Homemade Snack Mix

My friend Shannon shared another great idea with me today. At the end of the long day at work, when she's trying to prepare dinner, her 3 girls often ask for snacks. Sometimes snack preparation feels a little overwhelming when you're trying to juggle a million mommy tasks, so Shannon found a solution.

After her Aldi shopping day, she makes a snack mix for the week. The snack mix is always different, but here's her basic guideline:
a bag of Aldi chex mix
a large bag of nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts...)
plain chex cereal (to soften the strong chex mix flavoring)
a big scoop of dried fruit (raisins, craisins, mixed fruit...)
some kind of treat (yogurt covered raisins, chocolate chips, m&ms...)

She puts the mix in a large container with a 1/2 cup scoop. When the girls ask for a snack, they are able to go by themselves to get a serving of snack mix (empowerment) and Shannon feels good about serving her kids a healthy snack with protein & fruit.

You could even take the empowerment a step further, by asking children to make the snack mix with you. You can take that time to educate them about healthy nutrition. "We put a big serving of nuts, because that's protein - do you know why we need protein? It helps keep our bodies strong and it gives us energy to learn and play." I love learning that just 'happens'!

Thanks for sharing Shannon