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Please can someone give a snack option that ISNT carrot and pepper sticks

121 replies

Seasonofthewitch83 · 16/06/2023 13:55

I feel like whenever people talk about toddler diets, I see 'I offer carrot and pepper sticks' every few comments rather than their toddler eating (gasp!) fruit.

What are some other healthy snack options? Realistic ones. Not fruit based because apparently fruit is toddler crack.

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WeWereInParis · 16/06/2023 15:24

I give fruit. My 13 month old is half banana at this point the amount she gets through.

But I do also make these carrot pancake things - flour, milk, egg, garlic, grated cheese, grated carrot, fried like scotch pancakes. They go down quite well.

Duttercup · 16/06/2023 15:34

We just had chocolate mousse and some strawberries for afternoon snack. I don't want to eat carrot sticks and needed a snack too 👌

ZacharinaQuack · 16/06/2023 15:37

Duttercup · 16/06/2023 15:34

We just had chocolate mousse and some strawberries for afternoon snack. I don't want to eat carrot sticks and needed a snack too 👌

My child is a weirdo who doesn't like ice cream, so I just have a magnum and cut up an apple for him.

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Duttercup · 16/06/2023 15:39

ZacharinaQuack · 16/06/2023 15:37

My child is a weirdo who doesn't like ice cream, so I just have a magnum and cut up an apple for him.

Great scenes as she declared chocolate mousse 'a bit weird' so proposed we swap - she had my strawberries and I had her mousse. Idiot child.

HanSB · 16/06/2023 15:56

Mine used to live on mini muffins. I would bake batches of 48 and put them in the freezer, defrost a few every day. Make savoury ones with spinach, grated veg, cheese. Sweet ones with apple purée, grated carrot and cinnamon or banana.

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 16/06/2023 16:00

Cheese sticks were a hit with DD.
Ds wanted mummy sticks (salami sticks).

KnittedCardi · 16/06/2023 16:03

Completely detailing the thread, but why do kids now all have to have snacks? Mine had to wait for lunch/dinner! Nothing needed in the morning, glass of milk after school. Three meals a day.

maddiemookins16mum · 16/06/2023 16:06

Pepper sticks are flippin horrible.
I tried a range of things some a bit ‘unusual’ according to a pal of mine who used to come to mine a lot when DD was little.
Digestives with peanut butter and sliced banana.
A cup of soup with bread stick (not cup a soup, too salty, but my own homemade basic cream of veg soup).
Cottage cheese and avacado in a bowel
I also toasted a lot of things
Greek yoghurt and honey
snack kebabs (I’m not talking a donner but a mix of cheese, tomato and some fruit - it all goes in the same tummy).

WalterWitty · 16/06/2023 16:06

Don’t know why no fruit - everything in moderation surely?

some of my toddlers gave snacks

banana milkshake (whole milk and a banana in a blender)
apple with peanut butter as the dip
leerdamer (can’t spell) and ham slice rolled together
Small pot of dry cereal like cheerios

maddiemookins16mum · 16/06/2023 16:08

KnittedCardi · 16/06/2023 16:03

Completely detailing the thread, but why do kids now all have to have snacks? Mine had to wait for lunch/dinner! Nothing needed in the morning, glass of milk after school. Three meals a day.

I’m kinda with you to an extent but I have a snack when up at 6am and lunch is at 1pm, or when lunch is at 12 and dinner is at 6.30pm. I do draw the line at snacks ever 45 mins though. It’s a balance.

justanothermanicmonday1 · 16/06/2023 16:11

Yoghurt
Fruit
Crisps (puffs/wotsits etc)
Hummous with pitta or crackers
Peanut butter covered banana
Frozen yoghurt slabs ( www.myfussyeater.com/frozen-yogurt-bark/#tasty-recipes-8376 )
Cheese strings/baby bel

Mrsweasleysclock · 16/06/2023 16:15

Healthy snacks I give my kids,

Cheese, Crackers, grapes and cucumbers

Fruit bowls, just bits of whatever is in the house at the time

Cheesy scrambled egg

Yoghurt pots with extra protein

Hash brown with scrambled egg and Cucumber on the side

Cheese, hummus, bread

DelurkingAJ · 16/06/2023 16:19

KnittedCardi · 16/06/2023 16:03

Completely detailing the thread, but why do kids now all have to have snacks? Mine had to wait for lunch/dinner! Nothing needed in the morning, glass of milk after school. Three meals a day.

Many years ago (long before I had DC), my neurobiology professor at uni said that small children should snack at regular intervals because their blood sugars are less stable than adults because of their size. No idea if that’s been debunked in the last 25 years.

And I had elevenses back in the 1980s at school at break. Along with toast and butter when home from school before supper. I’m pretty sure it’s not new.

ZacharinaQuack · 16/06/2023 16:21

KnittedCardi · 16/06/2023 16:03

Completely detailing the thread, but why do kids now all have to have snacks? Mine had to wait for lunch/dinner! Nothing needed in the morning, glass of milk after school. Three meals a day.

I don't know about school-aged kids, but this thread is about toddlers who have small tummies and are likely to get hungry (and cranky!) in between meals.

Lcb123 · 16/06/2023 16:22

Don’t buy anything branded for kids-overpriced and full of rubbish. Just do normal crackers, breadsticks, houmous, olives, cubes of cheddar, dried fruit/nuts,

WeWereInParis · 16/06/2023 16:37

KnittedCardi · 16/06/2023 16:03

Completely detailing the thread, but why do kids now all have to have snacks? Mine had to wait for lunch/dinner! Nothing needed in the morning, glass of milk after school. Three meals a day.

This thread is about toddlers. DD2 is 13 months and will absolutely demolish a mid morning snack so is clearly hungry. I've always assumed there was just a gradual increasing in the amount of time children need between food. Starting off very small when they're newborns, moving to milk every 3 hours or so, then up to food with a mid morning and mid afternoon milk feed (breast or bottle) then remove the milk and replace with a healthy snack. That's what I've done with my two.

Irritatedcashier · 16/06/2023 16:42

When I offered pepper sticks to then toddler DD she burst in to tears and was unconsolable for an hour.

Turned out she thought I'd murdered Peppa pig.

Happy to eat bacon though 🤷🏻‍♀️

RiseYpres · 16/06/2023 16:59

WeWereInParis · 16/06/2023 15:24

I give fruit. My 13 month old is half banana at this point the amount she gets through.

But I do also make these carrot pancake things - flour, milk, egg, garlic, grated cheese, grated carrot, fried like scotch pancakes. They go down quite well.

I like the sound of these very much indeed. Sounds like something my food refusing 13 year old might like! (I mean 13 years as well)

Whatt · 16/06/2023 17:00

Greek yogurt and pitta bread

Doje · 16/06/2023 17:03

At that age I used to always have quiche, tuna pasta and sweet potato chips in the fridge. Sweetcorn fritters also went down amazingly well. They were only not in the fridge because the kids would demolish a batch as soon as they were made. Whizz up a tin of sweetcorn with an egg and a spoonful of flour. Fry in heaped tablespoon dollops (or as big as you like really!)

Hiddendoor · 16/06/2023 17:05

Realistic snacks: crisps. Rice cake things. Handfuls of cereal straight from the box. Raisins (because it keeps them occupied for ages getting them out the box). Banana and apples. Crackers. Mini cheddar.

MissyB1 · 16/06/2023 17:08

KnittedCardi · 16/06/2023 16:03

Completely detailing the thread, but why do kids now all have to have snacks? Mine had to wait for lunch/dinner! Nothing needed in the morning, glass of milk after school. Three meals a day.

It’s actually NHS guidance to give toddlers a mid morning and mid afternoon snack.

AliasGrape · 16/06/2023 17:10

Mine wouldn’t touch pepper if I paid her in haribo.

Did not use to entertain cucumber, tomato or carrot either - will eat carrot sticks now, and has once or twice in the last few weeks eaten cherry tomatoes or those baby cucumbers you get at Aldi - very much depends on the day though.

She eats a lot of fruit. From a dental health perspective my dentist told me it was best to eat fruit either with meals or with another food group, so I used to do eg apple slices and either cheese or nut butter, or berries with Greek yoghurt, or put fruit alongside crackers/ breadstick. I don’t bother so much now though.

I used to do a lot of homemade stuff and fill the freezer with:
-savoury muffins (chickpea and courgette with smoked paprika were favourites)
-porridge muffins/ fingers with added ground nuts, grated carrot and apple, sultanas etc (would make a big batch of porridge for breakfast then bake the leftovers and freeze)
-frittata squares,
-cheese scones made from flour, Greek yoghurt and grated cheese
-other baby friendly scones sweetened with grated apple

Still do some of the above occasionally but to be honest I’ve got a lot shitter on the snack front. One thing she’ll still happily eat is frozen peas straight from the freezer 🤷‍♀️ Or those little flavoured rice cakes (which are probably terrible too but oh well) sometimes with nut butter on. Otherwise fruit, a cracker or breadsticks.

Whilst the weather has been so hot we’ve made loads of homemade ice lollies (have some calyppo shaped moulds which seem to work loads better than the stick ones) - either make a ‘milkshake’ with whatever fruit needs using up and then freeze in the moulds, or very very diluted juice.

Full disclosure- she also has plenty of non- mumsnet approved stuff that’s way below even fruit on the mumsnet scale of acceptable snacks. Today she’s had a mini soreen loaf thing, a shop bought pancake, an ice cream and about 25 Mr Freeze type ice pops courtesy of Nana - we’re also at Nana’s for dinner so the above is probably just the beginning.

Puppers · 16/06/2023 17:10

SummerInSun · 16/06/2023 14:04

The people who are too sanctimonious to feed their toddlers fruit are the ones who will wind up with teenagers who refuse to eat any fruit. Some apples slices, a banana or a statsuma are not going to turn them into sugar crazed beats. On the contrary, it will set them up well for eating healthily throughout their lives.

Otherwise you wind up relying on a lot of ultra processed "healthy" snacks like rice crackers, mini breadsticks, toddler oat bars, etc. If you look in a big supermarket there will be a section with shelves full of this type of stuff. And the fridge section will have kiddy yoghurts full of sugar and cheeses like babebels.

If you have the time and inclination, sandwiches cut into quarters or homemade mini muffins work well.

Basically, no snack is "perfect" other than the carrots and peppers! (And cucumbers and cherry tomatoes and similar). Just feed your DC a wide range of stuff and don't stress.

Toddler oat bars aren't "ultra processed" or unhealthy. If you buy the Organix or Aldi ones they're literally oats and fruit juice.

AlltheFs · 16/06/2023 17:20

My 3yo is actually a pepper fiend (as long as it is cut precisely the way she decides she wants it after you’ve started doing it another way), but I’m not a twat and also give her other things too- healthy and not. I don’t always give a crap. She is at nursery most of the week and they do all the good stuff so mummy is quite happy to lob ham in her direction to keep the peace.

If she had the choice she’d exist mainly on pork based products- she merrily scoffs pork pie, ham straight out the packet, sausages etc. That will give Mumsnet a seizure.

Cheese, crackers, breadsticks, crisps, fruit, yoghurt, hardboiled egg are all
popular. Lots of fruit and ice poles. Basically an ice pole, packet of ham and some
cherries and she’s anybody’s.

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