Make-ahead snacks

[wallydraigle]

I have two small children who are exceedingly picky. Well, the older one is. The younger one is picky about a very few foods, but otherwise she'll eat just about anything that lands within arm's reach.

I've recently realized that I've fallen back on simple, grain-based snack foods far too much. I do everything right for mealtimes, mostly (no short-order cooking, I put a few different kinds of food on the table even for simple meals, and I don't force-feed, either), but I think for snacks and on-the-go eating, I rely too much on bread and Cheerios. I'm not anti-bread or carbs, but I do overuse them.

So I would like some ideas for make-ahead snacks that aren't grain-based. The kids are too young to safely munch on most raw veggies, unfortunately, though even the ultra-picky one loves raw broccoli. They seem to like savory, crunchy snacks the best, and I think that if I had a few recipes for cooking vegetables that way, it would be awesome. I read a while ago about dry-roasted green peas, but I don't have a recipe, and I can't find them in stores anyway. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for, though.

Ideally, they would be foods that are:

1. Nutritious
2. Portable
3. Easy to make in large batches without having to ignore my children for an entire morning (they're not yet capable of helping me in the kitchen; believe me, I've tried).
4. Not choking hazards.
5. Not messy.

Thanks!

[Stella]

Some of my usual snacks are bananas, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, string cheese, sliced fruit, yogurt or smoothie popsicles and various kinds of trail mix.

I have a toddler food cookbook my mom had when I was little. I'll see if they have other ideas. I have seen some good websites I'll post later too.

[wallydraigle]

Thanks. We do a lot of fruits and cheese, and my older daughter loves hard boiled eggs, but I was more thinking of dry things I could take along on a trip to the zoo in a baggie. Something that wouldn't stink up the car if it got dropped on a hot day right before we parked in a sunny parking lot.

[Stella]

In that case I'd bring trail mix. I take my four kids (7, 6, 2 and 4 months) on a field trip once a week and I almost always bring trail mix. It's a good mix of protein and carbs and they all like it. Plus it's easy to change it up once in a while.

If I think the trip will be longer I just pack one of the older girls' lunchboxes and some blue ice and bring perishables.

[Perplexa]

They might be a bit young for this, but if you have a dehydrator, you can make kale chips. Toss kale in a bown with some olive oil and salt (not too much, the final result will be much saltier) and then dehydrate. I usually hate kale, but I LOVE kale chips, and they're cheap and nutritious.

[wallydraigle]

Oh, they LOVE kale chips. I make them all the time. But I don't have a food dehydrator, and making them in the oven requires them to be bone-dry first (or they end up steamed--still delicious, but not really chips anymore). It's a pain. You're the second person to suggest a food dehydrator, though. I think I'll start looking for one secondhand.

[Perplexa]

I love mine. It was my mom's, it's about 20 years old and has been shipped cross country twice, and it's still going strong...well, still choking along anyway. I think it may finally be on it's last legs. :-(

[Rosemary]

Trail mix can be endlessly varied. My DD loves it with my homemade granola, flaked organic (unsweetened) coconut, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, dried currants or chopped dried apricot, and puffed millet.

But mostly our snacks are fruits & vegetables. If we're going on a long outing, I take my backpack and pack the snack in an insulated bag with a small ice pack. Easy to take along, just a new habit. I have an insulated backpack that I use when we go to museums and are packing lunch for all of us.

I've also been thinking about a dehydrator... to make all sorts of dried veggies... but it takes up a lot of space and is costly, not sure if I'd get that much use out of it. I'd like to hear how much those who have them, utilize them.

One more thing - it's easy to find recipes for (oven) roasted chickpeas online.

[Tiam]

roasted, salted chickpeas?

[Stella]

I thought this recipe looked yummy.

Cinnamon pecans (http://blog.superhealthykids.com/2010/12/sugar-free-cinnamon-pecans/)

This too

Maple almond popcorn (http://blog.superhealthykids.com/2010/11/almond-maple-popcorn-snack/)

[Anne Lee]

You can dehydrate food with a box fan and HVAC filters, according to Alton Brown. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5912487412723519389

What about popcorn? Is that too grain based?