Snacks for toddler and snacks for the nappy bag.

[Salad]

Hi guys, I know this has probably been asked 100 times but I thought I would refresh the topic as I am sure there are some people out there with some fresh ideas.
I am after some snack ideas for my 18month old DD, I need things that are easy to pre make or are pre prepared so to speak that I can grab quickly because when she wants a snack she wants it right now. Also when we go shopping etc we have half an hour to travel so I make sure I take all our food/snacks/drinks with us.

The snacks I currently have available are:

Cheese sticks
Squeezie Yohgurt
Banana (she cannot have very much fruit and we are still trialing which ones she can and cant tolerate)
Arrowroot biscuits
Ajitas vege chips (no colours falvour preservatives etc)
Jatz crackers
Mini banana muffins
Sandwhiches
White marshamallow as a treat or milky way

I guess I am mainly after stuff that I can take out shopping and in the car etc, she cannot have sultanas or dried apricots, I try my best to steer away from things with the nasty numbers in it.

[~me~]

Nutra Grain or Cheerios..my boys love to snack on these without milk. Any cereal really.
Healtheries have a good range of Rice sticks, rice wheels, and rice rounds. Have a look at the packets as different flavours have different ingredients.
Popcorn
IXL also have a pretty good treat range of things like naughts and crossess...all apparently healthy treats. I keep these as my 'Happy Snacks'.

[Olive]

i was going to say cheerios too, otherwise the healthfood section have similar ones too, not as nice but my DD2 likes them, i find a snack trap great for cheerios (google it)

[alicia]

My DD absolutely LOVES puffed corn! I get it from the health food section at Safeway, it has nothing added to it at all so I don't feel bad if she eats a container of it when we are out. We call it popcorn and she thinks it is a great treat :-D
Actually I get lots of things from the helath food section as easy to pack snacks, another favourite of DD's is the little packets of Boost fruit balls. Oh yeah and the Rice Rounds biscuits.

[~me~]

i find a snack trap great for cheerios (google it)

I have one of those..got mine from the babmini pronto.

[Olive]

me too! though i think toys r us sell them too

[Salad]

Thanks for the info on the snack traps I am very interested in them.

[LimeSlice]

I don't like giving Charlotte dried fruit because of the Sulphates in them (the 200s) but I have found sultanas that don't have any preservative at all...(if that is the reason you don't giver her the sultanas)...The red boxed Sunbeam AUSTRALIAN Sultanas (has to say Australian sultanas) use olive oil, not sulphates, and nothing else - just sultanas and olive oil.

I also found Dried Prunes (Purple foil packet, cannot remember the brand at the moment) without the sulphates either, nice and soft, sweet, Charlotte loves them.

She liked the Rusk things that taste like ricebubbles, not sure what they are called, but they are flat like surfboards lol
The squeezie yoghurt was a hit too, grapes (I used to cut them in half lengthways), ****tail franks occasionally (she loves them cold lol) There is a whole bunch of cool stuff in the supermarket in the gluten free and and organic section, Charlotte was a fan of homemade trail mix stuff too.

HTH

[Amaunet]

I make little pikelets and freeze in zip lock bags in batches of 4. Just grab them on my way out the door and they're defrosted by the time he wants to eat them. Super cheap if you make yourself or you can buy "pikelet bites" at the supermarket.

[Nettie]

[COLOR="Green"]I don't like giving Charlotte dried fruit because of the Sulphates in them (the 200s) but I have found sultanas that don't have any preservative at all...(if that is the reason you don't giver her the sultanas)...The red boxed Sunbeam AUSTRALIAN Sultanas (has to say Australian sultanas) use olive oil, not sulphates, and nothing else - just sultanas and olive oil.

She liked the Rusk things that taste like ricebubbles, not sure what they are called, but they are flat like surfboards lol

The rusks are 'Mum Mum' rusks... DS loved them when he was younger too! Angas Park also have 'natural sultanas' without any additives or oil, but they do get sugary quickly because of this..

[LimeSlice]

Yep thems the ones!! I loved them, ate almost as many as she did

[Gigi]

the Rafferty's garden fruit and veggie tubes - zero additives and colours -

can your child handle thinly sliced up apple? drizzle a little lemon juice over it, to stop it going brown in the car trip.

i use little plastic airtight boxes (like i had for individual baby serves of frozen food when introducing solids).
i fill those with snack amounts of normal food (not individual packaged in factory). Saves money, packaging etc.

a rice cake sandwich - with a cheese slice and vegespread inside it (vegemite has additives).

Prima juice cartons - they only have 25% fruit juice in them. i put them in a DWINK holder, that stops the child squeezing the juice carton. I am happy to say we have never had any spilt juice in the car - due to teh DWINK holder, i'm so impressed with those. Before we got that, i would only allow her to have water in the car (just in case).

i also use the Foogo straw drink bottles for car trips - they keep the water cool for up to 12 hours. So no matter how long my child leaves the water bottle, when she comes back to it, the water is nice to drink. We get heatwave conditions of 45 degrees here (and much higher than that in the non-AC car, always parked in full sun - argh) so having the water kept cold, is a big help.

i keep my child's snacks in a cooler bag, - with an ice brick in it - and pass her one snack at a time.

I don't know how to bring up the subject of the Milky Way, without sounding offensive (and i have no wish to offend anyone) - i'll just say, it's really important to brush a young child's teeth, no matter how young they are. Virtually every toothpaste you buy in a supermarket has SLS in it (to make it froth, no other reason). We've been using Weeleda children's tooth gel - to avoid the SLS.

[feeb]

DS1 likes

cheese sticks
rice crackers
corn thins (with vegemite or philly cheese)
arrowroots
SPC squiggle bars (friuit sticks with drizzle of choc)
fruit bars
sultanas and pineapple
pureed fruit tubs
sandwich
rice wheels

[MrsFabuloso]

What about some veggie sticks, my kids love carrot sticks. For your little one you could par boil them until she can handle them raw. I also often put a little bit of dip into a small container for them.
Lebanese bread with spread on it, rolled up and cut into 'wheels'
Boiled eggs
Milk boxes (flavoured or plain)

[*EJ*]

I am also one for taking a lunch box wherever we go.

I usually have a tub with two fruits in them - strawberries, grapes, blueberries, cut up apple... just depeneds on what i have.
A tub of two veg - carrots, cherry tom, cheese (wrap it up so it doesn't go soggy), capsicum, cucumber...
The mum mum biscuits or the Raferty's Garden biscuit/fruit stick thingys
Bananas
Tiny Teddies for a treat.
Sandwhiches cut into little squares and/or youghurt.

I know this takes a little to prepare but it's just a part of my 'getting ready to go out' routine.

Speaking of which i need to go and do now....

[Salad]

haha gigi, i wont get offended you sound very knowledgable in the additives area, where were you when I was trying to learn all about additives in food. I also use plastic containers too, I hate the plastic sandwhich bags etc, and containers are easier for DD to handle in the car.

Thanks to everyone else, I knew you would have some fresh ideas,