The key to staying “healthy” is being prepared! While we try not to snack much in our house, we do travel and adventure a bit and I’ve found that being overly stocked on healthy snacks for our kids is important to avoid meltdowns… this trick can work with adults too!

Children’s snacks especially are often filled with some not-so-great ingredients that fill their tummies with sugar rather than nutrients. In our house, food is just food, real + delicious food. We don’t stress about if it’s perfect and we don’t discuss if it’s good or bad.

Here’s some of my best healthy snacking advice:

1. Focus and establish meals first—snacks should be a small supplement not a meal or an all-day-long activity. Kids + adults can easily get into a habit of filling up on snacks and not having a full meal, which is so important for our digestion and blood sugar!
2. Don’t give up on the first try—Remington has not liked many of these snacks on the first or 10th attempt. Remember, to our sweet littles, everything around them is new…as hard as it is to be patient, they will eventually try it and if not that’s ok too. Don’t get down on yourself, each of our sweet kiddos is uniquely made!
3. Choose snacks that work for the whole family—you’ll notice that *most* of these snacks are not specifically for babies or children, and that’s very intentional on my part. I personally want to encourage Remington to eat food not kid food!

Whether you’re traveling this summer or just need a backpack of nutritional snacks for church like us, I hope this post serves you well!

Snack cups + resources

Stasher bags // The best size for snacks are pocket, snack and sandwich. For littles, the snack bags are the perfect size to serve themselves! I love these because they are reusable which saves on waste and money. Buying a full size package or in bulk and then making individual portions will save lots of money. 

Snack cups // Look for a non plastic snack cup—stainless steel or silicone. This keeps harmful endocrine disrupting plastics away.

Water bottles // We LOVE this Yeti kid’s stainless steel water bottle. I also love my adult Miir water bottle and have my eye on the kid’s version.

Thrive Market // This is where we get most of our snacks and pantry staples! It’s so convenient to have everything shipped straight to our door and saves us a ton of money each month! I have our most frequently purchased items on subscribe + save auto ship and I detail how to do that in this subscription blog post >

Healthy Snacks for Kids

Snack bars // 

• Skout bars // Our top go to, their bars are the purest ingredient-wise I’ve found on the market and our kids LOVE them. I love that they have added protein, for example the mango has seeds in it rather than just fruit. All organic, so fresh and delicious! The kids size is the perfect snack without wasting.
• Purely Elizabeth bars // I love this brand for bars and granola! I usually get the chocolate oat granola bars for Remington and my husband. They have grain-free bars too that are amazing!
• Ohi // Hands down the best bar on the market in my opinion. They taste homemade and so fresh—we love coconut macadamia, peanut butter and double chocolate.
• Bobo’s Oat Bars // the ingredient list on these is simple and they are a house favorite
• Cliff Z bar // these have a bit more sugar in them than I like on a daily basis but they are small and a great size for a snack so you don’t waste.
• Sakara Metabolism or Energy Bar // for adults only but this is one of my favorite to keep in our on the go bag for myself! These have added nutrients that really make a difference. It’s like vitamins + a snack bar all in one. XOFLOURISH for 20% off
• YES Bar Salted Maple Pecan // this flavor is SO good, not a fan of their other flavors

My Serenity Kids // Remington adores these and this company is the real deal!! This is the only brand of pouch purees that I can find that has non fruit options! Since she gets fruit and sweets from other sources, typically I try to keep to these protein and veggie based puree pouches. Our favorites are the squashes and beef packets. ‘FLOURISH’ for 15% off your first order!

From the Ground Up Pretzels // great tasting gluten free pretzels and secretly filled with veggies. They are SO good.

Three Wishes Cereal // Sadly most cereals and even puffs are filled with sugars and “fluffy” carbohydrates that don’t add much nutrition. This grain-free cereal is AMAZING! It’s made with chickpeas so a great source of protein and fiber. We love finally having cereal back in our home. I personally like the unsweetened and always mix half and half honey and unsweetened for Remington. Perfect for her little snack cup! FLOURISH for 10% off your first order!

Wildmade Veggie Go’s // These organic fruit leathers also have vegetables in them and no added sugars. $10 off coupon HERE >

Pamela’s Gluten Free Graham Crackers // Gluten free and not overly sweet at all! 

Happy Baby Creamies // Perfect for teething as they melt in baby’s mouth. I love that they have veggies and good fats from coconut milk too. 

Solely Dried Mango // The only dried mango I can find that is soft and not impossible to chew. Plus it’s organic!

Simple Mills // Love their cheese crackers and pancake + waffle mix, usually I’ll make extra pancakes and keep them on hand for snacks. Just pop one or two in a Stasher bag.

Go Raw sprouted pumpkin seeds // Remington adores these and they are great in a snack cup. Good source of fat and protein!

Apple sauce packets // We try to look for Organic when possible. This is a good staple to keep on hand if you don’t have access to cutting up fresh apples.

Grass-fed beef sticks // These are very easy to chew and a great source of protein on the run! We also love Chomps brand.

New Primal Snack Mates // A great chicken protein stick option we love.

Pitted olives // I love these individual snack packs of olives. Remington is obsessed with olives, maybe because she was born in Spain. While I normally don’t buy individual snack packs, these come in handy when needed.

Lesser Evil Popcorn // This popcorn uses coconut oil rather than refined oils.

Lesser Evil Paleo Puffs // gluten free, Paleo “cheese” puffs, you’ll have a hard time putting the bag down!

Siete chips // our go to grain free “tortilla” chips! I always keep these stocked for the whole family! Remington loves lime, ranch and nacho flavor.

Hu Chocolate Gems // We LOVE chocolate in our house. Remington loves these for after nap + quiet time. It’s our special mommy daughter tradition.

No sugar added fruit snacks // Look for only fruit or no sugar added. Our favorites are That’s It, Stretch Island and both Trader Joes and Whole Foods have a few that are all fruit…Wildmade is our favorite because they have veggies in them too!

Make your own trail mix // I prefer to make my own nut trail mix as its much more cost effective and doesn’t have bad oils or refined salt. I will purchase nuts in bulk from Nuts.com and slow temp roast my own. Be careful with little ones and nuts as they can be a choking hazard.

Just remember, healthy snacks for kids don’t have to be complicated! What are your favorite healthy snacks for kids? Do you have a go-to healthy snack for your sweet kiddo’s or yourself?!