Feeding kids can be a REAL issue! Some kids are picky, some kids flat our refuse to eat at all, and some kids are those amazing children that love to be adventurous and try everything (even the weird stuff!). No matter where your kid falls into that spectrum, try these tips and ideas for snacks for kids with 5 ingredients or less.
I’m a huge fan of recipes that use very few ingredients. It helps you to control your budget, the time spent making it, and makes sure there’s nothing too crazy in there to trigger a negative response from the folks you’re making it for! For kids, this is especially important!
This is definitely not an exhaustive list of all snacks with so few ingredients. I wanted to give a starting point for you guys to check out and use, which would spark your own creativity and ideas!
Snacks for Kids with 5 Ingredients or Less
Parfaits
Parfaits are just the best. You can make them as simple or as complicated as you want. You might be thinking about the huge trifle bowls loaded with cake and pudding from family reunions and holidays, but that’s just one way to do it!
My favorite parfaits to feed the kids are way more simple, and are a good way to use up leftover ingredients and throw together quickly.
Ingredients like:
- yogurt (plain or flavored, regular or Greek)
- apple sauce
- fresh fruit like berries or bananas
- dry breakfast cereal
- graham crackers and their crumbs
- canned fruit like crushed pineapple or mandarin oranges
- healthy cake/brownies (made from homemade recipes)
- dried fruits like raisins or cranberries
- coconut
- slivered almonds
- peanuts
- honey
- pecans
- baby food, and
- all fruit jams and jellies
These things are so simple to just throw together in a bowl, glass, or portable container to pack to take to school or playdates.
Check out my breakfast parfait 5 ways post for more inspiration and some recipes my family came up with.
Dips
Dips are a good way for kids to have fun eating healthy ingredients. I like to make most of my dips with Greek yogurt as the base and then serve it with healthy dippers like apples for the sweet dips or carrots for the savory ones.
You’d be surprised how many homemade Greek yogurt dips require 5 ingredients or less. I made a yummy sweet one not too long ago called Snickers Blitz Dip which just uses yogurt, peanut butter, and a little bit of Snickers candy bars. It’s so simple and quite delicious. You can also swirl in some all fruit jellies or jams or even honey into Greek yogurt for a simple sweet dip. I’ve even used just plain vanilla flavored yogurt as a dip before, no recipe needed! It’s delicious with sliced apples, pears, grapes, strawberries, and more.
Savory dips are easy, too, like combining a 16 oz container of Greek yogurt (or sour cream) with a dry Ranch dressing packet. That’s it! It’s great paired with carrots, cucumbers, celery, strips of bell peppers, grape or cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and more. I love this version, too, because there is nothing heavy in it and it is quite inexpensive.
Party Platters
This includes things that you might think of as creating a homemade Lunchable. My dad and I used to eat “party platters” because I was so picky that I would turn my nose up at regular meals. I would just refuse to eat. Party platters were born, and suddenly I ate all sorts of things since there was no meal time pressure!
This can be just a plate or you could serve these in muffin tins, Bento boxes, sectioned bowls or containers, baggies, or even little silicone muffin liners. It’s all about making it fun to attract your little ones to eating it. Simply put together 5 or less of these ingredients, and you have a nice snack. Maybe make larger portions or pick more goodies to make it a meal.
Great ingredients for party platters or homemade Lunchables would be:
- Pepperoni
- Cubed/Sliced/Rolled up lunch meat
- precooked strips of meat
- nuts
- coconut chips
- seeds
- cheese (sliced, cubed, shredded)
- crackers
- veggie chips (we like the dehydrated veggies or Simply 7 chips)
- fresh fruit of all kinds, cut up if necessary so it’s ready to eat
- fresh vegetables of all kinds, also cut up so it’s ready to eat
- olives
- fruit leather
- dried fruits like raisins or even a prune or two
- cookies or candy if you’re feeling like adding a “dessert” (can SO be healthy and homemade!)
Fun Foods
Foods in this category include things like kabobs, pancakes with funny faces on them or fruits and veggies arranged as a big smile on the plate. This could be fruits you’ve cut out into shapes with a cookie cutter.
It also includes things like the Halloween Hands using popcorn or Pirate’s Booty. The Fish Bowl Bites recipes with rice cakes is another cute one that kids will love and aren’t too hard.
These fun foods are appealing to everyone.
Here are a few other simple snack ideas:
- Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey Snacks
- Chocolate Banana Bites
- Spooky Spiderweb Pizza
- Microwave Cinnamon Apples
- Healthy Cookies
Kim Croisant says
Those fish cookies are so cute!!!! 5 ingreds or less is awesome….wished I could narrow mine down to that!!