With a whirlwind of outdoor activities, day trips and late bedtimes in the summer, healthy eating often takes a backseat to convenience. That’s why we’ve come up with some healthy, easy and delicious snacks to stand up to even the hardest temptations.
Below are five on-the-go snack and meal ideas in order of how long they take to prepare. We started with the easiest (1 minute) and worked our way toward the most ambitious (5+ minutes).
- Grab and Go. Of all the ready-made snacks, some are certainly better than others (and nearly all of them are better than ice cream every day at the pool snack bar!). To keep kids full longer, consider adding these few pre-packaged but minimally (or not at all) processed snacks. Individually portioned hummus, guacamole or nut butters as dips can serve as a mini meal. Bars, like Larabars, and fruit are easy and great options.
- Trail Mix. Good, old-fashioned trail mix is easy to make at home. Throw in any cereal, pretzel, dried fruit, chocolate chips, seeds and nuts in a big zip lock. Turn it into an activity and put out some choices the night before and let your kids make their own custom snack mix to hit the road with. This has a bit more sugar, but when you stack it against other snacks, it still packs on the fruit, protein and whole grain servings.
- Whole-Wheat Pita Pizza. Pita pizza wraps take all of four steps: open fridge, take out toppings and pita (or wraps), assemble, press in a hot sandwich maker or toss it in a microwave. REPEAT!
- Fruit and Yogurt. Freeze your yogurt in advance to give yourself a couple hours of defrosting time before eating it on the road. Pack fruit in containers, or you can even layer them on skewer sticks and wrap in aluminum.
- Whole Wheat Pancakes with Nut or Seed Butter. Spread nut butter or maple syrup between two pancakes for fun sandwiches on the road. Try our banana pancakes or make your own. Kodiak Flapjacks, available at Target and other groceries is an even easier version that’s whole wheat, with minimal ingredients.
Healthy eating, much like your summer, is a journey and adventure. Try your best, have patience and mostly importantly have fun!
