Children are back to school! Busy schedule and active day. For many children after school is the hungriest time of the day. Often times children get home ravenous and ready to eat down the fridge. Many parents and caregivers struggle to figure out the best options to feed ravenous hangry children so that it won’t spoil their appetite for dinner.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD AFTER SCHOOL SNACK?
Children are going through an enormous amount of growth and development and need nourishment. Consider offering some of the foods that are often trickier to get them to eat since this is a time they are most hungry. For example, if your child doesn’t love veggies at lunch be sure to offer some of these such as raw veggies with hummus or Greek yogurt, celery with nut butter, smoothie or veggies muffins.
WHY AFTER SCHOOL SNACKS ARE TRICKY?
Depending on what time your family eats dinner, a hearty after school snack can cause children to be too full at dinner time. And children who come to the table full won’t want to eat much (if any) dinner and they definitely won’t be as receptive to trying new foods or recipes. Your goal is to strike a balance between quelling hunger and making sure they still have an appetite at dinner.
IDEAS FOR AFTER SCHOOL SNACKS
Every child is different and that includes their appetite. Yours may be going through a growth spurt that makes them perpetually hungry. Or your child may have a smaller appetite and tend to fill up faster.
You know your children best, and different families need different solutions. But here are some ideas to get you started, depending on how far out you are from sitting down to dinner.
IF DINNER IS 3 (OR MORE) HOURS AWAY
You want a snack with some staying power, including carbohydrates for energy, and protein and fat to keep them fuller longer.
- Greek yogurt parfait
Layer greek yogurt with fresh or frozen berries in a tall glass. Top with a sprinkle of granola.
- Mashed avocado on toast
- Nut butter with banana wrap
Spread 2 tbsp of nut butter (any kind of nut or seed butter) onto a whole grain wrap and top with a sliced banana. Wrap the tortilla up, cut the wrap into bite sized pieces.
- Tortilla chips with hummus
- Half of sandwich and a glass of milk
- Overnight oats
This version of oats requires no cooking and is prepared the night before. The basic recipe is equal parts milk, greek yogurt and rolled oats. Place the ingredients in a container in the fridge and the oats will soak up the liquids overnight. Toss in your favourite toppings such as fresh fruit, cinnamon, or nuts in the morning.
- Green smoothie made with yogurt, milk, frozen fruits and a scoop of nut butter. Check out 6 Steps to Make a Smarter Smoothie.
- Hard-boiled egg
These can made up to a week ahead of time and stored in the fridge with the shells on.
IF DINNER IS 2 HOURS AWAY
The idea is to suppress their hunger with foods that are tasty but quick and easy to digest, so they’re still hungry for dinner later. Serve something light but satisfying.
- Trail mix
A very easy recipe includes: plain Cheerios, raisins, almonds, pecan, pumpkin seeds, the ingredients can be easily customized to your tastes.
- Homemade popcorn + apple slices or berries
- Whole grain crackers + banana
- Apple slices with nut or seed butter
Pre-slice an apple with 2 tbsp of nut butter to dip.
- Homemade smoothie popsicle
- Small bowl of whole grain cereal
- Edamame beans
These can usually be found in the frozen aisle.
- Cheese stick + pretzels
- Small handful of nuts + cup of unsweetened applesauce)
- Cheese cubes and fruits
Cube a palm-sized amount of cheese to go along with grapes, strawberries, kiwi or other fruits of your choice.
- Granola bar with fruits (Family Friendly On-the-Go Granola Bar)
- One or two energy bites (Chocolate Chia Power Balls and No Bake Lentil Power Balls)
- Chia pudding (Coconut Blueberry Chia Pudding)
- Roasted chickpeas
Take a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas, toss with oil, and bake for 20 minutes at 400F. When out of the oven, sprinkle with your favourite seasonings such as paprika, cajun, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, chilli powder, etc.
- Muffins (Blueberry Orange Yogurt Muffins and Apple Carrot Bran Muffins)
- Homemade cookies (Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cranberry and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies)
- Muffin-tin omelettes
Easy, mini-baked omelets are perfect to make ahead of the week. You can use some of your favorite omelet ingredients but you can switch it up and add whatever you like or have on hand.
IF DINNER IS 1 HOUR AWAY
You want to tread carefully in this time-frame, since many snacks can spoil their appetite for dinner. Serve veggies.
This was the strategy I settled on with my eldest son, and it worked wonders! Our house rule was “only veggies in the hour before dinner.” I’d offer both the veggies I was prepping for dinner and any veggie in the fridge.
The beauty of this rule: Your children will come to the dinner table with a serving or more of veggies already in their bellies. Or if they chose to opt out of the pre-dinner veggie snack, they’re still hungry for dinner.
- Raw, sliced veggie sticks with hummus (Quick and Easy Chickpea Hummus)
- Crunchy salad greens with a favorite dressing (Curry Yogurt Dressing)
- Vegetable salad (Broccoli Split Pea Salad and Carrot and Apple Salad)
- Cooked veggies you’re serving with dinner
- Kale chips.
IF IT DOESN’T WORK
Consider moving dinner earlier or later. Ditch the rules you have about what time you must eat dinner or waiting for husband to come home for dinner. After your children going to day care or preschool, your family schedule need to be changed. You can have a small after school snack, earlier dinner at 5pm or 6 pm, and small bedtime snack (8-9 pm); or having a large after school snack and later dinner, both are healthy options. Try out a few options and see what works best for your family schedule.
If your children just can’t get by without a big, filling snack after school, pushing dinner later might be the solution.
BOTTOM LINE
When your children get older, schedules shift and appetites grow, and your snack and dinner strategy will likely change too. Do what works for your family now.
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