Grab-'n'-Go Snacks Make for Easy Summer Living

Easy-to-grab snacks make it easy to satisfy your children's hunger pangs with healthy foods, say nutritionists with the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

They offer these tips:

• Stock the refrigerator with individual cartons of 100 percent fruit juice and small cans of fruit with pop-top lids, cut-up fruit, and pre-cut vegetables partnered with a favorite dip. Freeze cartons of 100 percent fruit juice to serve as "pops," or freeze grapes and slices of bananas for bite-size treats.
• Keep healthy, crunchy snacks on hand, such as pretzels, breadsticks, whole-wheat crackers, ready-to-eat cereals, baked "chips," and low-fat microwave popcorn.
• For lunch, stock whole wheat bread and low-fat deli meats and peanut butter for sandwiches; flour tortillas and low-fat cheeses for microwavable quesadillas; ready-to-eat salad mixes and pre-cooked chicken breasts for salads; and low-fat yogurt and granola for topping off fruit.
• Don't forget the beverages. Healthy thirst quenchers include 100 percent fruit juice, bottled water, low-fat milk, and frozen fruit juice "cubes" to float in mineral water.

- From Baylor College of Medicine

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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