To think there should be more healthy snacks in the supermarket

[LovelyTeacakes]

I have two teenage sons who eat for England at the moment as they are both shooting up. They graze in-between meals has they are always hungry.

I'm finding it increasingly hard to find nutritious filling snacks to bulk out their lunch box. Supermarkets are filled with processed meat, cheese straws, crisps, sweet cereal bars etc etc. They only get a 45 minute lunch so it needs to be quick and easy.

Then we don't eat usually till 6:30 so they are starving after school. Again filling nutritious snacks are needed.

They do have toast or crackers sometimes but seem to crave unhealthy food.

Any ideas?

[Sooverthemill]

If you can make your own snacks from ingredients it's cheaper. So you could ( as an example) make popcorn and add flavouring, bake flapjacks using a low sugar recipe, healthier versions of muffins with oats and honey and frozen fruit, roast nuts/ beans and add spices, maybe cook some good quality sausages? I used to use a 'lunchbox ' type cookery book for relatively healthy snack type things to add to packed lunches. Anything ready made that is 'snack size ' will be expensive!

[Bittern11]

Teenage sons? Then they're old enough to buy theirn own lunches!

Go for complex carbs that will take longer for them to digest - oatcakes and hummus, crudites. Lots of fruit.

If you don't buy unhealthy food, they won't eat it!

Supermarket stock unhealthy foods because there's a demand for it.
Doesn't mean you have to buy it!

See www.superhealthykids.com/parenting/top-8-healthy-snacks-teenagers/
www.verywellfit.com/make-these-healthy-snacks-for-teens-2507181
www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/feeding-your-teenager#1
for some ideas

[Sooverthemill]

And you can just do this once a week or even get them to do it themselves!

[MsWoolf]

I think the answer is just not to buy anything processed and sold to you as a "snack'. Instead just nuts, seeds, fruits, carrot sticks, an actual piece of normal cheese, some cold chicken pieces with fajita spice etc that you have cooked from raw, not bought.

I mean, they do healthier "popped" crisps and stuff, but anything like that will still be high in salt. Back to basics works best for me.

[MoveOnTheCards]

Supermarkets are also heaving with healthy, quick food. You’re not being forced to buy the crap stuff they peddle.

Carrot sticks and hummus, 2 mins to prep if that. Or an apple? Banana? Oatcakes? Popcorn (plain)? Pre-cook some pasta to eat cold?

[MsWoolf]

I do sympathise though, supermarkets are a bloody minefield of crappy food.

[Sooverthemill]

Also do you realise younhave two different threads going on the exact same post?

[Harebel]

Agree with MsWoolf stop focussing on snacks and encourage them to choose fresh fruit, bananas are filling and nutritious.

[Babdoc]

OP, I’m in my sixties. When I was a teenager, snacking was not a thing. We just ate three good meals a day. Nobody needs to be continually grazing on junk!
Why not give your DC slow release healthy carbs in sufficient quantity to fill them at lunchtime, such as large wholemeal bread sandwiches? I used to take cheese “doorstops” to school (big thick sandwiches). The fat and protein in the cheese are also filling and slowly digested. You could include plenty of fruit with that.
Breakfast can be a big bowl of porridge and bran with fruit - again, filling for the whole morning. And a substantial evening dinner with lots of veg and whole grain rice/potatoes/pasta.
If they want snacks on top of all that, they can organise their own!
Supermarkets sell all kinds of food, healthy and unhealthy. It’s up to you what you actually buy in there. If you don’t want your family eating junk, don’t buy it.