"Healthy snacks" for DD who doesn't eat fruit or veg?

[chicaguapa]

DD usually buys a slice of toast at break but her new school doesn't have this system in place. Any suggestions what I can send her in with? Preferably ones that don't involve copious amounts of cooking as DH isn't moving with us at first so I will be very time poor. TIA.

would she eat granola in a tub? Or Cheerios even?

Popcorn (buy the bag of unpopped stuff, put a handful in a covered bowl in the microwave without any oil, run it on full until the popping slows right down)

Popcorn and Cheerios would work - thanks. I've already thought of flapjack and ritz crackers so I feel like I have some options now.

Cheese - Babybel or similar
Breadsticks
Bread and butter sandwich
English muffin ( not the sweet sort )

crackers with cream cheese

or oatcakes

or a little tub of humous and some pita bread/breadsticks

hard boiled egg

things like samosas or mini pasties or mini quishes or scones

Thanks. Some ideas there. I'd be pleased if I could get her to eat some humous.

You've solved the snack problem but surely the bigger problem is a kid that doesn't eat fruit and veg? Unhealthy habits like that in childhood tend to lead to all kinds of medical problems as people get older.

[ignoring the lecturing tone like I might be oblivious to that]

DD's getting a lot better with her eating but we haven't been able to get obvious fruit or veg in there yet. She'll eat bolognese etc with hidden veg, but fruit is a big no-no. Other than that, she has a great diet, lots of calcium, protein and fibre and hardly any sugar/salt.

She's also has ASD tendencies so it's not as simple as you might think. She gets herself in a state about being "unhealthy" and worries that she's going to die in the night. She's also developing a phobia about fruit.

So we just don't make a big deal about it or that will lead to an even bigger problem.

would she try these squodgedup dried fruit, nuts and seeds
my kids love them

What are they? They look interesting though they might have nuts in and the school is a nut-free zone. Don't make it easy, do they??

chica, when people infer that my ds's are unhealthy because they don't eat fruit or veg I sweetly point out that they are never ill, unlike the children of those friends who are always scoffing fruit & veg - must be all those germs in the F & V

Would she eat things like banana or carrot cake? Mine will providing they don't have raisins in! Obv healthier if you can make them yourself but even shop-bought ones should have some fruit. What about fruit juice?

It is great that she will eat spag bol - my ds's won't eat anything like that so can't hide veg in it...

You cannot force feed a child fruit, and if a child has deep rooted anxieties about food, no amount of fruit kebabs and funny faces on the plate will persuade them to eat it. So if you're like me, or the OP, you do the best you bloody can.

oh yeah i think they would fail on the nut thing

they are really nice, sweet but not too sweet and a have a moist dense cakey kind of quality to them

Dd1 (very fussy eater) has, cheese and crackers, blueberries (the only fruit she will eat), yoghurt, cheese, mini sausages, tortila chips and sometimes homemade jelly.

Thanks for all the replies. DD has only started eating spag bol in the last few months. Apparently it's one of her favourites now!! So I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel on the food front. And I am 99% convinced it's because we try not to make a fuss about it.

dd2 has a real aversion to fruit too, although she does ok with veg. I think you are right not to make a big deal of it. My fruit-averse dd will eat dried fruit (but it's blummin expensive- she likes dried mango/ pineapple, although won't touch the real thing!) and she eats Humzingers, which are fruit stick things (and probably full of sugar before anyone gives me a rollicking, but they say they count as 1 of your 5-a-day)

My fruit-hating ds loves Ella's Kitchen fruit smoothies. Also, Humzingers which are dried fruit bars. Oh and fruit puree pots for pudding (their aimed at under 3s but have a portion of fruit in each pot)

They don't look like fruit, see

The Humzingers look great. I've put some in my Ocado basket. Thanks. DD used to eat loads of fruitwinders and was really pleased with herself as they said they had fruit in them so I'm sure she'd be ok with those.

hiya chicaguapa, i have used a few recipies from an american cook, sneaky chef, my son loves her spinach and blueberry brownies lol- i know sounds rank but enve i like them

also would she not eat banana bread with a cream cheese frosting?

Hiding is the best way to get the majority of veg/fruit in them if they really are not into it. however i always give him fresh fruit and veg at snack time just so its always available if he chooses to change his mind lol.

would she eat jelly at all? you can make these with real fruit juices.
or even make HM ice lollies with quality juices.

or use dried apple and dark chocolate chips in flapjacks, she won't be able to tell the apples there, its the same colour and texture.
you can also add fruit to curry sauces etc.

Maltloaf. Very low in fat (unless you slather it in butter), tasty, doesn't get stale.

i think making a banana loaf or a carrot cake is a good idea.
also, you can make a really nice chocolate courgette cake.

we've made beetroot icecream too.
(it's bright pink, so very appealling to kids!)

those kind of foods are full of fruit and veg, but you really really can't tell!

have you tried dried fruit? they taste more like sweets.

Humzingers don't have added sugar as far as I'm aware.

Cheerios aren't exactly a 'healthy' snack are they - they are packed full of sugar!

How about making some sweetcorn fritters - there's a good recipe on Aitch's blog - it says to blend 3/4 of the corn, but you could blend it all if you want to hide it more thoroughly. You can make them a day or two in advance, and they are fine to eat cold.

Breadsticks?
rice/corn cakes? there are plain ones/marmite ones/snack a jacks come in all flavours but have loads of msg/

I use a mixed seed bar for dd1 (gluten and dairy free, and ASD so food issues too!) - have a look for "9 bar" in ocado, they stock them I think. you can get them plain or carob topped (dd1 thinks its choc!)

do you have a Holland and Barrett near you? they have quite a good range of fruit bars (like humzingers) and also have a coconut bar which dd1 loves.

all quite sugary, unfortunately...

how about pancakes/drop scones? they keep quite well, and you could work up to grating apple in (I know you're not wanting to spend loads of time initially, but maybe later on).

fruit/veg fritters are also great.

dd1 has eaten courgette cake, and beetroot cake, both disguised as chocoalte cake, and they went down a storm.