Tuesday's Tip: Make a Snack Station

Well, 2/3 of my kids are back to school today, and you know what that means: time to blog!  Oh, how I have missed you, my friends.  I promise I won't neglect you like that again.  Well, until next summer, anyway...

He's just thrilled to be starting 5th grade!

 

I don't know about you, but my kids are always hungry.  They need snacks.  Now.  And later.  At school.  Before and after sports. And you know, I have enough to think about without having to worry about what my kids are snacking on, so I came up with a simple solution.  I set up a snack box. 

This, my friends, is definitely a why did I not think of this before kind of thing.

To make your own, just find a box or basket and place in an accessible spot.  Then fill it with snacks that are acceptable for your kids.  Right now our snack bin contains:

1. various granola bars, including Quaker Real Medleys Peach Almond Multigrain Fruit & Nut Bars (these come in 3 varieties and look delish) and Quaker Chewy Granola Bars,
2.  small containers of gorp and Quaker Oatmeal Squares Cereal (cereal in small containers makes an excellent snack),
3. Peanut butter crackers,
4. boxes of raisins, and
5. as a special treat, Quaker Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (don't those sound yummy?) 

 We have also, at various times, had containers of other dried fruits, nuts, goldfish crackers, teddy grahams, and small pretzels, as well as fruit snacks and bite-sized rice cakes.  Just use your imagination :)

Now, when my kids need a snack, they know exactly where to get one.  I control what goes in the box, so I know whatever they choose, it's something I'm OK with them eating.

Win.

Happy Snack Box-ing!

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Did you notice that my snack bin contents seem a little Quaker-centric right now?  That's because the nice folks over at BzzAgent sent us a variety of Quaker snack items to try.  Yum!  Love you, BzzAgent--thank you so much!

 I gotta tell you, I didn't think I would like the peanut butter oatmeal cookies, but they're so great.  Love 'em.  And I'll tell you why:

1. They're packaged individually.  Now normally, I would bemoan the unnecessary packaging, but these packs of 4 cookies are perfectly portioned.  I don't have to tell the kids how many cookies--the packaging does it for me!
2.  Each serving contains 10 grams of whole grains!  Ten! Do you know how many grams of whole grains you're supposed to be getting per day?  Twenty-five.  So one package of cookies provides 40% of your daily whole grain requirement.
3. With just 12 grams of sugar, these cookies contain less sugar than other cookies, and less than many supposedly healthy choices, like granola bars!
4. These cookies taste so good!  Love them!