Heavenly Homemakers

Many, many, many of you have emailed or left comments asking what on earth I feed my family for snacks since we try to avoid packaged crackers and other “stuff”. (See my list of the ingredients we try to avoid eating.)

Snacks are one of the most difficult foods to come up with, in my opinion. Especially when it seems that all afternoon I seem to be bombarded with, “Mama, I’m hungry again.” 

One thing we’re working on is simply to encourage our kids to just eat more at meal time…and that seems to be working somewhat. But really…they do get hungry between meals. They can’t help it. They’re growing boys. (With hollow legs.)

I have found that I really have to think ahead and try to be prepared when it comes to snacks. Otherwise, I get frustrated when they ask me for one. (Like it’s their fault they’re starving again.)

Here’s a list of foods that I feel great about offering as snacks…

*Fresh fruit or veggies (of course)
*Homemade tortillas with peanut butter and honey or jelly or other yummy things inside
*Muffins or quick breads
    ~Applesauce bread
    ~Orange Muffins
    ~Chocolate swirl muffins
*Homemade bread and butter
*Whole wheat soft pretzels
*Nuts
*Popcorn with coconut oil and sea salt…or sprinkled with parmesan cheese
*Mudballs
*Milkshakes (recipe coming soon)
*Applesauce
*Homemade wheat crackers
*Homemade graham crackers (recipe coming soon) (oh so…yummy!!)
*Yogurt with fruit
*Breakfast cookies
*Breakfast bars
*Slushies
    ~Strawberry-Peach
    ~Pineapple-Orange
*Smoothies
*A treat made with natural sugars and whole wheat flour

There really are some great choices for snacks out there that provide your family with nutrition! 

What kinds of things do you make for your kids for snacks? 

Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more great kitchen ideas.

Gretchen emailed me with this question:

I just read some of your series on “Getting Real with Food“. I am in the midst of being a “coupon queen” but trying to quit. I am doing some organic foods and trying to cook so much more homemade food. My question to you is, how do I make this transition?

I am having a lot of trouble just trying to figure out how to stop couponing. I get organic produce delivered to me. I am starting to buy my pantry staples in bulk. Do you have any advice?

My answer:

(And by the way, we’re not talking about trying to stop couponing because there’s anything wrong with couponing…it’s the fact that usually coupons we find are for unhealthy foods, and our focus is on getting food for cheap or free instead of buying good, quality foods.)

Okay, now…My answer:

I SO understand your “pain” with trying to stop couponing. It seriously is painful…I’m not kidding when I say that. I loved doing it so much and it was such a part of who I was…not to mention it was something that made me feel so good about how I was taking care of my family. I didn’t want to give it up. But I did want to eat healthier. Oh, it was painful.
 
I remember walking through the grocery store one day when I had first learned about high fructose corn syrup and MSG and hydrogenated oils. And I was determined to still use some coupons because I thought surely I still could on some things. You know, like granola bars. Those are healthy, right? And I kept checking labels and EVERYTHING I had a coupon for had at least one thing in it that we shouldn’t be eating. I was getting so discouraged. And I started getting mad at the grocery store. And I thought it suddenly smelled stinky. And then I was starting to feeling teary. 
 
I think I might have used one coupon that day on toilet paper or something…and saving those 50 cents didn’t really make me feel good like normal coupon shopping had. It made me feel worse.
 
Ultimately I think what helped me the most was that I pretty much stopped shopping at grocery stores. I began getting my food in all different ways, like from local farmers, our farmer’s market, a food co-op, and other bulk food stores and graneries. This means I hardly needed to walk into a grocery store anymore, which is where my couponing took place. 
 
And, where I used to have SO MUCH FUN couponing at the grocery store…I now have SO MUCH FUN pouring over my food co-op catalogs and seeing what’s on sale for the month and what produce is available. I really kinda make it an “event”…when I have a quiet moment with my feet up to look through the catalogs and make my order. AND, I have so much fun seeing what awesome food I can get at the farmer’s market, and so much fun finding great foods from area farmers. 
 
And the joy I used to feel knowing I was “taking such good care of my family by saving so much money with coupons” I now feel knowing that I’m taking such good care of my family by feeding them so well. 

And this joy feels even better!
 
SO, hang in there. It sounds like you are very much on the right track!!!! Since you get your organic produce delivered to you  and you’re ordering staples in bulk….you are making the transition very well.
 
And hey, use some coupons sometimes while you’re transitioning…on some things that are more “compromise foods” or toiletry items (I still use those kinds of coupons actually when I can). 
 
Or, still use coupons to get free or almost free items that you can share with a food pantry.
 
I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask me more if I haven’t answered you as specifically as you would like. 
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Anyone have anything they’d like to add?

(Visit Tammy’s Recipes for other kitchen tips.)