All-Natural Preschool Snacks - October, Week 3

Preschool Snacks

Monday, October 15 through Wednesday, October 17

Monday

Green Bean Chips, smoked Gouda, golden raspberries,
red grapes, strawberries, Horizon Organics milk box

In my blue Sassy On-the-Go box I took out most of the inner containers, and just used one of the small ones to keep the wedge of smoked Gouda separate. I tried her out on some of my crunchy green bean chips, and then an assortment of fruit. Plus some animal fork picks. I wasn't sure how she was doing on drinks at school, since she is allowed the class juice if it's safe (it often isn't!) so I sent a chilled Horizon Organics milk box, since I was sending an ice pack anyway, because of the cheese.
She ate everything but the beans and golden raspberries.

Tuesday

Gouda cheese scraps, red grapes

I found this Sassy Feeding Bowl in the baby feeding section, but thought it would be perfect for a small preschooler snack! I think they're ideal for some yogurt and nut-free granola. But this time I opted for cheese scraps from that day's lunch, and some red grapes with a ghost cupcake pick! Perfect size! She ate every last bite!

Wednesday

Red grapes, Chickadees crackers, ham

I cut two slices of uncured ham into four strips each, and threaded them onto some fun Halloween picks I got at a bake supply shop. I couldn't get all eight strips to go on, so I lay the rest underneath.
She ate almost none of her snack at school, but I saw that someone had brought Danimals yogurt for snack, so I reminded the teacher to grab one of her Trader Joe's Yogurt Squishers (like GoGurts) out of their freezer so she could start thawing for her to have it at snack, if desired.
After school she ate most of her snack on the drive home.

Thursday

Thursday I hadn't packed a snack because her class was going to a pumpkin patch. But apparently I should have, as the snack parent for that week had known to bring the class a snack to eat at the pumpkin patch. Argh. Luckily she had brought TreeTop all-natural fruit snacks and Apple and Eve juice boxes - both safe! Whew! And since no one knew what Little Z was and was not allowed to have, if I hadn't arranged a sitter for Baby E so that I could go with, Z would have gone without a snack! Double argh!

These are the kinds of thing YOU as the parent of a child with allergies or other food restrictions need to plan for, as clearly it never occurred to the teacher to mention that they'd still be having snack on the field trip. So now I know to ask for future field trips! Lesson learned!

Last year the teachers remembered the few food-related lesson plans, but hadn't thought to mention the last-day-of-school party. So it's a steep learning curve for a new food-restriction Mama! Everywhere I turn there's something it never occurred to me to plan for! I am extremely lucky that my little Dye-Free Princess is on board, and will refuse to eat something unless I tell her it's safe (or if she remembers me telling her in the past - like Goldfish crackers and Pirate Booty are "always safe.")
She's also learning to read labels, and can recognize "Trader Joe's" so she knows those are safe. Sadly, "organic" and "all-natural" labels don't always mean it's safe. If they contain less than 1% of something, they can still advertise that it isn't there (they still have to list it in the ingredients though!)