Back to School: Healthy Snacks for Passing Period

When your middle and high school student has the munchies between classes, it is a good idea for them to have a small snack with them that they can eat quickly during the minutes while they are walking from one class to another. There are a number of simple healthy snacks that they can eat during this time that will ease the hunger, provide necessary nutrients, and keep them on track for eating a balanced diet.

Healthy Snacks for School: Water

Although water is not a snack in the classic sense of it being a food, it is actually a more common need during the morning hours than food is (assuming your student eats breakfast). Thirst will often masquerade as hunger, so before sending your student to school with a bunch of snacks, give them a bottle of water. Many backpacks have small side pockets that will easily hold a water bottle, and it can be refilled during the day if needed.

Healthy Snacks for School: Mixed Nuts

As many people are already aware, mixed nuts are one of the best ways to get rid of that nagging hunger. They provide a large amount of protein in just a handful of nuts, leaving the body with a small but satisfying snack that will provide long-term energy to keep you going during the day. Make sure not to give too many nuts, as just a small handful is needed, and watch out for honey roasted nuts, which are basically covered in sugar. Lightly salted peanuts, cashews, pecans, walnuts, and other nuts make great passing period snacks for students.

Healthy Snacks for School: Breakfast Cereal

Most breakfast cereals taste as good dry as they do covered in milk (except perhaps for grape nuts, which are a little too hard and crunchy when dry), and they make great snacks for students. They can be very filling, and as long as they aren't the sugar-packed kind of cereal, they are quite healthy. Either have some small sandwich bags or plastic food storage containers available, or purchase the single-serve size cereal boxes.

Healthy Snacks for School: Granola Bars

One of the biggest benefits of granola bars as passing period snacks is that they are very easy to eat while walking. In addition, if they end up getting lost in the bottom of a backpack, they will probably be just as good a few days or weeks later, as opposed to things like cereal, which would probably look like flour by then. There are a number of kinds of granola bars, so look out for ones with low sugar and fat contents, and high in whole grains.

Healthy Snacks for School: Vegetable Sticks

If your student doesn't mind vegetables, send them with a small bag of mixed vegetable sticks (carrots, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, etc.) to eat throughout the day. Although they are not rich in calories, they are high in fiber, and are very nutritious. They can come home from school having eaten most of their vegetables for the day, rather than being full of chips and saturated fat.