahead and freeze. Keeping your freezer stocked for easy snacks will be a blessing during the busy weeks ahead!
By Kelsey Hagen – Registered Dietitian (Nutritionist)