Cheap Snack Ideas for Daycare
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Growing kids are always hungry. Have plenty of cheap snack ideas for daycare on hand to satisfy their appetites without breaking the daycare budget. And these are food program approved!
Cheap Snacks for Kids
Active children have high metabolisms, and they need to eat to keep their energy levels high. Rather than feeding them junk food, we can serve healthy treats that will keep their growing bodies in top form.
Below are some easy healthy snack ideas for filling and simple homemade snacks ideas. Your kids will enjoy some of these kid-friendly snacks, and you will feel good about the choices you are making.
Fruit Snacks For Children
- Wash and freeze grapes for a refreshing snack on hot days. Add a cup of milk or some crackers for the second component.
- Let the kids make fruit kabobs. You can give them cheese cubes to put on for the second component or serve them with milk.
- Make smoothies by blending fresh or frozen fruit with yogurt, milk, and some honey if the kids are over 1.
- Mixed fruit salad with cheese cubes.
- A tortilla with a smear of peanut butter or cream cheese wrapped around a banana makes a great fruit snack for daycare. Tortillas are inexpensive too.
Vegetables Are Cheap Healthy Snacks For Kids
It’s not always easy to get the kids to eat their veggies during mealtime. You can provide vegetable snacks for them at snack time. You can make some homemade ranch in seconds to dip it in or give them peanut butter or cottage cheese for dipping that would be the second component. Here are some easy dipping vegetables that are easy on the budget:
- Celery Sticks
- Baby Carrots
- Bell Pepper Slices
- Cucumber Slices
- Zucchini or Yellow Squash Slices
- Cherry Tomatoes
A tortilla roll up makes in cheap snack idea. You can use cream cheese for the binder, spread onto the tortilla and then add slices of cucumber, tomato, spinach, or a combination before rolling it up. You can also add raisins or craisins for a twist. Tortilla roll ups can be made with cheese slices as well.
Ideas For Cheap Cold Snacks:
- Pureed fruit frozen into pops. You can use dixie cups or popsicle molds. Serve these with a cup of milk.
- Yogurt with flavoring such as chocolate or vanilla. Check out yogurts that qualify on the food program here. You can make yogurt parfaits that kids love. And check out these yogurt pig bowls too.
- Frozen yogurt sandwiches are a hit too. Spread yogurt on a graham cracker and top with a second one. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Give the kids a few nuts on the side to round out the components.
- Cheese sticks, cubes, or slices and crackers.
- Hard-boiled eggs with a cup of juice or a few crackers.
- Apples are delicious, and they pair well with peanut butter. Core an apple and slice it. Place a spoonful of peanut butter in a ramekin for dipping.
CACFP Snack Ideas
- Muffins make a great inexpensive make ahead snack.
- You could also do pancakes and spread peanut butter on them and roll them up with fruit inside. Anything made with flour is usually inexpensive to make.
- Making a whole loaf of banana or other bread is another cheap snack idea.
- Cinnamon toast with a side of apple slices or other fruit.
- A slice of bread with peanut butter on it or some peanut butter crackers make a great snack as well.
- Also, you can think outside of the box and come up with some super inexpensive snacks for daycare such as a bowl of oatmeal, some rice, or other grain that is cheap to buy. It’s delicious, you can add yogurt for protein or fruit to it for even more flavor too.
For more great cacfp approved snack ideas, check out these ideas:
- The Ultimate Daycare Snack Menu-Over 150 combinations that meet food program requirements
- Valentine Snack Ideas
- 4th of July Snacks for Daycare
- Easy and Fun Halloween Snacks for Daycare
- Adorable Winter Themed Snacks for Daycare
- Top 35 Healthy Snacks for Kids
- Daycare Snack Ideas – CACFP Approved!
- Daycare Menus, Breakfast, Lunch, and Snack Ideas
