We love a sweet treat (who doesn’t?) but increasingly I’m noticing that treats are becoming more of a regular thing than an occasional, “treat.” In fact, I could pretty much refuse to personally give my children a single treat and they’d still end up with plenty. Between grandparents, special events, birthday parties, class parties/birthdays, etc. they are getting these sorts of treats quite regularly. Most of these commercial sweets however are full of things, like refined sugars and unnecessary chemicals and colours that don’t add any nutritional benefit to my kids at all.

So, as a way to ease my concerns a little, I decided we'd attempt to make more of our own sweet treats using healthier alternatives. Still sweet, still a yummy treat, but one that can be slipped into the lunchbox guilt free. You can click on the links in the Ingredient list below to read more about why these ingredients are not only better than the alternatives, but provide health benefits as well.

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The other day I looked in the fruit bowl and found some bananas that were getting beyond the fresh eating stage. When the skin starts going brown like that, I know it's time to either whizz them into some smoothies, make them into some frozen treats or bake something. As the school year has started and we are back into the daily lunch-box making routine, I am in need of some healthier treats that I can add in for morning or afternoon tea. 

We love making muffins as they are easy to make, freeze well and come in portion control sizes already. We had some bananas, we had some blueberries, so we whipped up a quick banana berry muffin. 

I played around with the recipe a bit to make it super simple to make and reduced the normal amount of sugar to make it as healthy as I could (whilst still tasting good). My 3 year old was able to make them with minimal assistance and the kids woofed them down so I consider them to be a success.

Here's how to make them. See the bottom of the post for a quick view of the ingredients and instructions in full.

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I try to involve my children in the cooking as much as possible. As they are getting older, I'm finding they are getting a bit more picky about what they will eat, but are more likely to try new things when they have been part of the cooking process.

As my daughter is now in school, I am always trying to come up with easy and healthy ideas to pop in her lunchbox. The other day, while she was at school, the toddler and I tried making some Savoury Cheese, Ham and Spinach Muffins, with great results. I'm not sure how many made it into her lunchbox and how many we ate ourselves at home, but either way, we'll be making them again soon.

I adapted this recipe from a number of different recipes to make it as easy as possible to make. So easy, a 2 year old can make them (with supervision and a wee bit of assistance).

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Here I share a method (that's worked for us!), of feeding your child, healthy food in kid sized proportions throughout the day, without tantrums, fights or constant pestering!

You can also use this style of food presentation for a healthy and rubbish free lunchbox for school.

Here are the 3 simple steps to give this method a try with pre-schoolers at home, with a more detailed explanation below the pictures.

1. Prepare the day's food (morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack) at the beginning of the day (not including breakfast and dinner)

2. Display it in a way that is appealing to the child and then show them and talk about their day's food

3. Put the "snackbox" on the bottom shelf of the fridge where your child can access it and let them choose what they eat and when they eat it.

Some examples of our "snackboxes"

Explanation:

My daughter, who has recently turned 3, has always been a food lover. This is generally a good thing as she will usually try new foods without too much resistance, but as she got older I was finding her becoming pickier, more demanding and it felt as though I was making her food, all day long.
On top of that, as she was eating (what felt like) constantly throughout the day, when it came to dinner time, we were struggling to get her to eat her dinner.

I decided it was time to give something new a try and thus, our "snackboxes" were born.

Now, in the mornings, as she eats a healthy breakfast, I prepare a "snackbox" of all the food that I want her to eat throughout the day. This includes morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

Seeing ALL her food for the day is very exciting for my daughter.. and the better presented, the more excited she gets about it. (Yes, EXCITED about cucumber sticks, haha).
Before, if she declared her hunger and I suggested some carrot sticks or cucumber or the like, we had a big fight over it and she would refuse to eat them. She wanted what she wanted (and it wasn't what I wanted).

The next part was relinquishing the control of what she ate when. I already regained control over what she was eating, but letting her decide what (from the snackbox) she wanted to eat and when she wanted to eat it was a little scary at first, but worked wonders!

Yes, I was worried (as was my husband) that she would just eat the entire day's food before the day had barely started, but I made a point of talking about her choices and how if she ate all the food too early, she would end up very hungry as the day went on and that there was no more food until dinner.

At the beginning, I did have to remind her of this many times and suggest she wait a while longer between snacks. Over time she has started to get to know her own body better and eats more out of hunger now than just entertainment.. AND, BONUS she is now hungry for dinner and so almost always eats all of what is put in front of her. Yay!

For more snackbox and food for kids ideas

check out my "Food for Kids" page and 

my "Food for kids" Album on my Facebook Page

Hope it works for you!

Edit: I've had many enquiries about the products I am using.

The container pictured here is the Decor Tellfresh Quarters container.

On their website it is listed as "Pumped® Sandwich & Snack Twin Pack / Sandwich Plus"

You can source the food picks off ebay by typing in "Bento" (for all kinds of amazing products) or "Food Picks" (If you're just being specific).

How do you ensure your kids are eating the right foods and right amounts? Feel free to share any ideas you use in the comments.

Happy eating,
Debs :)

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