School is out and the kids are home for the summer! I love having my kids home and I was so glad when summer time was finally here. I love doing all of the fun summer time things and going all of the fun summer time places. Sure summer brings lots of busy activities, lessons and appointments but there is just so much fun to experience. I love it. I love almost every crazy thing about summer time and having the kids home. But there are a few things that drive me crazy about summer. One of those things is the seemingly endless echoes of “I’m so hungry!” and “I need a snack!”

When the kids go into rounds of “I need a snack!” I want to go a bit batty. It seems that every time you turn around someone is hungry. It is impossible to make snacks every time someone is hungry. How do you make this easier and how do you avoid hearing “I need a snack!” all day? Simple – make sure you have healthy and inexpensive snacks that the kids can get for themselves. Having snacks the kids can get themselves not only solves the noisy and annoying “I need a snack!” problem, it teaches them something too. They can learn independence and smart food choice skills too. It’s a win, win situation!

I know there are tons of ideas for kid’s snacks out there.  Places like Pinterest are filled with pretty snacks that are whole art projects in themselves. But I’m not talking about those snacks. I’m talking about simple, healthy, inexpensive, super-easy snacks that solve the “I need a snack!” problem.  Simple snacks that the kids can get themselves.

Fruit and veggies
One of the best snacks that solve the “I need a snack!” problem is fresh fruit and veggies. Bananas, apples, oranges, pears are all favorites in my house. Have a bowl on the counter or a spot in the fridge that kids know is for their snacks. When my kids eat veggies for a snack it feels like a small victory. It is so much easier to get them to think of veggies when the veggies are all ready for them. Keeping veggies ready to eat in the fridge is a great idea. Keeping things to add to the veggies and fruits, like peanut butter for celery or apples, easy to reach and find is another great idea.

Hard boiled eggs
A couple of my kids love hard boiled eggs. If I keep hard boiled eggs in the fridge they can often answer their own “I need a snack!” by getting themselves an egg.

String cheese or precut cheese
Cheese is another great snack option. If you keep string cheese in the fridge they can get a snack for themselves. Consider buying a big block of cheese and cutting it into small chunks or cubes. Put these cubes in little baggies and keep them in the fridge. Kids will be able to solve the “I need a snack!” problem for themselves.

Yogurt
My kids love yogurt. They eat it in a variety of ways so I try to keep it available in cups in the fridge, frozen in tubes, and whatever else we make. Yogurt is a great healthy snack that can be combined with other fun choices. My kids love to sprinkle a little bit of cereal on a bowl of yogurt. It’s another yummy way to beat the “I need a snack!” problem.

Bagged snacks like crackers and nuts
This is by far one of my favorite ways to solve the “I need a snack!”problem. I get thinks like pretzels, goldfish crackers, nuts, and more. I also get lots of snack size baggies, the $1 generic brands work great for this! I portion the snacks out into the baggies and put them in containers in the pantry. The kids can go in and get their own snack and they don’t end up eating a whole big box or bag of something.

Add these ideas above to a few prepackaged things like granola bars and you have a great selection of simple, healthy, inexpensive, super-easy snacks. I love how it solves the “I need a snack!”problem in my house. Combine a couple of the ideas and your kids can have a healthy, balanced snacks that will solve the summertime “I need a snack!”problem in your house too!