I’ve always assumed that the winter holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas (Hanukkah for some of my family), and New Year’s, represented a crazy expensive time of year. I believe that those holidays have met their match! Enter: summer break. Oh yes, this is the time of year for empty bank accounts! You may assume that I’m referring to all of the vacation travel, new summer wardrobes, paying a fortune to live like the homeless (camping), and the myriad of excursions and activities. You’d be wrong. I’m talking about the sheer volume of food my kids have to have because they’re constantly on the verge of starvation.
We’ve had, here in Alaska, record-breaking temperatures this summer and all that comes with it: a run on fans, some nifty DIY swamp boxes made, plastic or blow-up pools popping up in every yard, and 1st and 2nd degree burns. Alaskans are not acclimated to 80- and 90-degree temperatures. We enjoy the 70s, but anything higher and we start to melt (pun intended). The news reported that my little slice of the world was under a “heat dome” and that the warmer-than-normal temperatures would essentially last through August. Lovely. I’m really not complaining. The temps are causing a bit of homesickness (my extended family is in Georgia), but I’m honest-to-goodness loving the heat! I wish I could bottle the heat to get me through the winters, and bottle the cold of winters to get me through the summer. That would be a money-maker!
With the warmer weather, my kids are spending the majority of their days outside (Thank you, Lord!). It really is a wonderful thing, but from the time my kids finish their breakfast, they’re asking for snacks…non-stop till the time I close their door after bedtime prayers. My kids aren’t overweight, they’re just expelling a lot of energy throughout the day. Caleb, our only boy (5yo), is a twig and needs a snack if he takes a deep breath in order to have energy to take his next deep breath! “I’m hungry…” “Can we have a snack…” “Is it lunch time yet…” All of it, over and over again. All. Day. Long.
And then we have the different requests. One wants the goldfish crackers; another wants animal crackers (crackers or cookies?). What about a granola bar? It’s a sure sign that it’s “bored eating” when they claim to be starving and they request something like fruit gummy snacks (there are only like 6 or 7 gummies in each pouch!). And every parent out there has or will face the time when they’re kiddo is “starving” but they walk away empty-handed because all you would allow was the food they didn’t finish at the previous meal… or a banana.
I have found that I’m not disciplined enough to meal plan. At least not the way the internet explains meal planning. The Bible has a lot to say in regards to planning, and it has been pretty darn humbling since I’ve become a stay-at-home mom (this is my first summer at home since 2012!). Since I’m no longer heading to work at 7am each day, I’m a lot more “loosey-goosey” when it comes to my schedule and any form of planning. But I’m making some baby steps towards having some discipline; I now snack plan! Seriously; baby steps.
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5 (NIV) Well, that’s pretty pointed, don’t you think? This reminds me of why you should never go grocery shopping hungry and without a list. There have been times that I’ve gone to the store and I came home with several bags of pure, straight-to-the-thighs, clog-the-arteries, glorious junk food – and I almost immediately regretting it. But that’s another topic entirely… I want to share some super easy snack planning ideas that are great for the on-the-go summer “schedules” and come in handy for the daily routine of the school year, too.
Now, everyone has times when they prefer something sweet rather than something salty and vice versa. My time being important to me, I don’t want to spend a lot of it each day trying to please the palate of three very different mini-me’s. I have laundry, laundry, and more laundry. And if that ever gets done, I have dishes, general housework, a very energetic dog, two businesses I’m the contact for, and I also want some time with my hubby every now and then. What can I say; I’m girl who wants it all!
The ingredients on these are easy because they’re really whatever you want or have on hand. I throw together sweet bags and salty bags to satisfy the differing desires, and it doesn’t change much for the amount of time I spend putting them together. The candy that I use is whatever I have leftover from different holidays (I usually buy after the holiday has passed so I can score the candy at 50%-75% off). And the candy is completely optional – in the ones I just made (pictured) I put in about five pieces of small candy (Skittles®, Sweet Tarts®, and Starburst®) and one Laffy Taffy®.
Sweet Snack Sack
Place in each snack-sized resealable bag:
- 20 Animal Crackers® + a few broken arms, legs, and tails (Plain, Iced, or Chocolate – or a bit of all)
- 6 mini mallows
- 10 raisins
- Candy (at your discretion)
Salty Snack Sack
Place in each snack-sized resealable bag:
- 2 Peanut Butter & Honey Cracker Sandwiches
- 4 pretzels
- 3-4 Goldfish® crackers
- 2-3 croutons
- 2 Bugles®
- 2 Club® minis
- 10 raisins
- Popcorn
The important thing to remember is that your kiddo will get their snack, you’ll save money, you don’t have to go through the time of putting a snack together every single stinkin’ day (once every week or two), and you can use what you have on hand. Word to the wise: don’t use chocolate unless it’s M&Ms®, don’t use fruit (not even the dried fruit unless you’re doing only dried fruit), and nothing requiring refrigeration unless you’re planning on keeping the bags in the fridge.
Mix it up! Sometimes I substitute 2 Fig Newtons® instead of the animal crackers, less candy and more mallows, a sweet cereal (Fruit Loops®, Captain Crunch®, Golden Grahams®, etc.) instead of the candy, and if we’re packing for a camping trip, I include the daily gummy vitamins with the Sweet Snack Sack (that’s a lot of S’s). Depending on the age of your snackers, other options are peanuts, almonds, and other nuts. Once about every other week, I clear the kitchen table and make about 20 bags in the assembly line fashion. If your kiddos are old enough, do some serious hand washing and enlist them to help (let them sneak a few pieces while you’re “not looking”). It will offer them a sense of ownership and be a fun memory later on. Happy snacking!
“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:1-12 (NIV)