It wasn’t until my son started going to school for full days until I realized how stressful getting his lunchbox together every night would be. The first week, I loved it. I really did. I got excited about putting cute little shapes of fruit into one of the sections of his bento box. I surprised him with a fun, new snack every day. I even gave him a little letter cookie as a “dessert” for after his lunch (which I’m pretty sure he ate first, before anything nutritious).
But after the honeymoon period of packing his lunch wore off, I found myself grumbling under my breath in the kitchen at 9 p.m. every night, trying to figure out what I could pack that 1) wasn’t terrible for him and 2) he would actually eat. This was all fine and good until, slowly but surely, things started returning home in his lunch box at the end of the day. Some of my go-to items, especially for snack time, were becoming boring for him. Gone were the days that I could just put a bunch of Goldfish, apple slices, or Pirate’s Booty in a baggie and send him on his way. I needed to think outside the box, literally, and come up with something.
I recently found some fun, new snacks that I am working into our rotation. So far so good. Since I have begun changing it up, my little guy hasn’t returned home with his snack uneaten. (Now if only there were a way to make vegetables more fun…)
Prince & Spring Fruitmojis
Boxed.com
As soon as I saw this I grabbed it. Prince & Spring’s fruit snacks are yummy (yes, I broke into a few packets to “test them out”) but they’re really cute too. The gummies are all in the shapes of emojis, including a heart, money, pizza, and fire. If your kid is really lucky, he’ll have a grape-flavored “poop” in his snack bag. Poop never tasted so good.
Clif Kid ZBAR Protein
Clifbar.com
I liked the idea of a Clif Bar for kids because the adult versions always kept me full, and tasted really good as well. The peanut butter chocolate is a popular flavor with my son — he doesn’t care that he’s getting a good amount of protein, he just cares that he likes what he’s eating. It’s also a good size so that it doesn’t ruin his appetite for lunch.
Tapaz 2 Go Lentil Crackers and Hummus
Facebook – GREAT Kids Snack Box
My son always eats crackers with hummus at home, so Tapaz 2 Go was a good option for him to grab and bring to school. There are other brands that include pretzels with hummus, but I feel a little better about these crackers being made from lentils. This way he’s getting protein while he noshes.
Bachman Pita Pretzel Squares
Amazon.com
Is it a pita chip? Or is it a pretzel? To be honest, my son doesn’t care. He likes both of those things separately, so it was a bonus to find a hybrid of the two snacks in this one product. They never make a return trip home, so I know I hit the jackpot here.
Fage Crossovers Coconut with Dark Chocolate
Fage.com
We like to snack on yogurt at home, but I didn’t love the idea of sending weird, bright blue yogurt in a tube to school with my son. It seemed like it missed the point of what yogurt is supposed to be. Ever since Fage came out with their Crossovers line, we’ve enjoyed the variety. The coconut with dark chocolate is my son’s favorite (of course…) and he’s getting a lot of good protein with it. (Although I’m pretty sure he eats the chocolate bits by themselves and then eats the yogurt separately. But what can you do?)
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