Quick snacks for kids

[notanothernam]

Can I pick your brains for some quick, low maintenance, healthy snacks please. My eldest is looking very skinny, normal I know, but I'm really worried he's not eating enough for how active he is. I'm looking for some foods I can give him after school club to give him some more calories without adding sugars etc. I've fallen into the habit of toast or sandwiches but worried by how much bread he's eating.

Nuts - loads of nuts (roasted but not salted).

Unless they're for eating AT the after school club. In which case they're probably banned.

Thank you, no it's for eating when they get back. Never really tried them with nuts before, will see if they like almonds.

What about making some savory muffins?

cheese and biscuits

Avocado and tuna on toast/crackers/rice cakes

Greek yogurt and fruit

Nut butter with apple slices to dip in it

Cheese and crackers with tomatoes

Cream cheese with veg/breadsticks to dunk in it

Cold boiled eggs,ham and cucumber sticks

Trail mix(nuts,seeds and little dried fruit)

Bowls cereal top nuts/seeds

Even if they don't like almonds, they might easily like peanuts or some other type with a different flavour. My daughter always wants cashews, but my son only wants peanuts.

If you need to get the calories in and don't want too much sugar, then nuts and cheese are your friends. I have a horrendously skinny boy and try to pack him full of both (although now that he's hit his teenage growth spurt I'm also supplementing with unlimited chocolate and cake. Kid still looks like Skeletor...)

@GisellaGiselle I empathise my eldest is the same, I've weighed him and he's dropped to 25th centile whereas he's always been 50th for years, he's 8, my problem is he has a 5 year old brother who is no where near as active and wants to eat everything his big brother does and I worry he'll eat too much 🙈🙈

Yes! I have the exact same problem - my DS has a younger sister who is less keen on sport and has a bigger appetite. I have no worries about her being too thin (although so far she is not overweight either, thank God). But I don't want her stuffing herself with the large quantities of calorific food which I try to provide for her brother.

In a way I think it's easier when it's the older one who is skinny. I tell my daughter that yes, she gets smaller portions than her brother, especially of chocolate etc, and that I'm sorry about that and I know it's not the same as his food. But he is much bigger than her and so his body needs more food, especially because he's growing really fast right now and does a lot of sport. When people have bigger bodies then they do need more food and more energy. I know it doesn't seem fair, but that's the way it is. She is pretty good at accepting that because it's just a fact of life.

One of my friends has it the other way round - it's her younger DC who is very skinny - and I think that's more difficult to deal with.

(What I mean is that my friend doesn't want her older DC to start getting any body / eating issues, and it's hard to deal with feeding up their younger, smaller, skinnier sibling without potentially raising these issues.)

Yes that's very true, DS1 always gets bigger portions so that helps!!

DS2 does a lot of sport and started getting very spindly so I used to do noodles - one nest of fine egg noodles, add prawns at the end of cooking and a dollop of sweet chilli sauce.
Bananas, cheese and biscuits, hummus and carrot sticks (hummus is v calorific), toasties all went down well too.

I've got a skinny D's,big DD.he has full fat,she has lower/fat free cream cheese.more apple slices,less nut butter etc

Add condiments or ‘extras’ whenever you can. Top his food with dried fruit, chopped nuts or seeds, honey, bacon bits, cheeses, mayonnaise, and salad dressings. Prepare his food with oil or butter to add calories. Try adding hummus, full fat cream cheese or avocado to sandwiches or wraps.
Porridge made with full fat milk, stir in a spoon of Nutella, a spoon of peanut butter and a mashed banana. Or a sachet of Cuppa Porridge in the microwave if you’re short of time.
Scotch eggs
Buttered crumpets
Hummus and falafel in a wrap
Cubes of cheese. My DS likes feta cheese and mozzarella pearls
Toasted coconut flakes
Bagels with full fat cream cheese (and smoked salmon)
Olives
Peanut butter, oat and banana smoothie
Whenever I cook sausages for dinner, I cook a few extra to chop up for snacks or the lunchbox.
Potato wedges and dip

I've felt your pain. Dd is extremely slim I later learned not simply my family's weird genetics but her disability means she's taller than most and has a higher metabolism.

People think losing weight is hard (I'm overweight myself and have lost weight I'm not saying it's easy especially) but gaining/maintaining a healthy weight if you tend to the lean is MUCH harder.

In addition I have a child who hates chocolate, chips and much deep fried food! (Again found out later that some sufferers of her disability these foods caused her discomfort/irritation)

I've found full fat milk, full fat yogurt (murder to find these days), cheese, nuts, creamy dips (inc hummus), buttered toast, crumpets, eggs, root veg other than potato (she's not a fan of potato generally, as I say something I recently learned is it can be an irritant to some) all helped.

Plus encouraging to eat often as she can't manage big portions, so instead needs to eat more often.

It's really hard. She's 18 now currently touching on 6ft and a size 8 bottom half, wears a size 10 top BUT that's partly to do with being broad shouldered and wearing things on the loose side so she's not struggling to put them on/take them off - again to do with her disability. I think of it were purely on size it'd be size 8 tops too.

You're right on the sugar, not just because of the health but the naturally slimmer among us tend to metabolise it super fast anyway, if dd tends to the sweet rather than savoury she ends up losing weight.

How about making milk shakes or smoothies? No need to sweeten with anything other than fruit. Unless you’re really desperate then a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s triples the calorie content!

curd rice or yogurt rice is one of the best and easy substantial snack for kids. You will find a simple recipe here

www.cookclickndevour.com/curd-rice-recipe-thayir-sadam/

Pancakes? My ds has really got into them after pancake day, he's been having them nearly every day. He's growing at a fast rate (he's 12) and it's a way of getting protein into him and better than eating chocolate and crisps all the time.

You could make almond/coconut flour pancakes. Easy to make and quite high in calories. They keep in the fridge as well for a few days.

Or Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts/seeds. I add flaked almonds and chia seeds do DS yoghurt

Cheese on toast

homemade oat bar.
bean pasties.
yoghurt and granola
poached egg
frittata
little omelette snacks oven cooked in muffin tins
savoury scones or muffins
waffles
wraps
cheese and tomato pinwheels
cheese and tomato muffin pizzas
cereal

No suggestions for after school snack but on an ongoing basis, you could keep butter, single/ double cream, olive oil at all times. Add a dollop of one or the other to just his plate, depending on what the food is (so cream in porridge, cereal etc; oil/ butter in stews, soups etc). This way whatever family meals you've cooked, his portion can have some added fat.