Toddler snack ideas while in lines

[northriver]

DD will be almost 2 and one of my crazy concerns is that she is such a sllooowww eater. The rest of us can eat in 30 minutes but after an hour she will still be siting there picking at her food. We don't want to spend all day at the parks waiting for her to eat, kwim? She is a good eater, not at all fussy, just super slow!

I'm looking for nutritious snack ideas that are easy to carry and highly nutritious. Especially anything that is easy to eat in line so we don't have to waste time feeding her. I don't want to fill her up with cookies, our usual snack! Any ideas?

 

[Camno's Mama]

I'm a big fan of the banana...very portable, and you can hold it while they take bites off of it. We have also cut up things like strawberries and cantaloupe, and put them in containers or baggies. You could also bring string cheese and cereal. My kids love cereal at any time of day! Yogurt also works, especially if you're waiting while older ones are going on a ride that the younger ones can't go on if you're worried about you little one taking too much time to eat.

Really, as long as you can bring an ice pack that you can stick in one of those re-usable lunch bags (which I bring everywhere), then you can bring whatever you want! I have never had a problem bringing food in for my kids...I think when they're really young, the people are pretty understanding.

Good luck!
Courtney

 

[TheDizMom]

We packed small bags of goldfish, nutrigrain bars, and fruit snacks(not necessarily healthy but easy to eat anywhere). They are small and fit easily into your bag. You could also bring a ziploc with her favorite cereal if she likes to eat it dry. You can get those in the small boxes(for packing in the suitcase) and then put them in the ziploc in your room and stash them in your bag. Some of those kids meals come with the Mickey shaped "goldfish" in little bags. Have her eat the other things in her meal at the table and stash the crackers in your bag for later. My daughter is a nibbler and doesn't necessarily eat a lot at the table when the rest of us are so this method worked well for us. If all else fails the kids meals at the CS places come in plastic MM shaped plates you can take with you. If she doesn't eat it all and it won't hurt it to sit a while just take it with you and have her work on it in the stroller at you go from ride to ride. We did this a few times also and it also worked well. The plates sit very nicely on the top of the D rental strollers without falling off, or just get a double stroller and she can put it on the seat next to her. It is more expensive, but it gives her a little extra room to spread out.

 

[Perditamarie]

You also get grapes and baby carrots in the kids meals that could be portable. Maybe bring some ziplocks for those. Also, fresh fruit like apples and bananas would work. We had great luck with plain bagels that were wrapped up tight so they were nice and portable.

 

[Princess Roo]

The string cheese idea is a good one and wouldn't even need to be on ice if it was eaten within a few hours. I just pull it down a little at a time for my son.

Many fruits...grapes and bananas as were already mentioned, or you can slice an apple (and either put a rubber-band back around the apple to prevent air or use lemon juice to prevent browning)...applesauce...

We also buy the small pop-top cans of vegetables and my son loves them at room temperature.

Rice cakes, crackers, raisins, ... My son loves snack mixes that I make from an assortment of crackers and small pieces of dried fruit.

I can completely empathize with the slow eater! My son eats A LOT and insists on using utensils, so it takes FOREVER. DH and I really feel that it is important to eat together as a family, but it has turned into one of us staying at the dinner table with DS while the other cleans the kitchen. I just can't sit still that long! Which reminds me, another thing we did when we brought DS was that I would go sit down with him and let him start eating something we had brought while DH waited in line to get the rest of the food. Then I would usually share part of my meal with him (and let him finish up with something else we brought in the stroller afterwards).

Have FUN!!!!

 

[mjantz]

Google 'Fit N Fresh' & they have thing called the 'Snack Clip'. It could probably hold some grapes & cheese cubes easily & the lid has an ice pack in it so it stays cold. I really need to get some before we go on vacation this summer.
Dried fruit is a great choice. My DD is partial to dried cranberries.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Gerber fruit snacks...although not that nutrious, are so easy to carry around. They are small little packets.

 

[Hannathy]

We tended to just wrap up whatever my son was eating and let him finish in line. This worked because he usually had grilled cheese, or nuggets, or a hot dog, fries etc. Disney popcorn is very tasty and portable. The only snack I carried was some fruit roll ups very light and flat, I really tried to keep the junk I carried to a minimum and it was nice.