This Snack Idea for Kids Will Save Your Sanity During Quarantine
It’s no secret… kids LOVE snacks, snacking, and more snacking!
In fact, that’s probably become even more apparent now that schools are closed (along with all these stores) and we’re all either working from home or dealing with many unknown circumstances during this chaotic time.
That said, we have a simple idea to help get at least one thing under wraps for all you parents out there and it might even make working from home a bit easier, too.
Say hello to snack bins!
Or in my case, a snack tray!
No matter what you have in your house, a tray, bin, or just leave it on the counter, you can easily create a designated spot for your kids so they can chow down whenever the moment strikes. (Which, let’s be honest, it’s more frequent than our brains can handle being asked most sometimes.) 🤣
Here are some of the perks of doing a snack bin:
- You get to pick the snacks (I always opt for the healthier, the better).
- The kids are happy because they think they’re picking the snacks since they get options.
- You don’t get 2,935,872,034 snack questions a day.
- Your day will run more smoothly without having to stop and get more snacks out.
Hip Tip: You could also make your day run more smoothly if you have lunch already prepped and in the fridge. Here are some easy (sandwich-free) lunch ideas for kids that Lina shared.
Need some snack ideas?
I really love shopping at ALDI – I feel like I save so much money every week and with the tricks and hacks we shared, it’s a no brainer in my book! Here’s a list of my favorite snacks to pick up for the kids:
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- Peanut butter filled pretzels
- Bag of apples (they’re typically smaller than the individual ones and the perfect size for little kids)
- Bag of oranges (we really love the Cara Cara ones)
- Snack bars
- Popcorn
- Dark chocolate with fruit-filled centers (we love the pomegranate and blueberry ones and they’re perfect for a small sweet treat)
If you’re putting your snack bins in the fridge, as an idea you could also add some yogurt, applesauce cups, or slice up your fruits and put them in a bag.
Another idea is to shop in bulk for snacks at membership stores like Costco and Sam’s Club. Just keep in mind that right now they’re encouraging a limit to two people per membership shopping at once. Regardless, if you’re heading to the store soon or placing an order for pickup, they have tons of options that would go perfect in your kid’s snack bins. Here are just some ideas on what you can score:
You can even cut down on plastic, buy using some reusable food wraps!
We love helping save the earth by switching to more eco-friendly products and these food wraps are one of my favorite transitions to date! 🙌 Plus, they offer incredible savings over the long haul, so if you’re going to be bagging up a lot of snacks for this snack bin idea, you might want to consider some of these new Bee’s wraps. You can read my full review on these wraps here.
And one other fun idea, make DIY movie night bins with shower caddies.
Make movie night fun and personalized for each family member! Grab some $1 divided caddies (or use what you have on hand), a few designated popcorn containers, and plastic/mason jar tumblers with straws and fill them with treats that each person enjoys.
Eating low-carb? We’ve got an awesome idea over on Hip2Keto.com for make-ahead keto snack boxes!
Now if you really want the kids to stop snacking, hide the snacks in these Moldy Sandwich Bags! 😂 And I bet if you placed some chips or candy in these Lunch Bug bags, they’ll definitely not be interested! 😉
Have fun snacking!
Here’s how you can shop your pantry rather than heading to the grocery store.
Absolutely LOVE the shower caddy idea for movie night!
Me too Darla! If you and your family end up doing it make sure to tag us in a photo so we can see! 🙂 Enjoy your weekend!
Thank you, this will save us a lot of time and energy!
I’m so glad you love it, Maita! I hope it works well for you and your family. 🙂
I need this for myself. Once it’s empty that’s it for the day. Thanks
Haha! Now that’s a great idea, Christine. 🙂
Those popcorn containers are adorable! 😍
Katie,
I also have them. I found them at Dollar Tree. Not sure it was a bonus pack, mine had 3 containers in a pack for $1.
Oh my gosh!! “Can I have a cookie? Can I have a granola bar? Can I have an orange?” These are honestly been my oldest son’s favorite repeat questions!! Ahhh!! It’s making me corona cray cray lol!! Thanks for this idea. It’s perfect! 😜
I’m so glad we can all relate, Brittany! LOL! I hope this new snack system works well for you all! Have a great weekend. 🙂
Great idea! I am totally applying this at home!
Yay! I hope it works well for you and your family, Mendy! 🙂
Love this, thank you!💜
You’re welcome, Ang! I hope it works well for you and your family. Have a great weekend! 🙂
They have the reusable snack bags at Aldi’s right now.
Thanks for the tip, Jaci!
for items that are in the fridge, I just put a paper that says yogurt, cheese stick, carrot sticks, ect and then they cash that in for the item out of the fridge. We have been doing this for week. They get to pick the 4 snacks a day, the don’t roll over and one item can be a candy or sweet treat like gummies. It is working well for us.
That’s such a great idea too, kr! Thanks for sharing!
I cleaned out the pantry and put a basket out in the counter with odd and ends-the last fruit roll up, a couple boxes of raisins, a stray Rice Krispie treat, things cluttering up the shelves but stuff people are too lazy to look for lol.
What a great use of odd and end snacks, Jw206! Thanks for sharing that with us!
I love this idea. We have a large “snack drawer” because all of our lower cabinets were converted to drawers- but it gets cluttered when there’s one of this and that and things get hard to find. I’m going to use this idea to clear out all the odds and ends and help get the drawer organized again.
We did the shower caddy idea from a Dollar Tree post on Hip2Save a couple of years ago. We use them for “super movie night”…it’s a treat they can earn or “just because” I like to do cool mom stuff every once in awhile to remind me I’m not always a ball of stress! They are fantastic! Thanks for posting again!
You sound like an AMAZING mom, Materof6! Thanks for sharing how you all enjoy your Dollar Tree caddies. Have a great weekend!
Haha yes snacking! Have you guys heard of the blog kids.eat.in.color on insta? I’m not a pediatric nutritionist or dietitian but she is. It was eye opening explaining how this can create a sense of food scarcity for kids. She mentioned writing times for each of these snacks left out like 9:30 3:30 7:30 otherwise it could lead to other food battles, etc. check it out! Kristen Bell is a big fan of her too lol Just a random mom dietitian with crazy good credentials. It’s been eye opening for me
Any tips on what to do once it’s gone, and your kids are having tantrums because they’re “starving”?
I think it’s good to have some items that are unlimited, like fruit. So they never get to where there is nothing to eat.
If you have older kids, this may work too- give each kid a snack budget, 7 packs of chips, etc, that they can eat whenever but tell them this is it for the week, make it last or not, up to you. My kids enjoy this because they are in control. First week, they ate everything in a couple of days, now that we have been using this method for a couple of months, they usually have a snack left at the end.
Nice idea for some, but I have 7 kids and I know of two of them for sure that would just eat their siblings snacks and defeat the entire purpose in one fell swoop 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
Oh my, I *love* this idea! With a teen at home, I figured out quickly that I needed to keep a running list of snacks. Without it, he either asks me many times per day what there is to eat or someone in the household will eat an ingredient I planned to use in lunch or dinner. This is much more put together than my list solution!
I just have one 10.5yo but I figured out pretty quickly that having her ask every time she wanted a snack wasn’t going to work – especially when she started trying to mime her request during a conference call. LOL Since she’s older I told her she could have 2 snacks/day – one between breakfast/lunch and one between lunch/dinner, her goal was to be at 150 calories or less and each day she could mix and match for a total of 1 protein, 1 carb, 1 fruit/veg, 1 dairy (with the option to swap out for additional fruit/veg). We talked about which options were available in each category. She liked being able to have choices, I liked pre-establishing so she didn’t have to interrupt and I didn’t have to feel like the food police.
Your post is a great idea for younger/multiple kids!