After school snacks?

[mummydreamer]

Ok so it feels like both my kids are massive eaters, they just seem to nag me all day for food

so a few weeks ago DS started school. This is his usual daily diet:

Breakfast:

Mini wheats with or without banana (depends) 1 or 2 bowls

Lunchbox:
Recess: Le snak, fruit bar, yoghurt, tiny teddies, muffin or cake or something that i've made
Lunch: Sandwich (usually ham with cream cheese and tomato)

so im looking for ideas for after school snacks. he comes home pretty hungry, and usually he will have a couple of pieces of fruit (this arvo he is having an apricot and nectarine) but i usually start cooking dinner about 5 or 5:30 (cause i get hungry Lol) and getting him to eat all his dinner is usually pretty annoying.

what are some ideas for snacks that aren't too filling? or should i just have him stick with the couple of pieces of fruit and then make him wait for dinner? that's what i usually do and even then when he's supposedly starving, he will still fuss. Grrr!!!

TIA

[BellyBelly]

I find it even harder as I don't buy Nestle brands, including Uncle Tobys

I do carrot sticks with dips sometimes - I have a great dip recipe that they love but you could always use tzatziki, avocado dip or something else. I try to reduce the carbs/processed food at night if I can. Tend to have yoghurt for after school than at school, and sometimes they have seaweed biscuits if I havent had time to do much. Cheese cut into cubes, they love small cans of tuna in brine which is good for their brain... but they will eat a fair bit of fruit as long as its peeled and cut up, so can do strawberries to apple to orange etc. So hope thats a few ideas

[nothing2lose]

Some of my faves....

Pikelets
Scones (plain, fruit, savoury)
Jaffles
Ricecakes

(all carbs though!!!!...carb-lover that I am!)

[nothing2lose]

can I also add the food he is eating at school is all high gi so it will not fill him up.

Maybe it is worth changing what he is eating during the day to give him sustained energy/blood sugar.

[tellytubby]

I remember when we would finish school, my mum would always put on a good spread.

Pikelets, scones, fruit salad with yogurt, homemade sausage rolls, salad sandwitches, carrot sticks/cheese/crackers & dip, or a pizza scroll (ham cheese onion tomoto rolled up in puff pastry and cooked). I know some of them may sound extreme, but she only gave us snack size servings so we would still eat our dinner. But also enough to keep us satisfied, our dinner was always served at 7:30, so 4ish hours later.

She would also have a big glass of iced water. Was absolute heaven after walking home in the heat with the heavy backpack. (Remember that Cottee's cordial ad, where the kids walk home, and the bitumen sticks to their school shoes! haha! My sister and I used to always invision that!) Some days, we would get spoilt with some icy cordial, but unfortunately those days were very few and far between with my mother!

By the time we were in highschool, word got around that my mum always had a rockin' feed ready, and she'd often have an extra 2/3 kids to feed! haha!

HTH

[DaintreeDream]

Do you think it is worth adding something to his luchtime meal to sustain him longer, a sandwich doesn't seem much to me although I realise he is having a big morning tea, maybe fruitcake or yoghurt and fruit?

For afternoon tea I would suggest the same as PP, dips and vegies, takes a while to sit and eat too or a fruit smoothie?

[PumpkinZulu]

can I also add the food he is eating at school is all high gi so it will not fill him up.

Maybe it is worth changing what he is eating during the day to give him sustained energy/blood sugar.

I was going to suggest that also, that way he won't be so hungry by the end of the day. Nuts and sultanas and other dried fruits make awesome energy snacks, as do rice crackers with whatever you why on them (avocado cheese and tomato is delicious!!)

[nothing2lose]

I was going to suggest that also, that way he won't be so hungry by the end of the day. Nuts and sultanas and other dried fruits make awesome energy snacks,

PZ a lot of schools wont allow nuts or nut products (peanut butter, etc) due to anaphylaxis

[AnyDream]

My DD went through a phase of being so insanely hungry after school, if i didn't feed her well then it was hours of misery until tea, so I started serving up hot savory snacks (esp in winter when it's cold):

baked beans with a piece of wholegrain toast
small serve of macaroni cheese
veggie soup with a piece of wholegrain toast
wholegrain crackers & dip
cheese and apple and crackers
grilled cheese on wholegrain muffin w. tomato paste
****tail frankfurts
Small baked potato with butter & melted cheese
small bowl of porridge

If it takes the edge off their dinner appetite it doesn't matter so much provided you have given them something nutritious

[tellytubby]

If it takes the edge off their dinner appetite it doesn't matter so much provided you have given them something nutritious

Very true Marydean!

Just thought I'd add that when I worked at an After school hours care centre, all the kids, despite what age, would get a sandwitch with either a spread or ham, a piece of fruit, and a cup of milk. So heaps more than what youre currently offering your ds


Ohhh also they would often have a sausage sizzle afternoon tea aswelll! The kids LURRVED it! (pain in the ass cooking that many sausages tho!)

[PumpkinZulu]

PZ a lot of schools wont allow nuts or nut products (peanut butter, etc) due to anaphylaxis

Ofcorse! Hmm, maybe just at home for that one

[mummydreamer]

can I also add the food he is eating at school is all high gi so it will not fill him up.

Maybe it is worth changing what he is eating during the day to give him sustained energy/blood sugar.

i actually think most of that stuff is low gi? the yoghurt i give him is easiyo, its probiotic, thats low GI, and i make him sandwiches on wholemeal bread. also the muffins are usually fruit muffins with low sugar....

meant to say i sometimes add carrot sticks in there as well...also what i pack for recess, he doesn't have to eat it all at recess, he can eat the yoghurt and/or mufffin or whatever with his sandwich.

but thanks for the advice ladies, some good suggestions there.

[AnyDream]

Wholemeal bread generally has a similar GI to white bread. It's the dense grainy breads that are low GI. Most of the recess things you've mentioned are pretty high GI too.

[mummydreamer]

hmmm....can i maybe have some good recess options then as well? it seems i may have slackened off...i used to be really anal about what i fed my kids, had to be all natural and no additives and processed foods....now i've gone a bit soft i think, and just started buying the other items cause they're easier....i think i do need to change though, DS is a hyperactive little boy school has calmed him down but still......maybe a should post another thread??

thanks ladies

[BellyBelly]

Yup with the bread - its all processed so brown or white makes no difference! Burgen is a good bread - more grains (denser food to digest than processed broken down food) the more slow burning/better.

[forshelby]

I remember when we would finish school, my mum would always put on a good spread.

Pikelets, scones, fruit salad with yogurt, homemade sausage rolls, salad sandwitches, carrot sticks/cheese/crackers & dip, or a pizza scroll (ham cheese onion tomoto rolled up in puff pastry and cooked). I know some of them may sound extreme, but she only gave us snack size servings so we would still eat our dinner. But also enough to keep us satisfied, our dinner was always served at 7:30, so 4ish hours later.

She would also have a big glass of iced water. Was absolute heaven after walking home in the heat with the heavy backpack. (Remember that Cottee's cordial ad, where the kids walk home, and the bitumen sticks to their school shoes! haha! My sister and I used to always invision that!) Some days, we would get spoilt with some icy cordial, but unfortunately those days were very few and far between with my mother!

By the time we were in highschool, word got around that my mum always had a rockin' feed ready, and she'd often have an extra 2/3 kids to feed! haha!

HTH

If I knew about the snacks I would have walked home with you too!

[nothing2lose]

Mummydreamer,

Please dont beat yourself up for "going soft". My DD's lunchbox looks similar to your kids'. None of us are superhuman. But, if you are interested in different ideas that are low gi (therefore will leave them fuller for longer) ....

- Bakers Delight bakery have a new low gi white bread. It looks and tastes the same as "normal" white bread. They also have low gi rolls. Their cape seed loaf is good too. But a lot of kids may be put off by all the "bits" if they are not used to eating it. And, of course, if they throw it out, not only is it a waste but they are going to be even hungrier.
-Tip Top (or one of those) also makes a low gi white loaf. It's always at Woolworths in Melbourne so I guess it's available everywhere!
- Muffins are high gi due to the flour and sugar. However you can lower the glycaemic load by putting in some bran or rolled oats into the mix. Chances are they wont notice it.
-Some fruit can be high gi. The best things from a gi perspective are apples, pears, strawberries...
- Pretty much any biscuit, cracker, cake, chip, bread product, etc is high gi --- sadly If you are being really strict (and there is no need to be for kids!) even rice cakes, cruskits, rice crackers are a no, no
- Not sure what they are eating for breakie but good low gi options are porridge (not instant, but made with whole rolled oats), muesli (again natural is best), baked beans on low gi bread/toast, egg on toast. High gi is pretty much any commercial cereal - corn flakes, rice bubbles, nutrigrain, etc.
-Vegies are all good but potatoes, parsnips are not so good (again purely from a gi perspective)

Just a couple of ideas. It's bloody hard. And I am as guilty as the next person of taking shortcuts and giving them what they like instead of what they should have!

Take care x

n2l

[Rouge]

After school we tend to have a big fruit smoothie with lots of fruit, sometimes frozen bananas or ice to give it that thick creaminess they love. Either that or a home made slurpee. I will make sure they have options so fruit (often strawberries, grapes, apples, oranges, banana etc), crackers and then something I have baked. Could be sweet or savoury. And in winter often the kids will have rice pudding for afternoon tea rather than anything else. I think afternoon tea is very important. When they are teens sometimes more important than dinner. A friend of mine lets her son have his dinner the second he walks in from school, and he devours it quickly. Then he'll have supper when they have dinner. Metabolisms change constantly and provided you are looking at healthy options you should always listen to what your body is telling you, especially when it is asking for food. It might also be a good idea to look at a hot breakfast 1 or 2 times a week. I find when I do this for my kids they have more sustainable energy and are less pickish throughout the day.