11 Low-Waste Snacks for Kids and Their Cooks
Less packaging typically makes for healthier, tastier snacks
These simple yet tasty snacks will satisfy even picky eaters.
1. A piece of fruit
You may have hoped for more elaborate ideas on this list of low-waste snacks for kids but hear me out. A piece of fruit tastes delicious. It is healthy. It comes in a compostable package.
Snacks need not look like winning contenders for high-pressure reality cooking shows. Feeding your kids a piece of fruit as a snack simplifies your life. When they are hungry, hand them a pear, an apple or an orange. Get fancy and slice it, if desired.
2. Hummus and vegetables
If you have started down the zero-waste rabbit hole, you may have increased your hummus intake. Homemade hummus tastes delicious and eliminates the plastic tubs of the store-bought stuff.
Soak some chickpeas, cook them in a pot, a slow cooker or a pressure cooker and quickly transform them—along with a handful of other ingredients—into hummus in a food processor. Sneak more vegetables into your child’s diet by puréeing cooked pumpkin, beets or spinach along with the chickpeas. Serve the hummus with fresh vegetables for dipping.
Find my basic hummus recipe here.
3. Sourdough crackers
These also go well with hummus. Or any dip. Or on their own. To make these, you will need to start and nurture a sourdough starter. Learn how to do that here. When you feed the starter, you accumulate inactive starter that cannot make bread rise. But it makes amazing crackers.
Find the recipe for sourdough crackers here.
Scared of sourdough starter? Sign up for my free June 3rd Zoom class and learn how to make one.
4. Soft pretzels, two ways
My daughter Charlotte first made these crusty-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside pretzels in elementary school. Young bakers love to make them on their own, smaller children love to help making them and everyone loves to eat them.
Find Charlotte’s soft pretzel recipe here. Or follow my sourdough discard version here.
5. Type-A trail mix
You cannot control everything in life but you can control what goes into your trail mix. Essentially, combine equal parts nuts, seeds and dried fruit, based on what you have on hand. I also like to add toasted flaked coconut—not shredded as it will simply sink to the bottom of your jar.
Your trail mix might look as follows:
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup hulled pumpkins seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped apricots
1/2 cup toasted flaked coconut
If you buy raw nuts, you may want to roast them for crunchier, tastier trail mix. If your kids have a nut allergy, omit the nuts and up the seeds. Depending on your feelings about chocolate in trail mix—people have strong opinions on it!—add a handful of chocolate chips if desired. No two batches of trail mix need be the same—unless you come up with a combo you adore, in which case, jot down exactly what you put in it.
I’ve been adding hazelnuts to my trail mix lately. They cost much less than pecans or almonds. Also, you’ll need plenty of them for #11.
6. Cultured garlic-dill pickles
Get more live cultures into your kids’ tummies with these delicious, naturally fermented, garlicky dill pickles. They can serve not only as a snack but also as a cooking/science lesson as well.
To make dill pickles at home, you need only fresh small cucumbers, garlic (use lots), dill, salt, water and spices, if desired. Lactic-acid bacteria present on the vegetables will transform your fresh cucumbers into “pickles.” Keep them crisp during fermentation by adding fresh grape leaves to the jar. If you don’t have access to grape leaves, try adding plain black tea. Both contain the tannins that will keep your cukes crisp.
Go here for the dill pickle recipe.
7. Stove-top popcorn
My personal favorite zero-waste snack—and also one of the simplest. Into a medium-size saucepan, add 1 teaspoon of salt (or to taste), 1/2 cup popcorn kernels and two tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil or a combo of the two. Put the lid on the pot, turn the burner to high heat and shake the pot continuously. Once the kernels begin to pop, they will pop quickly, in about a minute.
8. Dehydrated produce
We have a solar food dryer at our intentional community here in Northern California because of course we do. Go here for plans to build a similar solar dehydrator of your own.
I’ve used this off-the-grid dehydrator to make kale chips, sundried tomatoes, dried apple rings and more. On very sunny days, it can reach temperatures around 225°F.
I’ve also dehydrated apples in my oven and it works well. (Last summer, during a heatwave, I dehydrated tomato slices in the rear window of my car to great effect.) Add your dried fruit to the trail mix in #5.
9. Granola
Just about everyone loves granola. Top it with fruit and yogurt if desired. You’ll need, at a bare minimum, oats, fat and a bit of sweetener. I add various nuts, seeds, coconut and, because I make homemade tofu, which renders shockingly large amounts of okara (soybean pulp), a cup or so of that wet pulp. Stir in dried fruit after baking and cooling. (Use your dehydrated fruit from #8.)
10. Pita bread as fruit or vegetable delivery system
Homemade pita bread is actually quite convenient: Make the dough in advance, then store it in the refrigerator for when your kids—or you—crave pitas. They cook in a few minutes in a very hot oven or skillet. Assemble your filling while the oven or skillet heats up.
Once you’ve made the pitas, spread nut or seed butter inside and fill them with fresh fruit (apple or melon slices for example) or vegetables (cucumber slices or, if you’re my daughter, sliced dill pickles!). Or spread some cultured cashew cheese, labneh or pesto inside and fill your pita like a grain bowl—with the pita as the grain—with leftover cooked beans and roasted vegetables, for example. The possibilities are endless. Pitas are a snack canvas.
Go here for the pita recipe. Go here for a sourdough discard version.
11. Homemade Nutella on anything
I will not lie. This hazelnut–cocoa spread, like many other homemade foods, does require more work to make than pulling a jar off a store shelf and tossing it into your shopping cart. But once you taste homemade, you can never go back. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Not only does the homemade version taste better, it contains higher-quality ingredients than the store-bought name brand. Sugar is the first ingredient in Nutella. Palm oil, the second. The homemade version contains mostly hazelnuts, plus cocoa, sweetener (that you control), coconut oil, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
Enjoy your homemade Nutella—I mean, your kids can enjoy this homemade Nutella—on fruit slices, crackers, bread or by the spoonful.
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