These playtime snacks are not practical?

[UndertheCedartree]

The school newsletter last week had an article trying to encourage parents to send in healthier snacks for their DC at playtime.

I find this is such a minefield as my DD isn't always hungry at playtime so whatever I send needs to be able to last being in a school bag for a few days and still be edible.

This rules out many of the suggestions such as vegetable sticks and houmous, yogurt and crackers and cheese. These should all be low fat too which I don't buy anyway. Also suggest fruit salad but again, this will go off and many whole pieces of fruit get bruised etc. And then as at many schools, nuts aren't allowed so that rules out sending in whole nuts or naked bars.

Some of the other suggestions I found quite strange such as toast, crumpets and bread.

They used to have a tuck shop selling healthier snacks but it stopped in Covid and now can't start up again because the school is now cashless. I did suggest parents paying in advance for fruit and vegetable snacks like they get in Infants but the school have said logistically this is not practical.

Anyone have any good suggestions for robust healthier snacks? I appreciate what the school are doing but ultimately if my healthy weight and healthy eating DD has a pack of snack a jacks or mini cookies a couple of times a week, I'm not that bothered.

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www.amazon.co.uk/Fruity-Faces-Inflatable-Fruit-Case/dp/B001F4XUE8
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www.lakeland.co.uk/27018/yellow-banana-guard-holder-case

I agree with the banana box. I got DP the Lakeland one for Christmas and it’s great.

I use similar to this, fits a pear, apple, plum etc. I no longer send bananas even in a case as they don't last.

www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/food-containers/sainsburys-home-klip-lock-storage-round-500ml

Banana Case,3 Pack Different Colors Banana Holder Outdoor Travel Cute Banana Protector Storage Box smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CYZ83SD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_VHPCA2VS4HM66RRRC54R?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 Banana guard! is your friend, also Cheerios in a plastic tub. Perfectly edible without milk and far better nutrition than a lot of the cereal bars.

Well that went wonky!

I was going to say banana box too. And then if she hasn't eaten the banana, you use that one for breakfast the next day and put a new one in the banana box.

Also why are toast and bread 'strange'? How about a simple cheese sandwich cut into a cute (and smaller than whole slice) shape with a cookie cutter? Might encourage her eating it if it's small and cute shapes.

One of those banana shaped Tupperware things?

Or how about a homemade pizza margherita cut up into small, thin slices?

I have a dehydrator now because we do it a lot (cost £20 from amazon) but I started off using the oven set to 60 degrees Celsius and spreading them out on baking trays

go go squeeze fruit purée or Soreen

Plain popcorn

We send in homemade/plain popcorn, DS (Y5) makes it himself on a Sunday afternoon.
This meets your criteria of being healthy but able to last a few days

I had peanut butter sandwiches at school for lunch for most of my childhood. Do they just throw anything with nuts in away??

Why do they need snacks at playtime? When I was at primary school back in the seventies, admittedly when dinosaurs ruled the earth, nobody took in snacks routinely. Some children would have sweets from time to time and very occasionally l would have an apple. Drinks were water from a fountain if you were thirsty. My own children (at primary schools in the nineties to noughties) very rarely had snacks at playtime and water in a bottle was only becoming a “thing” towards the end of their time in primary school. How did we all survive? In reality many more children are obese now than then and l get the impression that the rate of tooth decay has risen since my own children were small - all three of them have really good teeth and are slim. If children are having three good meals a day - and I realise that far too many do not - then they do not need snacks at playtime, or to eat between meals in general except for a treat, especially as most children are nowhere near as physically active as in years gone by. OP, if your DD does not eat her snack most days she obviously does not need it.

Just buy one of those banana shaped plastic boxes. Some of the kids at DD’s school take an apple in an ‘apple cosy’ which is a knitted tea cosy type thing to go over an apple which lessens bruising. I presume you can buy them from Etsy. Or just a little box of Sunmaid raisins.

In ye olde days in Glasgow it was called a ‘play piece’ because traditionally it had been a sandwich (a piece). It was still called that when I was at school eve. If your play piece was crisps.

Hard boiled egg?

Tin/tub of fruit or fruit in jelly?

Mini bags of dried fruit, banana chips, yogurt coated fruit, sugar free jelly tubs(some have fruit in the jelly) low fat custard, home made flapjacks ? If you buy the miniature snack tubs/mini lunchboxes they should keep most stuff intact and I buy bamboo spoons too

Nairns and graze do nut free oat bars. Often discounted (full price is a bit eye watering). Anything from organix, or yo-yos, bear paws, peelers. Multi pack bags of hippeas or plain popcorn. Go ahead bars maybe?
Agree it’s annoying that nakd and frusli all contain nuts. But we make do with a section of the above ^^.

Mine get offered an apple, banana or nothing at all. I haven't got time to be faffing with homemade snacks everyday. Snacking isn't really a good habit anyway. The low fat thing is nonsense, children need it!

I would just read the information ( or not) and continue sending in what I want my child to have. Schools don’t have the staff to police this stuff, no one in school cares what snack your child is having as long as it’s not totally unreasonable like a sharing bag of Doritos 😂

Seriously tho schools need to show they are doing this stuff. Send what’s practical for you and your child,

The low fat thing would drive me mad. Hope they’re not saying that to DC as well.
our understanding of nutrition is embarrassing.

can you send some rice cakes (a flavoured kind?), cereal bars? Raisins?
the thing is these things are absolutely full of sugar, so all this low fat no chocolate bars stuff is nonsense

what about a thermos of porridge, takes two seconds to make, and is incredibly cheap if it goes to waste. Again this is food waste and I would also prefer just to give them a biscuit, but maybe worth a try.

also no idea who’s children are bashing and bruising an apple in their bag for two days and then still willing to eat it, And no idea what small child is giving up playing with their friends to sit down and eat carrots and hummus. It’s a new world.

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We had one of these www.amazon.co.uk/Fruity-Faces-Inflatable-Fruit-Case/dp/B001F4XUE8 to safely give an apple a day out at school with dc! It basically acts as bubble wrap. Or they'd just grab something out of their lunchbox.

Yes, she loves these, but expensive!

Not quite the same but on really long journeys DC had crackers (backs of three), mini Babybell, small bags of bread sticks and small boxes of raisins.