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BANG FOR THE BITE
Some of these options are pricey, but sending kids to school with better snacks is the better biting choice.
COCKTAIL FACT
One school vending machine supply company requires the sale of 50 sodas per student per year.
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home › tip library › Organic Snacks
What's the opposite of brain food?
The Bite
Most of the stuff you find in school vending machines. Pack your kid's lunch with organic snacks that taste so good, you'll want to snag some for yourself while you're at it.The Benefits
- Healthier kids. Organic's the way to go, since the EPA says kids are more sensitive to pesticides than adults (they're still growing and consume more food relative to their body weight).
- Healthier farmland. Buying more sustainable snacks increases the likelihood that your kids' kids can eat organic too.
- Convenience. Our picks are as portable as the packs you'd find in the vending machines.
Personally Speaking
Meat-eaters think they're so funny, always asking Jen, "Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?" Since discovering My Family Farm's lemon-iced version, her mouth is always a little too full of cookies to answer.Wanna Try?
- My Family Farm Arctic Bear Cookies - profits go to children's charities ($31/12 boxes).
- Bear Fruit Bars - variety pack with four flavors, with up to two servings of organic fruit in each bar ($27/20).
- Kettle Chips Pretzel Chips - 7-oz bags of low-fat, baked crunchiness; also available in 4-oz bags at Whole Foods ($28/12).
- Annie's Homegrown Cheddar Bunny Baked Snack Crackers - an organic version of cheesy Goldfish, but in bunny form ($23/48).
- Clif Organic ZBar - chock-full of vitamins, in rich chocolate chip, chocolate brownie, and peanut butter flavors ($10/12).
- Organic Valley Cheddar Cheese Stringles - cheddar string cheese gone organic ($4/6).
Aug 24,2007
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Lunchtime, Libby, Montana, Early 1980s…
I coveted my grade school friends' snacks - all gooey Hostess fruit pies and Ding Dongs and sodas. Daily, I‘d unpack my carrot sticks and apple, with the occasional chocolate pudding and a little note on a napkin from Dad, and I'd wonder how I could somehow cobble together the makings of a decent trade - my fruit leather for their Snickers bar, perhaps? Occasionally, Mom would make tuna salad sandwiches on whole-grain bread with sprouts, loaded down with pickles and hard-boiled egg, and a tiny bit of mayo (she called it "stretching" the can of tuna).
I'd gaze in envy at my tiny blonde Nordic-looking friends as they pulled out their thin little mayo-ridden, tuna-only sandwiches on soggy white Wonder Bread, wishing my lunches were more like theirs.
God, but kids are so stupid.
-Heather... off make a whole-grain sandwich...
I'd gaze in envy at my tiny blonde Nordic-looking friends as they pulled out their thin little mayo-ridden, tuna-only sandwiches on soggy white Wonder Bread, wishing my lunches were more like theirs.
God, but kids are so stupid.
-Heather... off make a whole-grain sandwich...
Biter Comments...
I'm out of college but still snack like a 5-year-old, except now it's all the organic versions of my old faves. You forgot one of the best...Frutabu smooshed fruit!
Fruitabu and other fruit leathers can do serious serious damage to your teeth.
How about good old fresh fruit instead?
With a glass of water to wash it down!
Sure - kids love all these fun, yummy snacks but lets not forget that all this individually packaged stuff just adds to the heap in the landfill. You can find plenty of healthy snacks in the bulk bin or just buy a big box and send individual servings in a reusable container.
Just because something is organic doesn't make it good for you or environmentally friendly. All that packaging, shipping and marketing generates greenhouse gas, landfill waste and uses resources. Not to mention the added effect of ordering this stuff online and having it shipped to your house. Really the problem is that people buy too much stuff.
Instead have whole fruit available for your kids. You can also make homemade cookies as it really isn't difficult to do and fun for the entire family. You can make a weeks worth of cookies in about an hour on a Saturday evening. Use your bread machine and make different homemade breads. They can be eaten with butter, jams and local honey. My kids love my Cinnamon Raisin Whole Wheat bread. Though we make everything from Parmesan Cheese Bread to Rosemary Dill. Takes about 15 minutes to set up and then cycle through. I do it while I am working and unplug it when I am done.
Processed foods are one of the major causes of obesity in this country. 99% of the processed organic foods are no better than the other stuff.
Just want to point out one of the important things from Susan's link above if people don't visit.
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Research shows that only 11% of kids eat the recommended 5 servings of fruits and veggies each day. Choosing fresh produce for a snack is your biggest bang for your nutritional buck.
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That is a shockingly low number.
I certainly agree with Wayne. And since a serving of fruit is a very small amount of food, I wonder what it is that they are eating instead?!?!
VEGAN snacks are better for the environment (note the deleterious impact of livestock that is worse than cars!) - I was suprised to see cheese snacks on your list for school kids.
The new Eco-Planet "Cheddar" crackers from Heaven Scent are fantastic and much more eco-friendly.
http://www.eco-planet.net/index.html
Check 'em out - they're fantastic!
:-)
Wayne--I love your ideas about making home-made snacks. Having just graduated college, I'm not even close to worrying about healthy kid snacks, but I do enjoy mixing my own trail mix.
As for a yummy vegan snack, I've found Mrs. May's nut and fruit 'bites' (bought at Costco in CA in both indiv. and large bags, also can be bought online) to be utterly delicious. This might not be ideal for packing in your kids' lunchboxes every day, but it would make for a great occasional treat.
**keep biting...**
Engage children in healthier eating by growing some of your own food. Tomatoes in a pot are a great start. We bake cookies and breads for school lunch, too. The weight issue could be addressed by knowing how many calories a child is eating daily. Most parents use the "growing child" theory and allow as much food as a child wants to eat. Using a BMI calculator made for children was eye opening.
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/bmicalculator.html
While my daughter was going to high school, each morning I'd blend up a yummy shake which my daughter affectionately nick-named The Ralph, because she said it made her want to...well, Ralph. It consisted of grape juice, nutritional yeast, an opened Vit. C capsule, and lemon-flavored cod liver oil. She'd hold her nose dramatically to gulp it down, but I didn't worry about what else she might eat that day, for sure!
One of the best ways to ensure that your child will receive excellent nutrition at school is to get involved with school lunch programs! Encourage school gardens and educating kids about where food comes from. Engaging the connection we have with our food leads to not only better choices today, but moves us toward a more sustainable and whole connection with the environment that feeds us!
When my oldest was in grade school back in the early 1970's, I was called in to talk to the school nurse, the principal, and her teacher. They were concerned that my daughter's sack lunches weren't healthy and she wasn't getting the 'correct' nutrition...I was making my own sprouts to put on her sandwiches..the bread was homemade whole wheat, she had raw walnuts, raisins, perhaps a dried pineapple ring from our local food coop...the peanut butter on her sandwich was Adams' Natural peanut butter, the jam would be homemade, she sometimes would take homemade yogurt with fresh fruti added to it...all that wonderful, good nutrition in her sack lunch and the staff thought she wasn't getting a well rounded diet, because her lunches weren't the norm....you can imagine what I told them.....
Heather--
You're from Libby, Montana? Like... asbestos-infested, W.R. Grace & Co. Libby?
No wonder you're an eco-girl now.
Hey lunch-packers, I have a dessert both you and the kids will love... Yachana Jungle Chocolates from One World Projects (www.oneworldprojects.com). Each box is un-processed and entirely natural, so it's actually good for you! And, um, hello... it's CHOCOLATE!
I am out of college.But I like ice-creams,chocolates like small kids.In market so many food products are there.In my suggestion is don't eat too much chocolates.Only take it after lunch.
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swansi
Montana Drug Treatment- to know more about drugtreatment
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Posted by: Susan Rubin | August 24, 2007 at 05:16 AM