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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I do not understand snacks

392 replies

Yellowdaffodila · 27/03/2023 10:52

So I'm not from the UK and I hear and read about the snack thing all the time.
What is a snack? When I take my children out I'm asked to bring snacks. They will be home for food after our trip. They eat breakfast. Why a snack?

OP posts:
GonnaGetGoingReturns · 27/03/2023 19:20

ilovemydogmore · 27/03/2023 15:17

They do but the context for consuming them is very different.

E.g. not so easy to find a bag of indidvually portioned crisps in Spain (maybe carrefour) but not in a Tesco express or spar type of supermarket. Same with individual chocolate bars, I don't think I've ever seen them.
Snacks are communal and mostly enjoyed at home. Not snaffled on the bus or shoved in a packed lunch.

Show quote history

Of course they sell individual chocolate bars like Twix, Mars etc… I’ve seen them numerous times at tabacs or in supermarkets or in a shop at a big train station. Kinder sell chocolate bars there and wafer biscuit type snacks. They even sell shock horror individual packs of Lays crisps!

My French friends do sometimes snack but not necessarily on chocolate, a Baby Bel or something is probably a more healthy snack..

Florenz · 27/03/2023 19:21

There's a difference between being hungry and being starving. No-one is going to starve if they go a few hours without eating.

Sprogonthetyne · 27/03/2023 19:25

It depends on how people arrange the rest of the day, but if we weren't going to be back until 1pm, my kids would probably need a snack. That's because they usually have breakfast around 6.30, then if we were home lunch at 12.

Although I'm sure they'd survive, it wouldn't be fair on whoever is organising the activity to have to deal with hungry grumpy children, so I'd send food along. It also wouldn't be fair to expect the activity to stop for them to have lunch, so it would be a snack not something big like a roll.

It makes no difference to their diet if they have some fruit while out and a sandwich when they get in, or have both together at home, so why would I leave them hungry.

Albiboba · 27/03/2023 19:26

Florenz · 27/03/2023 19:21

There's a difference between being hungry and being starving. No-one is going to starve if they go a few hours without eating.

Why does it matter? What is your bar if acceptable hunger someone has to feel before they are allowed to eat?

Tinybrother · 27/03/2023 19:29

Florenz · 27/03/2023 19:21

There's a difference between being hungry and being starving. No-one is going to starve if they go a few hours without eating.

I have toddlers. Do you, or do you remember that stage? Why wouldn’t you have a back up plan for if something goes wrong and you won’t get home in time for their usual lunchtime? It seems baffling to me not to take out some food, like not having a spare nappy just in case, or chucking a spare change of clothes in the boot of the car in case they have an accident. That’s why I don’t understand the “I never take snacks” thing - what not even an emergency pack of crackers?

Fairislefandango · 27/03/2023 19:30

Fgs. Why not just admit you mean that you judge people for eating too often or too much. Pretending you 'don't understand what a snack is' fools nobody and is incredibly irritating, just like the many other wide-eyed, faux-innocent 'But I don't understand' threads.

IAmTheWalrus85 · 27/03/2023 19:45

Florenz · 27/03/2023 19:07

There is nothing wrong with being hungry. Why are people so scared of their kids ever being hungry? No wonder we have a childhood obesity epidemic.

Well I don’t know about anyone else’s child but my one year old will howl and howl till he gets something to eat, because crying is the only way he has to communicate, and that’s unpleasant both for us and for anyone who happens to be near us.

AtleastitsnotMonday · 27/03/2023 19:55

I can't eat big meals. I don't like feeling full. Snacking works for me. If I didn't have snacks I wouldn't eat enough in a day. If you don't like snacking, don't do it, but let's not make judgements about others based on what works for you.

notthisagainforest · 27/03/2023 20:05

Img is this for real. Google the word snack.

Peppadog · 27/03/2023 20:13

Welcome to snack mad UK. People can't leave the house without bloody snacks.
I used to resist it, my kids were perfectly fine without them and I've never needed them as an adult. But now even I've been sucked in to the madness. Can't leave the house without a bottle of drink and at least a couple of snacks each. They got used to their friends always having snacks and then the siblings want snacks and so it goes on.

iamenough2023 · 27/03/2023 20:21

Hello OP. I totally understand what you mean. I always thought that snacks were an American thing though. I come from central Europe and also had not heard about snacks until I moved overseas. As kids we would only "snack" on trips but otherwise only have our regular meals and some sweets here and there. I am a middle aged women now and unfortunately had gotten very well acquainted with snacks over the years (I wish I had not 😒).

Tinybrother · 27/03/2023 20:21

Peppadog · 27/03/2023 20:13

Welcome to snack mad UK. People can't leave the house without bloody snacks.
I used to resist it, my kids were perfectly fine without them and I've never needed them as an adult. But now even I've been sucked in to the madness. Can't leave the house without a bottle of drink and at least a couple of snacks each. They got used to their friends always having snacks and then the siblings want snacks and so it goes on.

This seems crazy when you’re so against snacks. Why did you give into it?

Dontlistitonfacebook · 27/03/2023 20:23

Marketing. I think it started with this kind of advert from the 1970s

A Finger of fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat

Cadbury's Fudge advert from the 1970's

https://youtu.be/l_InL_z8Ul0

vivainsomnia · 27/03/2023 20:28

I love those threads that suggest that every kid has healthy snacks of apples and bananas! Shall we talk about drinks too. Doesn't the vast majority of uk kids also only drink water with their snacks and never ever have those sugary drinks that seem to be put in all those trolleys during weekly shops!

vivainsomnia · 27/03/2023 20:30

This seems crazy when you’re so against snacks. Why did you give into it?
Because I assume those snacks friends are showing and making OP's kids envious are not bananas, apples and water bottles!

vivainsomnia · 27/03/2023 20:35

Do you, or do you remember that stage? Why wouldn’t you have a back up plan for if something goes wrong and you won’t get home in time for their usual lunchtime?
Mmm, you can stop somewhere and buy some lunch?

I remember the stage of 'mum, I'm starving, mum, mum, I am sooooo hungry', getting a healthy snack and then being pestered with 'do you have anything else', and when the answer was no, they would go back to their games and totally forget about food!

Tinybrother · 27/03/2023 20:35

vivainsomnia · 27/03/2023 20:30

This seems crazy when you’re so against snacks. Why did you give into it?
Because I assume those snacks friends are showing and making OP's kids envious are not bananas, apples and water bottles!

So say no? “Different families do things differently?”

Oblomov23 · 27/03/2023 20:38

A snack mid morning at uk school is the norm. This has been the case for many years, since most of us were at school. It also starts from babies and toddlers, babies being fed regularly smaller amounts. Into toddlerhood, it's not unusual to have 3 main meals, 2 snacks in between.

Jourdain11 · 27/03/2023 20:40

You can think snack culture is OTT without being a whatever-you're-implying.

I don't really understand it either.

Tinybrother · 27/03/2023 20:43

vivainsomnia · 27/03/2023 20:35

Do you, or do you remember that stage? Why wouldn’t you have a back up plan for if something goes wrong and you won’t get home in time for their usual lunchtime?
Mmm, you can stop somewhere and buy some lunch?

I remember the stage of 'mum, I'm starving, mum, mum, I am sooooo hungry', getting a healthy snack and then being pestered with 'do you have anything else', and when the answer was no, they would go back to their games and totally forget about food!

”just buy lunch” is hilariously “let them eat cake” Grin

the example I gave in the rest of my post that you did not quote was of the car breaking down. I live in a village, we could easily be waiting by a field with a couple of toddlers for rescue, I can’t just go and buy lunch - it’s an unlikely situation but I have a back up plan because that’s who I am. also, I was talking about “a healthy snack” - ie oatcakes or something not especially exciting but has a shelf life and will do fine in an unexpected situation

i wasn’t talking about children moaning for snacks and then being easily distracted. My youngest ones are toddlers, you don’t get “I’m starving mum” moaning that you can ignore, you get screaming and difficult behaviour when it’s getting late for their lunch. Why would you not have emergency stuff just in case, like spare nappies or clothes or water or Shock FOOD, to avoid making a stressful situation like a breakdown worse with hungry small children too?

Tinybrother · 27/03/2023 20:45

Mumsnet is particularly insane about food at the moment. Maybe everyone has given up chocolate for lent and it’s sent them a bit loopy.

Itsgottobeme · 27/03/2023 20:47

Oblomov23 · 27/03/2023 20:38

A snack mid morning at uk school is the norm. This has been the case for many years, since most of us were at school. It also starts from babies and toddlers, babies being fed regularly smaller amounts. Into toddlerhood, it's not unusual to have 3 main meals, 2 snacks in between.

Aaah those were the days.take me back to nursery mid morning custard cream and cup of milk sit around with teddies.

Jourdain11 · 27/03/2023 20:48

Tinybrother · 27/03/2023 20:45

Mumsnet is particularly insane about food at the moment. Maybe everyone has given up chocolate for lent and it’s sent them a bit loopy.

Well, I agree with that actually. It's either 10-packs-of-biscuits, food of the Gods, nom nom nom or "I couldn't possibly eat a whole lettuce leaf, I'd be full for DAYS". Everyone seems frickin' obsessed.

AIBU to have gone to work today, conversed with people, done my job, travelled home, and not to have thought about food at all?

OneTC · 27/03/2023 20:49

notthisagainforest · 27/03/2023 20:05

Img is this for real. Google the word snack.

Google the words Sri Lankan snack food 😅

Albiboba · 27/03/2023 20:50

vivainsomnia · 27/03/2023 20:35

Do you, or do you remember that stage? Why wouldn’t you have a back up plan for if something goes wrong and you won’t get home in time for their usual lunchtime?
Mmm, you can stop somewhere and buy some lunch?

I remember the stage of 'mum, I'm starving, mum, mum, I am sooooo hungry', getting a healthy snack and then being pestered with 'do you have anything else', and when the answer was no, they would go back to their games and totally forget about food!

You have a lot of very strong feelings about what other people eat.