After school snacks are a thorn in my side. Each kid comes home “starving” and yet the ask for a fruit snack to satisfy their hunger. Then they manage to fill up on so many snacks that by the time dinner rolls around their shockingly not hungry. Go figure.

At the start of the school year, I planned a couple snacks they could rotate through. After just a few days, the kids came home famished and they asked if they could open the large bag of pretzels. Sure.

To my surprise, that large bag was empty in a short amount of time. I might have let it pass but at dinner that evening when I asked a child to eat their salad, they told me they were too full. Clearly too many afternoon snacks.

So I stopped buying “snacky” foods. Instead, I filled a large tupperware with different veggies. Carrots, peas, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers…it changes with whats in season. But I always keep it stocked. They can eat them plain or with ranch dip or hummus. The best part about it – they can eat as much as they want. I will never stop them grabbing the tupperware and going to town on it.

At first there were so many protests. The first couple days they came home and the first thing they asked was, “What can we have for snack?” I smiled and reminded them there was a tupperware of veggies waiting for them. And then they got used to it. We have gone through more veggies in the last month and a half than we did the first 6 months of the year. Occasionally I’ll surprise them and tell them they can pop some popcorn when they get home or perhaps eat the leftover treat from the night before – and you would think it was Christmas by how excited they get. But most days it’s the veggies and I love that it’s no longer a fight!