UAE Medical InsuranceHealthy Versions of Your Kids' Favourite Snacks

Posted on

5 March 2014

| Last updated on 19 April 2017

Healthy Versions of Your Kids' Favourite Snacks

It’s tough to beat snacks that are visually, chemically and even genetically engineered to appeal to your kids’ taste buds. And yet with a little creativity, you can make tasty alternatives in your own kitchen without too much extra time or expense. When you don’t have to spend the afternoon chasing around hyperactive, cranky kids, you’ll be patting yourself on the back for your wisdom.

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1. Reinvent your classic mac and cheese...

There’s almost no snack as enticing to children as Kraft mac and cheese. It’s brightly coloured and full of pasta, cheese and salt. It’s also full of yellow dyes no. 5 and 6 -- substances that have been banned in several European countries. Interestingly, because the use of tartrazine (another name for those yellow dyes) requires labelling in Europe, the European version of mac ‘n’ cheese by Kraft does not contain this ingredient.

Nutritionally speaking, the Kraft version is the equivalent of a bag of Cheez-Its. Fight the power! Refuse to feed your children those nasty chemicals and make your own version. This easy stovetop mac doesn’t take much longer. Though it costs a little more, it’ll give the little ones a far better nutritional bang for your buck.

Super Simple Stovetop Mac and Cheese

8oz package brown rice elbow macaroni
As much cheese as you like
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
Pinch of sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a good quality stainless steel pan (if you’re using Teflon, you might as well go back to the Kraft!), add flour and slowly stir in milk, mixing constantly until sauce thickens. Add cheese last, tossing in your cooked pasta after it’s melted. Add sea salt and cracked pepper to taste.

2. Gummy candies are way easier than you thought...

Traditional gummy candies contain every food colouring you can name. They’re also full of trans fats, preservative and a bunch of other petroleum based non-foods, not to mention a completely whacked out amount of sugar -- all ingredients that to which children are extra sensitive. All that dye along with the sugar is a large part of why so many kids are diagnosed with hyperactivity. Try these instead:

Four-Ingredient Homemade Fruit Snacks

2 1/2 cups fruit of choice, frozen or fresh
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup gelatin

Cook fruit and lemon juice on medium heat until your fruit is nice and soft. Blend until there aren’t any more chunks. Put the mixture through a strainer if you’ve got picky kids or your fruit has seeds. Next, stir in your honey and gelatin, slowly so that the gelatin doesn’t get lumpy. Pour the mixture into an ice cube tray -- preferably one with kid-friendly shapes. Let cool for a few hours and enjoy.

3. Bringing back the baby carrot...

Baby carrots have gotten a bad rap in the last couple of years after a rumour began circulating that these babies are soaked in chlorine. While not exactly true, baby carrots aren’t so innocent either. Because they’re peeled, kids miss out on many of the carrot’s vital nutrients. Without that peel, the carrots also dehydrate rapidly. And it is true that after being run through the tumbler to get those soft round edges, baby carrots are soaked in a chlorinated water solution, where a whole lot of their nutrition and flavour runs off into the water.

The fact is, kids enjoy the unique shape of a baby carrot. Something about those mini bites makes them more tempting. For parents, there's an easy fix! Dispense with the boring old carrot sticks and cut some new shapes for the little ones. Get a mandolin slicer or, better yet, a manual food processor like the Saladmaster machine and waffle your carrots. It doesn’t take much to make them interesting again.

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