Healthy snacks for gannet children

[Notmycircusnotmyotter]

My children are always "starving". They eat balanced meals with protein and carbs as well as fruit / veggies and drink a lot of water, but they're hungry again between meals. They're very active and slim so I've no concerns.

If you have similarly hollow legged children, what do you let them eat as snacks? I don't want to fill them full of bread or UPFs or refined sugar. Currently they have fruit, Greek yog with a little honey, occasionally home made cheese straws, brioche, but I want to add more things into the mix and would really appreciate inspiration.

TIA!vhat

Look up low GI foods which burn slower and keep them fuller for longer:

-Oats, so home made flap jacks or porridge
-Peanut butter smeared inside celery stick. Can add raisins on top too if wanted.
-Boiled egg/s
-Nuts
-Hummus and veg sticks
-Falafel balls and hummus

Oatcakes with lump cheddar or if no allergy peanut butter or avocado spread grapes and cheese ( I’m obsessed with building up daughters’ ‘bone banks!), porridge ( bars) ; handful nuts; toasted seeds; dried fruit. Sweet potato chunks; carrot sticks etc and hummus.

Mine all used to love peanut butter. I have a mason jar that holds about a kilo and a half. It was often almost empty in about 10 days. I buy bags of roasted and salted peanuts and whizz them up to the desired consistency. Sliced apple with peanut butter. Peanut butter on toast with sliced banana. My daughter used to slice banana into rounds, put a dollop of PB on top and freeze.

Hummus and veg sticks or flat bread was my go to (I made focaccia at least once a week and also chapattis which are simple enough for older primary kids to make themselves - 6oz chapatti flour (or 50/50 whole meal and plain) punch of salt and pinch of baking powder then water to make into a dough, rest for 10 minutes then roll into flat breads, fry in a shallow pan or on a flat griddle (not sure of proper name for them). I also served the breads with cheat tzatziki - yogurt, mint sauce (the kind for lamb) finely chopped cucumber and a pinch of salt and sugar.

Don't spend a fortune on snacks. What's wrong with filling them up with brown bread & butter and an apple or banana each? If they are still ravenous after that, give them a glass of milk.

I have two slim hollow legged boys!
I often do a big plate of a mix of veg sticks (carrots, celery, peppers, bits of raw broccoli, cucumber etc) and sometimes boiled eggs cut up/ hummus etc when they get home from school whilst I’m cooking dinner.

other ideas:
crumpets (with either cheese and marmite, peanut butter, just butter etc)
pitta bread cut into sticks and hummus,
ice lollys,
cheese and pineapple sticks,
apple slices and peanut butter,
cheese (or soft cheese) and crackers,
pizza bagels/English muffins (tomato purée, cheese, whatever other toppings and under the grill)
Tortilla wraps - filled with anything, but banana and peanut butter is a current favourite, or could be made into quesadillas with cheese, chicken, even baked beans etc

Popcorn is great, cheap and healthy when homemade with a little salt!

Great ideas thanks!

Avocado, plain popcorn, cottage cheese, apples, carrots, wholemeal bagel or bread toasted with butter and marmite.

There’s nothing wrong with bread, we seem to have developed a fear of it!

I sometimes make a big batch of oat pancakes and “nutella” for after school snacks. The Nutella is super easy just whizz up dates, hazelnuts and cocoa powder with milk.
Or date balls are always a win here.
Sometimes it’s just apple with peanut butter or veggies with hummus to keep it real.

Bread is not the enemy and it's nice and filling.

Give them whole grain/seeded breads.

Malt loaf, simple fruit cake, pound cake, all nice with cheese.

Popcorn
Bagels with various toppings
Veggie sticks with dips
Cheese and crackers
Toast
Flapjacks

At the moment protein cereal, cheese straws (bought) Jarlsberg cheese slices, lots of berries, Grapefruit, but must admit Soleros, orange juice lollies, balsamic vinegar crisps, Jaffa cakes, Nature valley bars. The thing is though I have teenagers and if DH and I are not home they will not really bother making anything just eat snacks so I get them in or faced with starving comments when we get in.

My eldest will make massive sandwiches, my youngest doesn't really like bread but will snack on those olive oil small flat breads.

Overnight oats (other grains are available); chia pudding; cheese and crackers; homemade muesli; plain popcorn; nuts; dried fruit; fresh fruit; veggie sticks; homemade (bread machine) bread - various grains; pancakes; boiled eggs; leftovers; sandwiches; whatever they want to cook for themselves from basic ingredients; various shades of flapjack and savoury scones; 100% peanut butter in / on many of these things; greek style yoghurt and various fruit / nut / seed toppings; flatbreads with leftovers or pnb; egg fried (leftover) rice with whatever other meat / fish / veg inclusions they can scavenge from the fridge; large glass of full fat milk; homemade smoothie / milkshake.

Could your kids come up with inspiration for you (actually, for themselves, since they're the ones wanting snacks)? Maybe give them half an hour, access to a browser, and ask them to come up with their top ten things they'd like to snack on, within your UPF / refined sugar constraints.

Dates

We bought a box for the fridge with 4 compartments and fill them with peppers/cucumber/ carrot sticks etc. if they are hungry and they've already had a bg of crisps or whatever that's their only option now. They eat a surprising amount!

Sliced apples and almonds, or peanut butter to dip them in.
Humus and red pepper.

I always kept a box crammed full of veg sticks in the fridge, plus a couple of dippy things that could easily be dumped into a bowl. Breadsticks and cereal were also free for grabbing. Quesadillas are a useful snack to teach older kids to make; easy and inexpensive.

Apples slices and peanut butter
Hard boiled egg
Oat bars
Toast
Small bowl of cereal (Alphabites is a low UPF one)
Crackers and tzatiki
Hummus and veg sticks
Date based energy balls
Cheese cubes, breadsticks and raisins

Etc etc

Get a bread maker then bread is a perfectly good option as it’s non UPF. Peanut butter on toast etc.

I also can’t understand why bread is the enemy. Mine have whole meal pitta bread or bagels, whole meal wraps for quesadillas. I also get scones or make cheese ones.

At the moment they’re revising so on the weekend I made flapjacks and some low ish sugar fairy cakes for them to snack on.

I make home made popcorn all the time, it’s so easy I would never buy it.

sometimes I have those basic small cheese and tomato pizzas in, the own brand ones are surprisingly non UPF.

half a jacket potato with cheese and sweetcorn is a good snack.
Crackers with melted cheese.

chicken satay sticks.

Trail mix.

Home made smoothies.

They eat loads of fruit but sometimes need carbs!

Oatcakes. Roasted chickpeas. Boiled eggs. Fruit salad. Bowls of chopped up cucumber/tomato/red pepper with a sprinkling of grated cheese. Popcorn. Porridge. Wholemeal toast and cheese spread or a nut butter.