by John Neeb

Created on: September 09, 2009

Quick and Healthy After School Snack Ideas

You can expect your little students to come home hungry after a long day in school. Dinner won't be ready for a couple of hours, so it's a good idea to have an easy, healthy snack available for them. If you aren't concerned with health, there are many snack options. Cookies, potato chips, and candy are quick and easy to serve. With the rise in child obesity levels, though, wouldn't you prefer to offer a more nutritious snack?

Healthy options might take a little bit more effort to prepare than merely opening a bag and letting them have at it. But that doesn't mean you have to spend all day preparing a health-conscious snack for your young ones.

With that in mind, here are some options you may want to consider:

Fruit - This one starts our list because the category entails a world of possibility. Grapes, oranges, and bananas are all easy to prepare. Just wash (for the grapes) or peel, set in a bowl and let your young ones indulge in nature's version of candy. Apples are also great, but you might want to cut them up and that will take a little more time than merely washing or peeling. Even so, to cut an apple up only takes a couple minutes.

Fruit by itself is fine, but one of the benefits of this healthy selection is that it pairs so well with other foods. Take the aforementioned apple slices, scoop a tablespoon or two of peanut butter into a dish, and let your little student dip away. Or mix some strawberries and blueberries into plain yogurt and provide the spoon. Easy, delicious, and nutritious.

Vegetables - Vegetables might not be as desired as fruit, but that doesn't mean it can't be an easy and tasty snack. To start with, take some baby carrots (pre-washed, cut, and peeled) and put them in a bowl with a little bit of light ranch dressing. If you want, you could put some celery sticks (one of the easiest, quickest foods in the world to cut) in there, too.

Baked Potato Chips - If you are really pressed for time, consider keeping some bags of baked potato chips around the house. Corporate America has caught on to the fact that more people are paying closer attention to the nutrition value of the foods they eat. As such, there are now assortments of healthy potato chips from which to choose.

Cheese and Crackers - Along the same lines of chips, there are also plenty of options for healthy crackers. Cheese is a good source of both calcium and protein. Combine the two and you will keep their stomachs full until dinner.

These options are time-tested and hold true. You don't have to reach for a snack full of sugar or empty calories to tide your students over until dinner time. The prep time for all of these choices are minimal, so you can take some time to relax after work, and who couldn't use some of that?

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