School is just around the corner and new routines are {hopefully} rolling. Our after school routine is still a work in progress mostly because it includes my most dreaded task: making dinner. You know what makes dinner worse? A hungry preschooler who wants to eat all the snacks while I’m trying to cook and then proceeds to not eat said dinner because she just ate all the snacks.
By the time kids get home, lunch is a distant memory and they are hungry. Hungry may be an understatement. And it’s not a surprise because kids are growing and have you seen how much energy they have to keep up with?! It’s normal for kids to need to eat every 2-3 hours. You just want the food and snacks they will be eating often throughout the day to be good things that will give their bodies what they need.
So while it’s way easier to throw some Goldfish at her in the back seat on the way home {and trust me, I do}, it’s not going to satisfy her belly and hold her over until dinner. Those empty snacks just make you want to eat more and more and then spoil your appetite for real food.
Instead, I’ve come up with a list of mostly-healthy after-school snacks that will help us with this situation. Having some of these snacks ready to go in the refrigerator or the pantry {or even in my work bag to hand over in the car} help make our after school routine a little smoother. And best of all, it keeps her busy and fills her up just enough so she’s not begging at my feet for scraps while I get dinner ready!
30 After School Snacks to Help Everyone Make it to Dinner Time
- Dip fruit in peanut butter, yogurt or pudding – Try fruits such as apple, banana, kiwi, cantaloupe, strawberries, mango, orange, or pineapple.
- Mini Cheese Quesadilla
- Hummus or ranch dip with veggies – Try veggies such as carrot sticks, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini slices, cucumber, pea pods, cherry tomatoes, or fresh green beans.
- Popcorn & Raisins
- Dip Graham crackers in applesauce, yogurt, or top with peanut butter
- Yogurt parfait – layer yogurt, fruit, and anything crunchy like granola or cereal
- Cottage cheese with fruits such as peaches, pears, pineapple
- Easy tuna or egg salad – mix plain Greek yogurt or mayo with tuna or hard-boiled eggs and serve on crackers
- String cheese & grapes
- Use frozen mini pancakes to make mini PB & J’s
- Ham and cheese roll up on a tortilla
- Mix two fruits and call it fruit salad
- Cover grapes or blueberries in yogurt and freeze
- Smoothies – add fruit, yogurt, milk, orange juice, even veggies like spinach
- Mini muffins – make ahead, freeze, and pop in the microwave to thaw
- Cucumber sandwiches – deli meat and cheese between two cucumber slices
- Ants on a log – top celery with peanut butter or cream cheese and add raisins or chocolate chips
- Frozen yogurt pops
- Bean and cheese roll up – Re-fried beans and cheese rolled up in a tortilla
- Butterfly banana – use bananas, pretzels, apples and raisins to make a butterfly {give them the ingredients to create on their own – mama ain’t got time for all that!}
- Mini pizza – Leftover pizza or pasta sauce on an English muffin or mini bagel, top with cheese and turkey pepperoni
- Cereal & milk
- Fruit juice popsicles – Freeze juice in popsicle molds with cut up pieces of fruit
- Mini sandwich on a slider bun
- Cheese & crackers
- Make a snack mix with dry cereal, pretzels, animal crackers, raisins, chocolate chips or whatever is in the cupboard
- Top a frozen waffle with peanut butter or yogurt and fruit
- Hummus and veggie roll up on a tortilla – try carrot or pepper slices
- Silly face toast or English muffin
- Top a graham cracker with strawberry cream cheese and fruit
What are your favorite after-school snacks to add to the list?
