Class snacks

[ahisma]

What do you send in for class snacks? We don't do a lot of packaged foods, so we usually bake something (kindgergarten). The past two have been flops: apple muffins and blueberry muffins.

When asked, DS just says that they like junk food: bags of cookies and chips.

Do we really need to send that in? I KNOW that food is an area where I'm uptight, but I really thought that muffins would go over.

And, poor DH was up making them:(

[Mermanaid]

We have to send in pre-packaged goods if we are sending anything to school. Maybe the bags of apple slices? I always bought the big box of Annie's cheddar bunnies at Costco and sent those in.

[vonfirmath]

What do you send in for class snacks? We don't do a lot of packaged foods, so we usually bake something (kindgergarten). The past two have been flops: apple muffins and blueberry muffins.

When asked, DS just says that they like junk food: bags of cookies and chips.

Do we really need to send that in? I KNOW that food is an area where I'm uptight, but I really thought that muffins would go over.

And, poor DH was up making them:(

Bags of cookies and chips has the advantage of having an ingredient list right there on the package and being a known quantity...

[MSWR0319]

What about string cheese?

[Green_Tea]

I think pretzels, Goldfish, granola bars, etc. are the best bet. Nether of my picky eaters will eat things like blueberry or apple muffins (silly children!).

[KpbS]

Indiv packaged applesauces, raisins, craisins, bananas, clementines, goldfish, pretzels, graham crackers, etc.

[ChristinaLucia]

Sorry I feel your pain. I am extremely uptight about what my kids eat and I wish they wouldn't serve treats at school. Sorry your muffins didn't go over. My kids would have been pretty excited!

[georgiegirl]

String cheese or yogurt sticks. I was annoyed with some of the junk that other parents brought in. Our stuff had to be pre packaged and peanut-free. At least now in first, we bring our own snacks (which is always string cheese, yogurt stick or applesauce)

eTA: both oft kids would have loved your muffins

[ray7694]

I usually do a mix like goldfish, raisins, cheerios, and chocolate/peanut butter chips.

[maestramommy]

You might ask the teacher? Sorry about the muffins, they would be a hit here!

[belovedgandp]

Is this snack for the whole class? I'm amazed they allow cookies or chips. We have elementary snack but it is individual and very clear that it be healthy.

When we were doing all class snack in preschool, I did a lot of mixes - most dry cereal, raisins, goldfish kind of things.

[Tenasparkl]

We have a set snack program though my DDs preschool. We have to bring in vanilla yogurt, whole grain crackers, milk, fruit, bagels, cream cheese, cheese sticks, applesauce, granola bars etc.

[ellies mom]

We have a child in DD's class who has a gluten intolerance, so we usually send apple slices, pirate booty, baby bel cheese or some other gluten/peanut free snack. We only have to be peanut free and I know the mom has sent in gluten free snacks for the child but I think it is nice for him to be able to enjoy the same snack as the rest of the kids.

[mmsmom]

The most popular snack I have sent is fruit & cheese kabobs. As one mom said to me, kids will eat anything on a stick! I do strawberries, grapes, apple & cubes of cheese. I have also cut cheese sticks in thirds and used those. I buy bamboo skewers and snip off the pointed end with scissors after they are made.

[ang79]

I wish I could send individual snack for DD1 as some of the snacks she reports eating are junk food that I'm not crazy about her eating often (cheese balls, cookies, doritos, the character fruit snacks, etc.) Her teacher does not request individual packaged food but when I've been in the classroom and have witnessed snack time, it seems like it would be easier on the teacher and aide to have things individually packaged, so I try to send in small bags of things like Pirate Booty, Angie's popcorn (which DD said most of the kids wouldn't eat but she loves it), granola bars. Sometimes I've sent large containers of gold fish or animal crackers when I don't have anything else to send. We can send in cheese or fruit, but then I'd have to drive it into school, so its just easier to send something dry on the first day of the month and the teacher stashes it in her closet until she can use it. I'm hoping next year her teacher does individual snacks, guess it depends on the classroom teacher in our schools.

[crl]

We were asked to bring somewhat healthy snacks and most parents complied.

Things we took that went over well, afaik. (I usually tried to give some protein so I would pair things like fresh fruit and cheese.)

Flavored yogurt (I know, sugar, but at least with protein)
String cheese
Dried fruit (dried apricots went over really well according to the teachers).
Pita chips and hummus
Salami. (I know processed, but again at least protein)
Fresh fruit

For special snacks we did fruit kabobs and let the kids make them--they were interested in patterns. And we did bagel faces (from the Pretend Soup recipe book, where you use olives and shredded carrot and so on on a bagel with cream cheese to make faces). Kids loved both of those.

Catherine

[Green22]

As a FA mom I would love fruit. :waving4:

[rin]

Fruit, cheese, crackers, pretzels?

[MontrealMum]

My kid would have scarfed your muffins down :)

At DS' school they have a healthy food policy so no: chips, pop, candy, or overly sugary things. It's also nut free. When they've asked for us to send something in they usually ask for fruit or cheese, and they generally divide up who brings what so they don't have 15 containers of strawberries or something ;) When they celebrate a child's birthday in class they do fruit kebabs.

I'm not surprised that kids eat junk food at home, or even that parents would send it to school, but I'm kind of shocked that your DS' school is ok with that as a class-wide snack.

[ahisma]

The policy is snacks for the whole class. There are no allergies in the class, but they are FA safe because DS's best friend (different class) has allergies and that's just my general school food protocol (they eat lunch together).

They request healthy snacks. In fact, they suggest veggies - but I know that would never go over. The shared snack is an afternoon whole class snack, but there is an individual snack in the morning (DS brings fruit and /or veggies for that -happily)

I tried fresh pineapple today with the Odyssey team - only DS ate it. Same with clementines last week. Apples brown and then they reject them. Kiwi was too slimy. We've tried tons and just...gah.

DS doesn't do dairy (lactose issues), so cheese, etc. is out.

I think we'll just stick to the goldfish, etc. I tried...but baking for 25 kids and striking out is getting old:) I know the teacher would prefer no cookies and chips - but I think her hands are pretty much tied.

[anonomom]

It's a little shocking to me that an entire classroom full of kids would turn their noses up at such a variety of fruits, let alone homebaked muffins. What do they eat at home?

Maybe next time try applesauce squeezers or something similar? My kids tear through those (though they also like fruit, so they may differ somewhat from your target audience).

[crl]

The policy is snacks for the whole class. There are no allergies in the class, but they are FA safe because DS's best friend (different class) has allergies and that's just my general school food protocol (they eat lunch together).

They request healthy snacks. In fact, they suggest veggies - but I know that would never go over. The shared snack is an afternoon whole class snack, but there is an individual snack in the morning (DS brings fruit and /or veggies for that -happily)

I tried fresh pineapple today with the Odyssey team - only DS ate it. Same with clementines last week. Apples brown and then they reject them. Kiwi was too slimy. We've tried tons and just...gah.

DS doesn't do dairy (lactose issues), so cheese, etc. is out.

I think we'll just stick to the goldfish, etc. I tried...but baking for 25 kids and striking out is getting old:) I know the teacher would prefer no cookies and chips - but I think her hands are pretty much tied.

Wow, that's frustrating. I am sorry.

Catherine

[MontrealMum]

Wow, I can see why you're so frustrated! I sure wouldn't be providing that many homemade baked goods anymore either. I think sending in a few bags of whole wheat goldfish is the best compromise you're going to find, but that really sucks that they don't push good nutrition more.

[Tondi G]

I would go with

goldfish
Annies Cheddar bunnies
Trader Joes has new cheddar rocket ships
Cheez-its
pretzels
apple sauce
diced peaches cups (I believe the Dole variety are in juice not syrup)

I can't believe the kids didn't eat the muffins ... I know my DS would have loved fresh baked muffins. Maybe try Banana chocolate chip muffins?

On Halloween we took in mini bagels and cream cheese to DS2's 2nd grade class ... we put a few drops of food coloring into the cream cheese tubs to turn them green or orange. I think only 3 kids ate bagels. The rest looked at me like I was crazy to think they would eat that! LOL Only one kid turned down the Halloween doughnuts!

[HannaAddict]

Muffins aren't a hit with any of the preschool snack times I've ever seen. Not sure why, but it isn't personal. I would stick with goldfish crackers or Smart Puffs and fruit of some kind. Strawberries, apple slices, grapes cut in half. It is just a snack and to help them learn to socialize too, at least at our preschool.

[hellokitty]

OP, I get your frustration. The preschool ds1 went to suggested healthy snacks, but EVERY parent, except for two of us always gave, "fruit snacks," aka candy, despite the list of suggested snacks by the school. DS2 went to a different preschool and while there were egg and nut allergy kids, there were no dairy allergy kids. So, my go-to snack was string cheese and sliced apples. I bought the big bag of pre-sliced apples from sam's club, they do a family style snack at school to learn to socialize properly at the table (pass it around, etc.). Some kids did complain that I did not bring milk or juice, but just provided water, and I pointed out to that child (I volunteered that day), that the apple wedges were better for him than the water, and they got cheese, so they didn't need milk. The preschool teacher piped in to agree with me, rarely any parents would just serve water, like I did. To me, a big pet peeve are the number of children who refuse to drink water, it seems like there are so many of them addicted to juice or having something sweet in their drink, even milk has to be sweetened to get them to drink it?!?! She told me she was glad I brought in healthy snacks. IDK about your preschool, but at this particular one, if snacks were getting out of hand (some kids kept bringing cupcakes and cookies, I think that the parents were clueless and just got what their kid wanted), they would send a note home for the entire class reminding them. Is there any way, if you know that the teachers are also frustrated with the junky snacks, to have the teachers send home a reminder note with some suggested snacks.

One, "healthy" snack I did was a mixed cereal type of snack, and this way you can pick which cereals go in it, I also did throw in a few bite sized marshmallows just for fun. It's not as healthy as fresh fruit, but less junky than a lot of other stuff. I put them into the half sized ziplock bags with a little room to spare, and DS2 decorated the spring loaded clothespins by painting them, putting on googly eyes and using a pipe cleaner for the attenna. The clothespins, "pinch" the bag midway through to make it look like a butterfly. The kids LOVED it and so did the teachers and some of the kids did the same snack later on as a repeat, b/c they liked it so much. Here's a pick, but this lady used fruit on one side and goldfish on the other side, which is cool too.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vZHMMmY1f6E/T4j1CS6d9xI/AAAAAAAACBs/Biw7bcISjZU/s1600/butterfly+snacks+4.JPG

DS2 was in full day kindergarten and I was glad that the tuition covered snacks. It's still a sore point with me how junky the snacks are that ppl bring in. The same with our moms group, I honestly think that most ppl think that those stupid, "fruit snacks" are healthy, ugh.

[georgiegirl]

This year, DD's teacher told them the first day they could only brings healthy snacks...no cookies, no chips, and no fruit snacks!!! I was highly impressed. Last year (kinder), it was group snacks and kids brought Oreos and fruit snacks all of the time. The worst were those "handi snacks" where you could dip Oreo pieces into frosting. It's fine to have a treat on a birthday, but not everyday.

DS's preschool has assigned snacks, and they are stuff like goldfish, graham crackers, string cheese, apple sauce, go-gurt. etc. theirs has to be pre-packaged because of allergies too.

[sarahsthreads]

Is this snack for the whole class? I'm amazed they allow cookies or chips. We have elementary snack but it is individual and very clear that it be healthy.

:yeahthat:

DD1 got in trouble a couple of years ago (1st grade) for bringing in a muffin for her individual snack. I had baked mini blueberry muffins with whole wheat flour, flax seed, applesauce instead of most of the oil, and a minimal amount of sugar, and she was told muffins were an unhealthy junk food and that she was not allowed to bring them in for snack. However, everything she's brought in since then, including things like packaged cereal bars (far, far more sugar than what was in those muffins) have been A-OK. WTF?

I feel for you, OP. Every time I've baked for a class party I bring home 90% of what I brought. I don't even make things "weird" (aka, a bit healthier), just normal baking. (And not to sound immodest, but I'm a darn good baker, anything I bring anywhere but school disappears quickly!) I seriously wonder at these kids who'd rather eat packaged junk than homemade goodies.

For preschool this year (must be store bought, must have no nut warnings) I've given in and gotten the giant boxes of goldfish and cheeze-its like everyone else. Maybe I'll try a PP's suggestion of string cheese and apple slices next time, although the gorgeous, ripe strawberries I brought in for DD2's birthday celebration last year were largely refused. :shrug:

Sarah :)