How to grab healthy snacks on the go
Our family is always on the go! Sound familiar? I am a mom of 2 girls that do both gymnastics and dance. With long and frequent practices, I am constantly packing up snacks, breakfast or lunch for before or after practice. There is a family history of type 2 diabetes, plus likely ADHD for our younger daughter, Little Bit. I need healthy snacks on the go. Criteria includes low sugar, no artificial dyes, and kid approved food to fuel their active bodies. I also need convenience, as I am a busy, working, homeschooling mom. So what’s a busy mom to do?
Breakfast on the go
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Early morning practice or games seems to be a reality of competitive sports. Getting out the door quickly in the morning is a common a challenge with kids. When you add in ADHD, being in a rush can aggravate all sorts of triggers. There may be quick transitions, and many small tasks to complete. The more prepared I am in advance, the more smoothly things will go.
Baking big batches of a variety of healthy muffins in advance and freezing them is a lifesaver. These heat up quickly in the microwave for a healthy breakfast on the go. Some of my favorites are these healthy pumpkin oatmeal muffins. I’m a girl that loves pumpkin all year round. My kiddos like these almond flour banana muffins with chocolate chips. If you use the Lily’s keto chocolate chips they are low sugar, low carb, but filling with fiber and nutrition. We also all like these to go baked oatmeal muffins, that are customizable to tastes.
Lunch on the go
Morning practice means the girls will be hungry for lunch when they are done. Early on with this schedule, it was embarrassing how often I would stop at a drivethru. Now, I have learned to keep convenient lunch options on hand that can be packed in a flash. My preference is taking a few minutes to prepare things the night before.
One of my favorite money saving apps, Ibotta, introduced me to several healthy and convenient options. Deals vary, but we now love the meat, chees and nut trays by P3. The Hillshire snacking plates are also a go to option. I’ll often throw in a cut apple with the to go peanut butter from Skippy. Veggies often include some baby carrots, mini bell peppers, or sliced cucumber with some hummus or dip.
As a back up I usually have some fruit leather and health warrior chia bars packed in a side pocket of the lunch bag. The chia bars only have 3 grams of sugar, plus the omega 3’s from the chia seeds, so I feel pretty good about those, plus they have lots of great flavors to choose from. All of these things are either prepackaged or can be prepared ahead of time to just grab quickly. I know it saves me a ton of money and mom guilt for less healthy options.
Afternoon snacks
For the afternoon practices, we usually grab these chia squeeze packets from Mama chia, or a string cheese, chia bar, power granola bar on the way to practice. In the winter, sometimes I will pack up some heated almond milk in this thermos to mix with this keto hot chocolate mix for a warm drink after coming out in the cold.
Ready to eat dinner
For dinner, there’s the dilemma of how to handle dinner. For our family, it’s too early to eat dinner before practice. However, kids are hungry for dinner as soon as they’re out from practice. Here’s where my crockpot freezer meal prep comes in handy.
I try to always have dinner waiting in the instapot when we get home from an evening practice, so we can serve up dinner as soon as we walk through the door. The “instapot” is no where near fast enough when we walk through the door from practice. Thankfully it has a slow cooker settings as well. Many of the recipes will work with either a slow cooker or instapot if you have a little more time in the evening.
So, for the busy mom/sport parent that wants to save money, and feel good about feeding their family, I hope you enjoyed some of my tips and tricks. If you’d like to hear more about how sports/activities can benefit ADHD click here. Follow our empowered ADHD journey on Facebook or Pinterest.
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The content in this post is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is merely opinion based on personal research and experience.