It may sound silly, but little things really excite me! A few days ago my hubby and I were crunching some numbers and watching our spending for groceries over the last month. We were shocked at how our food bill has ballooned, though not surprising with eight kids living at home.
My husband asked me what my biggest challenge was with the food, and I told him,
“That’s easy, it is the SNACKING!”
I understand the importance of healthy snacking to keep your metabolism up and blood sugar stabilized, the problem is always with WASTE! With all ages of kids, it’s very common for my two year old to help herself to a bowlful of goldfish and for me to find a cupful somewhere behind the folded clothes. I needed to find a solution and get a handle so we weren’t just throwing money out the window.
My engineer minded husband suggested the obvious…
PORTION CONTROL! He thought that I could make mini snack bags for the week with the younger kids. He told me that if I get all the different ingredients and make it a FUN SUMMER PROJECT, the younger kids would LOVE IT!
He was RIGHT!
Motivated and inspired, I headed to the store. Mini Snack bags, and several different ingredients were all I needed for this experiment. Once home I set up my Summer Snack Bag stations at the kitchen table and called in my crew to help with the packing.
Abby – in charge of Sliced Gala apples and cubed Monterey Jack cheese
Charis – Pretzels, Pirate Booty, and Goldfish
Allie – Baby Carrots and black Grapes
Ben – Pumpkin seeds, almonds, raisins, granola, cheerios cereal, and marshmallows (Yes, I know marshmallows are not healthy)
It was a simple project, but the kids LOVED IT!! Mainly because it was something DIFFERENT we don’t normally do in the kitchen together. When we finished our snack bags, the entire family cheered! They were able to reach into the fridge now and pull out a manageable size snack.
So when we have to head out in the car, no more costly quick runs through the drive-thru, we just grab out summer snack bags and a bottle of water and we’re OFF! If you take the time to plan ahead, it will save you money and frustration when your family is in a hurry this summer, or when you just don’t want to put down that great book to pull out something to eat for the kiddos.
You can check out more great healthy snack ideas here!
Laundry Mom~Erin♥
