AIBU to ask for on the go snack ideas for toddler?

[Slatternforlife]

DS is a big boy and loves his food but I’ve noticed things like rice cakes, puffs etc don’t fill him up as a snacks (they are pretty much air!) so I’m looking for some on the go snack ideas

He doesn’t like raw veg, I give him fruit, raisins, hummus on baby rice cakes to make them more filling, sometimes the baby biscotti but I don’t like giving those really

I make pancakes and give those sometimes, or lentil bites. But they’re usually in the freezer so handier to have at home when they can be heated up

Does anyone have any go to snack ideas? I feel like we are falling into the Ella’s abs Organix convenience snacks a lot and he seems to want more of those kinds of things so I don’t think they fill him up. I also don’t want to fill him with these on the regular.

Flapjacks, banana, breakfast muffins, homemade oat biscuits

Cheese! Tiny slithers of chedder and breadsticks is DS2s go-to snack.

Bananas are probably the most filling fruit but they tend to get squished out and about.

I found a recipe on the Instagram account “what mummy makes” for carrot pancakes. It’s grated carrot, milk, flour and egg, little bit of cheese, fried as small scotch pancake sized portions. They take 2 mins to make and DD loves them, and there is a recipe for similar with sweetcorn instead of carrot.

Cheese cubes or babybels, little sandwiches with peanut butter or cream cheese.

On the go we tend to go for convenience - things that can be chucked in the bag without much prep and things that can be held whilst walking along - bananas, cereal bars, crisps such as Pom bears or Aldi veg sticks, squeezy yoghurt pouches, mini cheese like baby bells. Sometimes a pot of blueberries / grapes if we’re likely to be sitting down anywhere

Yoghurt tubes, fruit pouches, dry cereal

Oatcakes. You can buy them in little packets of six and they're pretty filling.

A banana? Fills my almost 5yo up and comes in its own packaging no prep required

Cheese cubes, bread sticks, crackers, sooky yoghurt in pouches.

Crackers with mild cheddar or unsalted, smooth peanut butter are our go-to. Porridge fingers are good too.

What Mummy Makes has a recipe for savoury flapjacks which I haven't tried but looks good and involves carrots, cheese and oats.

I'm following this for more ideas though as we are also in a bit of a rice cakes/raisins rut!

Cheese cubes with apple in a pot, babybel for convenience. I put peanut butter on rice cakes. Chopped sausage, I try to make bliss balls, can’t always be bothered though. I have some of the reusable yoghurt pouches and make smoothies with frozen fruit, full fat natural yoghurt and a little honey and oat. I freeze or refrigerate them.

Peanut butter sandwiches, satsumas, dried apple, oatcakes, hard boiled egg, eggy bread, malt loaf, bread sticks, bananas, fig rolls.

Kids don’t need snacks, give them plenty of food at meal times. Hate this toddler snack culture where at every group or activity. the child is being fed food every 10 minutes.

Thanks for the suggestions! I feel like I’m constantly giving him quite carby things but I do try and add veg into them etc like the lentil bites, I also do some veggie hash things with hummus as well. Some great suggestions on here.

@HOkieCOkie he gets plenty of good food at mealtimes - porridge, fruit, pancakes, eggs, grains, meat, fish, things like lamb and couscous, chicken and leek bake, mild curry etc

But he has two snacks a day as he gets hungry during the day as well. We were under a dietician for something else and they recommended (healthy snacks) as growing kids need little and often apparently.

As an aside how much in portion size do people give as snacks?

I’d agree with the above and suggest trying malt loaf

The First Steps Nutrition Trust recommends 3 snacks a day (a "snack" can include a cup of milk), 3 meals a day and one dessert after either lunch or dinner. They say meals should be 60% of calories, snacks 30% and dessert 10%. So very roughly, I guess a snack should be half the size of a meal.

NHS advice is also up to two healthy snacks a day.

I believe the dietician we saw said the child's fist for protein, palm for carbohydrates and two open palms for vegetables at meals and the size of a small matchbox for cheese. Does he drink plenty aswell? It's so easy to confuse hunger with thirst. Cucumber sticks are good, strawberries, maybe half of one of those wholemeal sandwich thins with peanut butter or houmous?

Rice cakes, breadsticks, raisins, fruit, cheese, oat bars (some good recipes online).

Crackers, breadsticks, bananas, apples & squeeze yoghurts.

My kids aren't great breakfast eaters so we always need a healthy mid morning snack. And maybe some milk to drink too!

A cup of milk, omelette, cheese, some chicken or ham, olives (chopped), tinned chickpeas.

Oat cakes are very portable, higher protein than you may imagine too. My three year old also really likes Greek yoghurt that I put in reusable pouches, for out and about.

Thanks for suggestions and portion size advice, he’s not brilliant at drinking but I do try and get him to drink often.
He will drink milk happily but is less fussed about water. I’ve given him very watered down squash when he’s refusing water completely but I try to avoid so he doesn’t just want to drink squash all the time!

I mix a heaped tablespoon of porridge oats with a petit filous and add a squirt of honey and about 3 blueberries. Organix bars in the car. banana. cut up apple and strawberry with a bit of torn up bread.

@KFleming

I found a recipe on the Instagram account “what mummy makes” for carrot pancakes. It’s grated carrot, milk, flour and egg, little bit of cheese, fried as small scotch pancake sized portions. They take 2 mins to make and DD loves them, and there is a recipe for similar with sweetcorn instead of carrot.

Thank you this looks fab.