I spend too much money on DS's healthy snacks - ideas please.

[fruitstick]

In a cost cutting fashion I have decided that all the money I spend on those Organix cereal bars, tiny raisins and, yes indeed, even fruitsticks is outrageous and has to stop.

Do any of you have recipes for something similar that I can give DS as a snack that is good for him and not an economy bourbon biscuit.

Fresh fruit & veg sticks?

Well, you could make him flapjacks. I make them from a childrens recipe book but with more fruit and less syrup (if you use apricots and stuff like that they stick with less sugar). Buy massive packs of raisins then also buy a small pot to decant them into. My DS (aged 7) loves olives (I realise he's unusual) so we put them in a pot in his lunch box. Cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks go down well too. But to be honest, all the things you put as healthy snacks are quite sugary. We don't have cereal bars as most of them have more sugar than Mars Bars (although at least they have good stuff too). Also, his school gives him fruit. Oh and rice cakes he loves with marmite on so he gets his vitamins.

No, he won't eat them. He'll have cucumber and grapes but that's about it.

I can persuade him that fruitbars are biscuits/cakes and they're his favourite.

Fruit. Oatcakes. And just buy a big packet of raisins and decant.

yes flapjacks could work - he could help me make them too (he's 3).

He's going through a very fussy period and I got fed up of wasting fruit he refused to eat.

Big bag of raisins/sultanas, and decant into small pot for taking out at snack time.

Apples or bananas - you can cut them in two (or smaller) and keep the other half for a later snack in lidded box (apple squirted with lemon to stop going brown). Can probably do the same with pears. Grapes are also nice from time to time (more expensive though).

DS not a fan of veg sticks, but apparently at nursery the other day quite happily had them while eating almost the whole tub of garlic dip that went with them! (they don't normally do this, they were doing a 'food tasting').

You could make flapjack and add sultanas/sunflower seeds etc and cut down a bit on the sugar.

Small squares of cheddar.

Oatcakes, with butter/jam on if you are at home, or with soft cheese. Another good one for at home is toast.

I occasionally buy Organix crips, but DS never sees the whole pack as I always decant just a few into a pot again, and hide the rest away.

Plastic pots are great!!

Aldi's have good offers on fruit at moment, punnet of cherries 49p, pineaple 49p and melon and punnett of plums 49p each

These all sound nice - not that I can work out how 'healthy/unhealthy' they are at this time of night... but then flapjack isn't exactly healthy! Cheese is better for teeth

oaty cereal bars with banana

banana and oat cookies low sugar and these have egg in, I'm always struggling to get DS to eat egg so might try this...

healthy oat cookies

Just thinking back to when I was growing up, I'm sure we just had sandwiches sometimes (eg simple jam or honey ones, or you could have peanut butter or marmite).

And when I was at school I was a fiend for coming home and having a bowl of cereal - in those days (decades ago ) cereal was actually healthy. I think.

But then my Nan was also a great one for making fritters (little omlettes) or worse, plain lard fritters (=batter) which I think we had with jam! Oh the 70s were great for healthy eating .

I have a whole cookbook of this kind of stuff:

Fruit Leathers

Ingredients:

Sliced fruit of your choice to make 2 cups of puree
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:

Puree fruit in blender.
Add lemon juice and cinnamon and blend again.
Spread mixture evenly over 10x15" pan.
lace in 175 degree F oven with the door open for about 3 hours.
If bottom is still wet-flip leather over and continue to dry.
Cut into 20 strips and cover each with plastic wrap.
Roll up each strip.
Store in an airtight container.

I have a designated tupperware pot and fill it with a mixture of mini breadsticks, dried cranberries and dried banana chips (all from the local lidl.

Sometimes as a treat chocolate covered raisons are added or white choc buttons.

It's just chucked into my changing bag if we are going out and all the children love it. I started calling it 'scooby snacks' and it stuck, now the the kids ask me if they can have some 'scooby snacks please mummy' .