You may have heard on the news that Public Health England have suggested that children should be restrict their snacks to two 100 calorie snacks a day.
There has been lots of debate about whether children should be calorie counting but the principle is that although children benefit from small snacks, they should not be large snacks or ones which are very high in sugar or salt. Ideally we want snacks to provide some additional nutrients (not just energy).
Here are some ideas for alternative snacks:
- Half a crumpet or potato cake with some ‘no added sugar’ peanut butter or cream cheese
- Homemade fluffy American Pancakes – I use self raising flour, make the pancakes small and then freeze them (so make several batches at a time). I use half the sugar. Great to grab out of the freezer in the morning – they will be defrosted by school pick up.
- Fruit – apples, banana, grapes, clementines, melon….
- Carrot, cucumber, pepper sticks and homous
- Cheese cubes and a cracker
- 1 breadstick with some cream cheese to dip it in
I wouldn’t recommend dried fruit as a snack as it has a tendency to stick to your teeth, save dried fruit for main meals.
If you have any other suggestions, feel free to add them in the comments 🙂