Simple and Healthy Snack Ideas

Healthy snack ideas are helpful to have prepped ahead of time. In the moment you or your children are looking for a snack, it needs to be simple, easy, and fast. If not, that's when junk food often creeps into your life. It is also helpful to have a list of healthy snack ideas that can be put together fairly easily for those moments.

What is the Healthiest Food to Snack on?

It might be obvious but the healthiest foods to snack on are whole foods as opposed to processed foods. Whole foods include fruits and vegetables. Apples, pears, oranges, and bananas are healthy and require no preparation. However, most of the time kids want something a little more interesting.

Healthy Snacks for Kids (and Adults)

There are many easy whole food combinations that make very healthy snacks with little preparation. Often, the biggest challenge is coming up with ideas in the moment. That's when you hear, “Mom! There's nothing to eat.” That's usually your cue to start listing off things you have in the house that they can eat. This can become a daily occurrence over summer break or school vacations when kids are home all day (right!?).

Easy Snack Ideas Kids Can Prepare

If you have older children or teenagers, they can prepare their own snacks. They may not want to, but it's a great way to teach them how to take responsibility for their own health. A great way to empower tweens and teens is to have a printed list of snack ideas in the kitchen so they don't have to bug you to come up with ideas for what to eat.

Some ideas for the list:

Apples & cheese
Rice cakes & nut butter
Homemade popcorn
Veggies & sour cream dip
Celery with nut butter
Dried mangos and banana chips
Dates with nut butter
Oatmeal with honey
Smoothie

In addition to these types of simple to prepare snacks, you can also have some healthier packaged snacks on hand. I typically reserve those types of snacks for on the go or for school snacks but sometimes, in a pinch you have them!

What to Eat if You Are Craving Junk Food?

If you or your kids are craving junk food, first figure out what it is you are after? Is it something sweet, salty, or maybe crunchy or creamy? If you can determine what kind of taste and texture you are craving you can most likely find a healthier alternative that is better for you.

An example might be, you are craving ice cream. A healthy option that will also offer a sweet and creamy experience is plain greek yogurt, fresh berries, and maple syrup drizzled on top. It's also a great conversation to have with your teenagers.

Healthy Snack Recipes

A good habit to get into is to do a little preparation ahead of time to have some more complicated or time consuming snacks already made and ready to eat. My weekly habit is to bake a batch of muffins because they are great for snacks. My son's regular snack is toast with this homemade healthy nutella (also a good thing to have on hand). You can also prepare other recipes that kids will enjoy as snacks.

Here are some great options I have found on other blogs:

Keto Corndog Mini Muffins from Elena's Pantry
Cherry-Almond Soaked Baked Oatmeal Recipe by Kitchen Stewardship
Paleo Carrot Cake Bread from Paleo Running Momma
No Bake Sunbutter Crunch Bars from Against All Grain
Chocolate Chip Tahini Bars from Chocolate Covered Katie
Fermented Vegetables Sticks from Fermenting for Foodies
Berry Chia Pudding from Whole New Mom

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe to stay in the loop. If you are looking for some of the healthy tools and resources mentioned in my articles, take a look at my healthy shopping guide.

Some of our links are affiliate links, which means if you click and buy, I earn a small commission. The price is the same for you, though. Thank you!