Quick Snacks for busy week

I believe I’ve posted snack topics before but it never hurts to refresh someone’s memory or give new ideas. Snacks are essential to a busy week and help provide additional energy and satisfaction in between meals. There are so many options out there for nasty snacks that are very convenient for busy parents. Convenience is not always best though. It is important that snacks are nutritious and not full of junk. Remember, I am NOT a nutritionist. I have just been burdened with a faulty digestive system and I have done my own research to find what snacks work for my family and I. Now that I read labels, it is obvious how easy it is to grab unhealthy snacks. It’s a little more work to make your own but totally worth it. Plus if you plan ahead it can be just as easy as grabbing pre-packaged snacks. Here’s what we do to plan ahead for a busy week. On Sunday evenings, my husband and I get our snack packs ready. We cut up the fruit and veggies. We make trail mix. We put hummus and peanut butter into snack size containers. It’s definitely a team effort but we’ve both done it alone in the past. It’s just faster if you have a helper. Grab a kid and have them help package the fruits and veggies. Make it a family affair! Here’s what this week’s snacks will consist of:

1. Sliced apples
2. Sliced peaches and pears
3. Carrot & celery sticks
4. Sliced bell peppers
5. Cherry tomatoes
6. Gluten Free pretzels and Gluten Free baked tortilla chips
7. Cheese sticks
8. Tubs of peanut/almond butter
9. Tubs of hummus or guacamole
10. Trail mix (Typically made of GF cereals, mixed nuts, dried unsweetened fruits, maybe some cocoa nibs/chocolate chips, etc.)
11. Yogurt

We usually make at least 2 bags of each item and we can mix and match for different people. One trick I’ve learned for keeping apples and fruits from browning is to give them a lemon bath. In a small bowl, combine juice from one lemon and about 1/3 cup water. Rinse the slices of fruits in this mixture and put into storage bags. The acid from the lemons keeps the fruit from browning but also doesn’t alter the taste much. We do something similar for the guacamole – we just mix in a little lime juice with the avocado to prevent it from browning. We also will re/use FoodSaver bags to keep fruits and veggies fresh after cutting.