Packing your children’s lunch boxes can prove daunting, especially when you’re packing more than one. While I usually attempt to put fresh produce in my kids’ lunch boxes, I also find myself opting for healthy packaged snacks that are a great alternative to sugar and sodium-laden classic cookies and chips. Here are some of my favorite healthy snacks:

1. Enlightened Roasted Broad Beans

Say the word “beans” and your kiddos no doubt raise their eyebrows in skepticism. Yet urge them to keep an open mind. Enlightened’s beans are crunchy, salty and tasty. Packed with fiber, protein, and healthy fats, they will keep your kiddos satiated between meals.  Due to their small size, these beans make a great portable snack for when you are on the move to sports practices or activities. Buy them here. 

2. Simply7 Lentil Chips

Brace yourselves, little people, here comes another bean-based snack! Thin, crispy, salty, and airy, Simply 7 Lentil Chips “don’t taste healthy”, according to my in-house experts. Free of peanuts, they can go freely into schools. Packed with protein, iron, and 40% less fat than potato chips), lentil chips are composed of only five ingredients, so you know what your kids are eating. Buy these lentil chips here. 

3. Simply7 Quinoa Chips

Crunchy and salty like these lentil chips, Simply 7’s quinoa chips offer a different heartiness for older kids. These protein and amino acid-packed chips help kids stay full during the eternally-long afternoon before dinner. Soy and nut free like lentil chips, quinoa chips offer the same simplicity when it comes to ingredients, putting your mama-mind at ease. Find these quinoa chips here. 

4. Boom Chicka Pop

Boom Chicka Pop offers a wide variety of flavors at a low calorie count and likewise with minimal ingredients. My boys love the sea salt & vinegar flavor, because it tastes like their favorite chips. Find Boom Chicka Pop popcorn here. 

5. The Chia Co. Chia Pod

Resembling a pudding or yoghurt, the Chia Co. pods are composed of chia seeds, coconut milk, vanilla bean and cinnamon. Sweet and rich, and loaded with protein and fiber, as well as healthy fats from the chia, Chia Pods offer a myriad of health benefits. I like to incorporate chia seeds into my kids diets via smoothies and  salads served at home, but for snacking purposes, these pods do the trick. Browse the options here. 

So it’s a wrap. Keep it inventive, mamas, and when your kids complain, don’t listen. Keep putting healthy foods and snacks in front of them and sooner or later, they will cave and try them. And then, they will love them.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa