Cheap healthy playground snacks

Fur_coat_&_no_knickers

I do my children empty yogurt pots with philidelphia cheese in (bogof at tesco at the moment) and breadsticks 45p for a box,yes there the large breadsticks but i break them into three pieces. Cheap and the kids love it

squeaky

You might want to check out "lunch" in the Cooking section of the MEGA Index sticky at the top of Old Style where there are losts of ideas collected together.

There's also a link to a thread on the Families board on packed lunches which you can find in the main Old Style Recipe Index.

You can find this collection via my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Indexed Collections link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-

Toothsmith

Flapjack & Museli bars have sugar in.

It is very important that between-meal snacks are sugar (Syrup, honey, glucose, sucrose other similar things on ingredient lists) free.

It is in between meals that saliva is trying to repair the damage done to teeth at mealtimes. If another sugary thing goes in, the repair stops and more damage is done.

I love the cream crackers idea (I'm fairly sure Jacobs are sugar free, but check other brands), and carrot. Dried fruit can have a high natural sugar content, citrus fruits, whilst not 'sugary' can be acidic. Not too much of a problem if your kids mouth is healthy anyway, but if you have a kid whose teeth always need fillings, then acidy fruit at breaktimes would not help. Apples too are much sweeter now than they used to be and again are not brilliant for dental health.

My rule for parents is generally stuff your child full of whatever they want at meal times. (Within reason!!) Try to cut out snacking all together, but if they must have something (either to eat or drink), make sure it's sugar-free, and not acidic. (The ONLY safe between meal drinks are milk & water)

squiggles

I know your asking about healthy school snacks but i thaught this was an appropriate thread to mention what i baught for my sons packed lunch,it was two little biscuit tubs from lakeland for £1.99.They the right size for 3 mcvities biscuits but i supose you could put anything in them like chedder biscuits,tucs,crackers,dried fruit as they are a handy pocket sized contaner and are flat.

thriftlady_2

Toothsmith wrote:

Apples too are much sweeter now than they used to be and again are not brilliant for dental health.

I'm assuming you are a dentist Toothsmith and am somewhat alarmed to read that apples can be a problem.My ds2 gets through about 4 a day,he simply loves them and although I try to limit them from an expense point of view(we get through about 12 lbs a week for 5 of us)I've never thought I could be harming his teeth,in fact I thought I was doing him a favour.Is it OK for him to eat them straight after a meal rather than as a snack?

Toothsmith

Yep- I'm a dentist!

4 apples a day in between meals will have an errosive effect on the tooth enamel.

The tooth surface, already softened by an acid attack at a meal time, will be further damaged and erroded away by the acidity of the apple.

You are quite right, that if taken after a meal, it will all be in with the same acid attack, and then the saliva has a good 4-5 hours to do it's job and repair things ready for the next attack!

thriftlady_2

Thanks,Toothsmith,that's very enlightening.I'll limit them to after meals.I must say I'm more than a little frustrated what with health professionals banging on about 5 a day-seems you just can't win.But many thanks for your answer.

Toothsmith

Everything in moderation dear lady!!!!

I'm not sure about this, but I think 4 apples would not count as 4 of the 5 a day. I think it has to be 5 different things.

Different coloured fruits & veg have different Vitamins, minerals & other good chemicals in. I think the goal is to get a hit of all of them.

It is true though that it can be very confusing. Some dieticians recommend a 'grazing' approach to diet, in order to keep blood energy levels stable (I say 'energy' as opposed to 'sugar' deliberately)

It is true that the actual diets they suggest would not harm the teeth (Plenty of whole grain slow release carbs that are fine tooth wise) But this message is very easy to confuse with thinking a few biscuits at coffee time are good.

astep70uk

Toothsmith wrote:

My rule for parents is generally stuff your child full of whatever they want at meal times. (Within reason!!) Try to cut out snacking all together, but if they must have something (either to eat or drink), make sure it's sugar-free, and not acidic. (The ONLY safe between meal drinks are milk & water)

My son will be living on bread and water from now on!
Dentists say 'give them sugar free' such as juices etc, but health professionals say 'don't give them sugar free' as these products always contain artificial sweetners, namely Aspartame (E951) which has numerous health complications, and is stated as being 'best avoided in childrens food.'
http://www.ukfoodguide.net/bestavoided.htm

So what's the choice? Rotten teeth or health implications? Parents have a really tough job these days. Toothsmith, I know this is off topic, but what is the best fruit to give to limit tooth decay? Thanks

thriftlady_2

Toothsmith wrote:

Everything in moderation dear lady!!!!

I'm not sure about this, but I think 4 apples would not count as 4 of the 5 a day. I think it has to be 5 different things.

He has the other things as well! He just really likes apples,on reflection I would say the most apples he actually gets away with is 3, but he'd eat more if he could No fillings though(so far).