After School Snacks We Love

This post about smart after school snacks is sponsored by Stonyfield® Organic. All opinions are my own.

Can you believe it’s time to start thinking about school supplies, lunch items, and after school snacks?!?! It’s difficult to precess even though we seem to say the same thing every year. In out house, back to school snacks are a huge thing. The kids really get excited about it and love to help us pick them out at the store!

After School Snack Options

My kids come home ravenousely hungry, as if they haven’t eaten in days, if not weeks!We always need to have a huge  assortment of good after school snacks at the ready each and every day…and that’s ok. That’s part of what being a kid is all about, right? Snacking while doing homework or snacking while on the way to sports practice, dance, or whatever other after school activity they may have. But we really try to get them things that are healthy as much as possible. It’s important.

The key to getting the best, after school snacks is not only including them in the selection and shopping process (so they feel like they have ownership), but also finding snacks that they really actually will enjoy to eat. Buying back to school snacks that are healthy that no one actually wants doesn’t really help anyone, does it?

Where to Begin

So, where do you begin? There are so many snack options out there, and sometimes it can be difficult to really know what’s a good choice and what’s not so much. Parents really need to look at the labels and see what’s in the snacks and determine if that’s really something you’d like to feed your kids. Also, major bonus points for being portable and easy to tote around…even during the summer! After school, going to the beach or pool, wherever you are off to, portability is a really great bonus.

Veggies

One thing you pretty much can’t go wrong with is fruit and vegetables. Now, I have to say, getting the kids to eat veggies is a challenge. They like cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, and broccoli, so it’s not terrible. They like their cucumbers sliced with a little salt, the tomatoes with a little salt, pepper, and olive oil, the corn all ways, and the broccoli boiled with a ton of lemon. This is what it needs to be, so this is what we have available for them in the fridge when they come home!

Fruit

The kids absolutely adore fruit. Period. It’s literally something they can’t get enough of. They request it instead of dessert (sometimes)! I buy so much fruit a week, it’s crazy, but I’m not about to complain about this. We are all about having fresh fruit in the house at all times and that’s a great thing. One thing I’ve learned,they eat a lot more fruit when it’s already cleaned and, if necessary, cut. It’s easy to grab and munch that way. Easier to eat, more of it will be eaten. Simple.

Dairy

We are all about dairy in our house, too. I just love it and so do my kids. From 2% milk to all types of cheeses to yogurt, these are some healthy after school snacks that need to be in the house at all times! The kids love it in all kinds, but the top yogurt choice for them for many, many years now are Stonyfield Kids Smoothies and Pouches from Stonyfield® Organic. I mean, what can you say? I love them too!

Stonyfield Organic Kids Smoothies and Pouches are delicious and made from quality ingredients. Plus, they are easy to grab on the go for when we are running late for practice. They are perfectly portable for easy snacking anywhere, any time and ideal for when we are in a rush. This pretty much checks all the back to school snacks check boxes, doesn’t it??

We really love Stonyfield Organic Kids Strawberry Banana Kids Smoothies, Very Berry Kids Smoothies, Strawberry Kids Smoothies 12-pack, and Strawberry Banana Pouches 4-pack!!

Why Stonyfield Is Amazing

We have been enjoying Stonyfield® Organic products for so long, and they just keep delivering the goods. Stonyfield offers the quality that we seek when we are looking for feed out kids great after school snacks. Stonyfield Organic pouches and smoothies are always USDA Organic & Non-GMO project verified, contain live and active cultures, are a good source of calcium. There are no artificial flavors or colors and no preservatives either. Plus, there areno toxic persistent pesticides, artificial growth hormones, or antibiotics.

I mean, how awesome is this? This is very important to us, so we always support Stonyfield® Organic!Let’s not forget…they are super delicious, too. Which, as far as getting the kids to make good choices, is the most important quality of all, right?

Good On Purpose

Stonyfield Organic is Good on Purpose, as you can tell by how wholesome their products are. This is a quality company that wants to make good products that are good for us to eat and good for the planet as well. Throw in some good-for-you taste, and you have yourself some awesome products.

StonyFIELDS #playfree Initiative

Another way that Stonyfield is good on purpose is by helping protect families from pesticides on parks and fields with the StonyFIELDS #playfree Initiative! This is something that not enough people think of or realize, but it’s so important given the amount of time we all tend to spend on our community fields and parks.

This is such an important initiative, not only for our kids, but for our furry friends, too! We have a dog, Tucker, that NEEDS to go for walks and play in open spaces. He has so much energy. It’s really important that he gets the chance to play in a healthy environment, too. Pets can be even more vulnerable to the negative effects of pesticides.Studies have shown dogs have a 70% higher risk of canine lymphoma cancer after herbicide-treated lawn exposure than dogs not exposed.[1]

Stonyfield Organic has helped to bring organic model fields to over 1 million and counting! Join the StonyFIELDS #playfreeInitiative, their biggest mission yet. Try to pick up the boxes that say“Pick Me” on them if you can. Learn more at Stonyfield.com/playfree!

[1] Takashima-Uebeloer, B., et al. “Household Chemical Exposures and the Risk of Canine Malignant Lymphoma, a Model for Human Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.” Environmental Res, 112 (2012): 171-176

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Stonyfield® Organic.