{"id":18157,"date":"2021-10-18T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18157"},"modified":"2021-09-28T10:43:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T14:43:37","slug":"school-snacks-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/10\/18\/school-snacks-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"School Snacks for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Blake\u2019s-Raspberry-Snack-Bar-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Blake\u2019s-Raspberry-Snack-Bar-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Blake\u2019s-Raspberry-Snack-Bar-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Blake\u2019s-Raspberry-Snack-Bar-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Blake\u2019s-Raspberry-Snack-Bar-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Blake\u2019s-Raspberry-Snack-Bar.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Vegetarian Resource Group member contacted us asking for ideas for snacks that their vegan child can bring to school for snack time. Snacks cannot be chips\/popcorn, cannot have peanuts or tree nuts, and must be low-sugar.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re happy to help with some ideas.\nIf you have other suggestions, please add them in the comments section. All\nsnacks listed appear to be nut-free, peanut-free, vegan, and have 5 grams of\nadded sugar or less per serving. Be sure to check product labels since\ningredients can change over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My preference is for snacks with\nminimal packaging or packaging that can be reused. I\u2019ve included some packaged\nsnacks that some may want to use for convenience or to support the child who\nwants snacks that look like what other kids are bringing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When brand names are listed below,\nthey\u2019ve been included to provide some examples of products. This is not an\nall-inclusive list of products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Fruit can be a\nrefreshing snack. Make sure it\u2019s easy to eat \u2013 cut seedless grapes into small\nbunches, slice oranges, make a fruit cup with melon chunks or berries. Choose\nseasonal fruits \u2013 apple slices sprinkled with lemon juice to keep them from\nbrowning in fall, clementine sections in winter, strawberries in late spring.\nEven canned or jarred unsweetened fruit can work \u2013 try juice-packed pineapple\nchunks or unsweetened applesauce with a sprinkle of cinnamon.<\/li><li>One of my kids\u2019\nfavorite snacks were home-grown grape tomatoes which are even smaller than\ncherry tomatoes. Grape or cherry tomatoes can be sent with a dip like hummus\nfor a savory snack. Other vegetables also make good hummus dippers \u2013 carrot and\ncelery sticks, jicama sticks, cucumber slices, red pepper strips. Since hummus\ncomes in many flavors, this snack can be different each week.<\/li><li>Mini bagels\nthinly spread with vegan cream cheese. Check the vegan cream cheese ingredient\nlist since many have nuts as a base. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tofutti.com\/better-than-cream-cheese-plain\">Tofutti<\/a>\n&nbsp;and <a href=\"https:\/\/violifefoods.com\/us\/product\/just-like-cream-cheese-original\/\">Violife<\/a>\nboth make nut-free products that have 0 grams of added sugar.<\/li><li>Roast chickpeas\nor other cooked or canned dried beans by mixing rinsed and well-drained beans\nwith a little olive oil, nutritional yeast, and a dash of salt; spreading them\non a parchment-lined baking sheet in a single layer and baking at 400 degrees\nabout 30 minutes or until crisp. You can add different spices. These can be\neaten by the handful.<\/li><li>If you\u2019d prefer a\ncommercial product, <a href=\"https:\/\/seapointfarms.com\/products\/dry-roasted-edamame\/\">Seapoint Farms<\/a> makes dry roasted edamame.<\/li><li>Dry roasted\npumpkin seeds are another snack that can be eaten by the handful as long as\nyour child is old enough that these aren\u2019t a choking hazard. <a href=\"https:\/\/store.edenfoods.com\/products-1\/\">Eden\nFoods<\/a> has various size\nbags of pumpkin seeds including a 1-ounce single-serve bag.<\/li><li>Make a cereal\nmix, choosing low-sugar cold breakfast cereals and adding raisins or other\nunsweetened dried fruits. Have your kids help \u2013 maybe they\u2019ll even want to name\ntheir recipe.<\/li><li>Homemade muffins\n\u2013 banana, corn, blueberry, oatmeal, carrot \u2013 for example. Avoid nuts, nut\nbutters, or nut milks or very sugary recipes. Mini-muffin pans are nice for\nsnack-size muffins. Make a batch and freeze them so they\u2019re always handy when\nyou need to pack a snack.<\/li><li>Store-bought or\nhomemade bread sticks with a refried bean dip. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amys.com\/our-foods\/organic-vegetarian-traditional-refried-beans-light-in-sodium\">Amy\u2019s Kitchen<\/a> has lower sodium refried beans.<\/li><li>Seedy crackers or\nrice cakes thinly spread with tahini or sunflower butter and made into a\nsandwich. Rice cakes can also be eaten plain. I\u2019ve found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lundberg.com\/\">Lundberg Family\nFarms<\/a> Tamari with\nSeaweed Rice Cakes and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cornthins.com\/en-us\/ricethins-wholegrain-150g\">Real Foods<\/a>\nMultigrain Corn Thins to be especially tasty. Lundberg Farms also has mini-rice\ncakes and thin stackers \u2013 just watch for lots of added sugar in the sweet\nvarieties.<\/li><li>Baked tofu strips\neither homemade or commercial<\/li><li>Vegan jerky\n(check label for nut ingredients or excess sugar). <a href=\"https:\/\/savorywild.com\/\">Savory Wild Jerky<\/a> is made with mushrooms; there are many\nvarieties of vegan jerky.<\/li><li>Commercial low\nsugar fruit leather, fruit bars, or fruit wraps \u2013 here are a couple of products\nthat meet our criteria (vegan, nut\/peanut-free, &lt;5 grams of added\nsugar\/serving):<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/stretchislandfruit.com\/products\/\">Stretch\nIsland Fruit Leather<\/a><\/li><\/ul><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/bearsnacks.com\/en-us\/home\">Bear Fruit Rolls<\/a><\/li><\/ul><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thatsitfruit.com\/collections\/shop-fruit-bars\">That\u2019s It Fruit Bar<\/a><\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Trader Joe\u2019s\nFruit Bar<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Trader Joe\u2019s\nFruit Wrap <\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Commercial snack\nbars \u2013 here are a few brands we found that have vegan, nut-free, low-sugar\nversions (check the label since not all of these companies\u2019 products are\nnut-free and low-sugar):<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blakesseedbased.com\/\">Blake\u2019s Raspberry Snack Bar or Strawberry Rice\nCrispy Treat Bar<\/a> <\/li><\/ul><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehealthybakingcompany.com\/collections\/the-healthy-energy-bar-an-oat-meal-to-get-you-going\">The Healthy Energy Bar<\/a> \u2013 Lemon Poppyseed <\/li><\/ul><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/goraw.com\/collections\/sprouted-bars\">Go\nRaw Sprouted Bar<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re looking for more ideas and\nare interested in making your own snacks, <a href=\"http:\/\/livelydays.com\/snacks\">this website<\/a> has a lot of low-sugar, kid-friendly ideas.\nLook for recipes without nuts or nut butters like the Lea Bars, Unbaked Granola\nBars (make with suggested substitution for nut butter), and Magic Green\nMuffins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD A Vegetarian Resource Group member contacted us asking for ideas for snacks that their vegan child can bring to school for snack time. Snacks cannot be chips\/popcorn, cannot have peanuts or tree nuts, and must be low-sugar.\u00a0 We\u2019re happy to help with some ideas. If you have other suggestions, please [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18159,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18157\/revisions\/18159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}