School snacks are a perennial topic. How big should they be? What to put in them so that children really like them? Sixteen mothers shared with us photos of the snacks they prepare for their children. Blesk.cz had them evaluated by nutrition experts. You can find the result in the gallery.
The morning snack is very important for a schoolchild, for several reasons. Children should eat regularly and a snack is one of the important daily allowances, which should cover 5-15% of the daily “eaten” energy. With a snack for children, we can support better concentration and prevent overeating after returning from school.
“The snacks that the mothers took photos of are generally very nice, although there is certainly room for improvement in them as well. I meet many schoolchildren during seminars in schools, and such snacks as here are not nearly so common, I was especially surprised by their imagination and variety, and last but not least, in some cases, their hard work.” admits Věra Boháčová, vice-president of the Nutrition and Nutritional Care Section and member of the Healthy Nutrition Forum.
According to nutritionist Martina Jandová, who also took part in the evaluation, it can be seen that the mothers tried to prepare a varied meal for the children, which will not only taste good, but will also be liked, which is also important.
Sitting in a bench full of energy
“However, I recommend reducing the amount of sweets. Children mostly just sit at school, they have no way to release excess energy. Fast sugars can cause distraction while studying. The child will be “charged” after eating the cookie and it will be very difficult for him to sit in the bench. If the child requires sweetness, I recommend only a small amount,” explains Martina Jandová.
Nutritional therapist Marcela Floriánková, who is a member of the Control Commission of the Czech Association of Nutritional Therapists, also pauses in her commentary on the snacks. “A little sweetness may be good sometimes, but it’s certainly not suitable as a daily part of the menu,” judge.
We also asked Margit Slimáková, a specialist in health prevention and nutrition, for an evaluation. “I praise the creativity of mothers. Those snacks are beautiful, elaborate and almost always have vegetables and fruits in them.” evaluated by an expert.
However, according to Margit Slimáková, purchased sweets and products such as chocolates, biscuits or even extruded breads are unnecessary and risky from a health point of view. “White bread, which represents the least suitable form of cereals, is also nutritionally unfavorable. I also wonder how much or how little of these snacks the kids eat. For many children who have a quality breakfast at home and then lunch at school, those snacks seem too large in terms of volume and nutrition.” adds Slimáková.
Answers: Věra Boháčová, nutritional therapist, vice-president of the Nutrition and Nutritional Care Section, member of the Healthy Nutrition Forum
How big should a snack be for school children?
A snack for school should be slightly larger than breakfast, it should cover approximately 5 to 15% of the total daily energy intake (it also depends on what the breakfast looks like), i.e. around 1100 kJ for younger children, around 1500 for older children kJ (however, these are indicative values, it is always good to solve them individually). Even so, these are data that are not very easy to grasp for practical recommendations.
So let’s look specifically…
It is the amount of energy that corresponds, for example, to one piece of buttered and coated bread or pastry (“a flapper”) with a piece of fruit or vegetable. Or yogurt, a piece of bread and a piece of fruit. The child should always have something to drink with the snack.
What should be its ideal composition?
A snack should give the child energy, and not just for a while, as well as important nutrients. Ideally, the snack should contain both a carbohydrate food that will provide important energy (e.g. bread, muesli) and a protein food that will increase the biological value of the snack and ensure that the child does not digest it quickly after the snack (e.g. yogurt, cheese or another dairy product , high-quality ham, eggs, etc.), if pastries, ideally still greased.
The snack should always include a piece of fruit or vegetable (and not just for decoration) and a bottle of drink – the basis should be water, tea, or mineral water, or more significantly diluted 100% juice.
On the contrary, what should be avoided?
I would certainly not deliver large quantities and frequent inclusion of sweets or sweetened drinks. On the one hand, they contain a large amount of energy, and if we don’t have a physically active child at home, the energy can be too much, and on the other hand, the child quickly digests sweets and needs more food (which he then often chases away with sweets again). Caution is in order in the case of sausages, which often contain pitifully little meat, but a lot of fat, salt, and spices.
I don’t see giving children too much freedom regarding snacks as an ideal solution either. Consulting with the child about the choice and composition of the snack is a good way, but giving him money and expecting him to buy a balanced snack for it would be utopia.
Food must be balanced in any case. It should contain all three basic macronutrients, i.e. fats, proteins and carbohydrates. “It is often forgotten to add protein for a greater feeling of satiety. E.g. not enough fruit with muesli bar. But if you add a dairy product to increase the protein content, suddenly the snack becomes a full meal.” adds nutritionist Martina Jandová
Examples of suitable snacks:
* a slice of rye bread spread with grass, 1 pear, 1/3 cucumber, a handful of cashew nuts
* 2 banana muffins made from spelled flour, 1 apple, a handful of almonds
* white yogurt (larger cup 200 g), a handful of raspberries, a smaller bowl of hazelnut muesli
* 4 slices of rye crispbread, 50 g of untwisted cheese threads, carrots, 2 plums
Nutritionist B.Sc. Martina Jandová
Author: archive of Martina Jandová
Roll with salami, vegetables, fruit, small biscuit, cheese Happy cow
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: It is advisable to replace salami with high-quality ham, because of the high salt content, it is better to serve as little cold cuts as possible to children. A little sweetness can be occasional, but it is certainly not suitable as a daily part of the menu.
The snack is nicely put together, the total content of energy and main nutrients meets the needs of a teenager, a child with high physical load or a morning + afternoon snack together.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: A snack rather for an older schoolboy, it is not one of the most ideal, but for occasional variety, why not – dry salami (a lot, fat, salt) are not suitable on a regular basis.
Martina Jandová’s comment: I recommend replacing classic white bread, for example, with quality sourdough bread, which will provide a lot of nutrients and not just empty calories like white bread.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: One of the weakest snacks, I do not recommend a biscuit, a white bun or “cheese”. In fact, it is processed cheese with melting salts, flavored with flour, malt and sunflower oil. Instead of the Happy Cow, put any real cheese, and instead of a bun, a slice of kvass bread, instead of a cookie, a few nuts or a piece of dark chocolate.
Cornbread, vanilla dessert, Rafaelo, fruit
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Beautifully edited in appearance! A little sweetness is fine if it is not daily and the child has enough exercise. Even this snack contains more energy for both snacks or for athletes or teenagers. The protein content is relatively high, as well as added sugars, so other daily meals should contain less of them so that the total daily intake corresponds to the recommendations.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: The individual components are quite nice together, I would prefer to see sweets just for variety. Funny fruit faces are a great idea, even so, in my opinion, you can motivate children to eat fruit.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: Only an apple can be praised. An orange at a time when there is plenty of local fruit is not ideal. Chocolate bonbons, desserts and extruded sandwiches are completely unsuitable – these all contain mainly sugar and fast-releasing carbohydrates, i.e. foods with a high glycemic index.
Bun with ham, fruit, vegetables
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Nicely color-coordinated, I praise the wholemeal bun. You can’t see if the bun is greased, if not, the snack contains less fat than corresponds to the daily portion – quality fats need to be supplemented in other meals. In a snack, they could be supplemented by either spreading the pastry or adding a handful of unflavored nuts or seeds.
Ham is a good choice, but don’t serve it too often because of the salt content. In terms of energy and protein and carbohydrate content, it corresponds to a smaller snack for an older schoolboy or a larger snack for a younger schoolboy.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: Excellent, I praise it, and substituting buns for kvass breads, everything would be perfect.
Bun with butter and cheese, quail eggs, fruit, vegetables. In a jar, full-fat cottage cheese, cream and yolk (for decoration chia, apple, dried cranberries and blueberry)
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Beautifully and colorfully put together again! Roughly speaking, this snack contains half of the daily protein and fat needs for a high school student, energy about a third of a high school student’s daily needs, carbohydrates about 20% of the daily needs. I would recommend dividing it into a morning and an afternoon snack for an older teenager or a second grader with a higher physical load. The high protein and fat content needs to be compensated for in other daily meals.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: Given the size, the snack is more for an older schoolboy, or it would certainly work as a morning + afternoon snack (for children who, for example, go to a club or go straight from school to some sports/exercise activity)
Margit Slimáková’s comment: Great, I really appreciate quail eggs, butter, cottage cheese, plenty of fruits and vegetables. Clearly an educated mother in nutrition. The only improvement is possible by substituting buns for bread. One of the best snacks.
Toast with gervais, blueberry yogurt, a couple of mini sponge cakes
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Here, too, the mother won with the artistic processing, the ratio of the main nutrients complies with the recommendations and, including energy, roughly corresponds to the needs of a younger schoolboy for a medium-sized snack. Even a small sweet in the form of biscuits can provide energy, but I wouldn’t give it all the time.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: A great creative snack rather for a smaller schoolboy, the composition is absolutely fine.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: Nicely prepared, lots of fruits and vegetables. Sponges are unnecessary, yogurt is better unflavored – the child can put fresh fruit in it from a box and bread is better instead of toast.
Pastries with a spread of eggs, hard cheese, cottage cheese and butter, dried bananas, oat rolls
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Nicely colored, the ratio of the main nutrients corresponds to the recommendations, it corresponds energetically to either a combination of morning and afternoon snacks for a first-grade schoolboy or a larger snack for an older schoolboy. Although dried fruit is a healthier variant of sweets, we should not overdo it in terms of quantity either, as the sugar content is high, even though they are naturally occurring sugars. It’s the same with oatmeal cookies – it’s a healthier option for sweets, but it’s still a sweet, so we don’t serve it too often and take into account the child’s physical activity.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: Also a very nice snack for a smaller schoolboy, the composition is fine.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: I praise the homemade spread, plenty of fruit and vegetables. Oatmeal biscuits are useless and bread is better than pastries.
Broccoli, mozzarella and egg muffins, cottage cheese with rice syrup, half of an Emco nut bar
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: A pretty varied snack. The protein content is relatively high, as well as fat – it corresponds to about a third of the daily needs of older school-aged children, in other daily meals it would be necessary to reduce their amount. The carbohydrate content is reasonable, but thanks to the sweetened nut bar and rice syrup, there is a higher proportion of added sugars, although the effort to present them in a healthier form can be seen.
Nevertheless, these are sweets and therefore it is not appropriate to serve them normally, they should rather be an exception. In terms of energy, it is again a large snack for an older schoolboy or a combination of both snacks for a first grade schoolboy.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: I highly recommend the homemade savory muffins. I wouldn’t sweeten the cottage, I prefer local fruit now and the bar is unnecessary. I prefer a few nuts and pieces of dark chocolate.
Whole grain toast baked with apple and cheddar, dried banana, cocoa squares with coconut filling
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Thanks to the relatively high fat content in cheddar, the energy content of the snack is relatively high and corresponds to about a quarter of a teenager’s daily needs in the given amount. For a child in elementary school, it would be enough to give a total of 1 slice of cheddar as a snack or use a lower-fat cheese. I praise whole grain bread, fruit and vegetables, even sliced cheese is suitable if we take into account the fat content.
Choosing dried fruit is a healthier option for sweets, but we still don’t give it every day. Likewise, other sweets in the form of squares should be rather an exception.
Martina Jandová’s comment: According to the pictures, snacks 8 and 9 seemed very high in calories. Let’s not forget that children do not have such a large expenditure in school. If they eat a lot, they can be sleepy during class. A child in the first grade usually eats lunch around 12 o’clock, so it is unnecessary to overstuff at snack time. Then he won’t feel like lunch.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: I really appreciate that the pastry is at least whole grain and a perfect combination for toast. Sweetness in the form of dried fruit is also a good idea and the squares may not even be necessary.
Croissant with cranberries, homemade carrots made from whole wheat flour with jam, mini steamed cheese
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: You can see the effort to prepare a varied and healthy snack, I also praise the choice of whole grain variant of croissant. Without knowing the carrot cake recipe, it is not easy to estimate the total fat content of the snack, but I estimate that, thanks to the croissant and cheese, it will be higher than recommended. Of course, this does not matter if it is taken into account in the composition of other daily meals. A sweet food sometimes is also okay, but again, even if a healthier option is chosen, we do not serve sweetened food every day.
With its total energy content, this snack will easily cover the needs of an adolescent with increased physical activity for a morning and afternoon snack. It is therefore too big for a smaller child or a child with normal physical activity.
Martina Jandová’s comment: According to the pictures, snacks 8 and 9 seemed very high in calories. Let’s not forget that children do not have such a large expenditure in school. If they eat a lot, they can be sleepy during class. A child in the first grade usually eats lunch around 12 o’clock, so it is unnecessary to overstuff at snack time. Then he won’t feel like lunch.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: I praise homemade whole grain baking, but even so, it’s a load of carbohydrates – flour, jam and added sugar. Pastries with cheese and mini-parenice are much better. I would prefer local fruit.
Pastries, butter, polish, fruit, vegetables, corn rings and a few oat crackers with cheese.
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: As I wrote about snack no. 1, it is advisable to replace salami with high-quality ham, even with that we save on salt content. Otherwise, the snack is very nicely put together, I also praise the choice of whole grain bread. A little sweetness doesn’t hurt sometimes. Due to the higher content of fat and protein, the total energy content is too high for a separate snack, for a child in the first grade it would cover the need for a morning and an afternoon snack, for an older schoolboy about 1.5 snacks.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: I also see cheese in the pastry, it’s fine there, I wouldn’t recommend it for children to eat on a regular basis, otherwise the composition is perfect.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: Nice, plenty of fruit and vegetables, salty biscuits. The oat rings look like extrudate, I would skip that.
Roll with ham, fruit, vegetables, gummies
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: As we wrote above, we save on cold meats because of the salt content, but we can serve them occasionally. An egg without ham would be enough to cover the need for protein for a snack. We give a little sweetness only occasionally. I praise the inclusion of fruits and vegetables and a boiled egg. The total energy would again cover the need for both snacks for a younger schoolboy and 1.5 snacks for an older schoolboy with average physical activity.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: I would probably prefer to add the eggs directly to the roll. If only the candies do not disappear from the box (and the snack remains uneaten), I would be tolerant to a few candies – better on days when physical education is on the schedule.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: I praise fruits, vegetables and eggs. Instead of a white roll, it is better to leave out the bread and candies.
Bun with ham, fruit, vegetables, fruit snack in a pocket, cookie
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Here we have one of the big snacks again, it would reliably cover the energy needs for both snacks even for an active older child. I recommend choosing a fruit snack preferably without added sugar (that is, without sweetening with concentrated fruit juice). We serve sausages only occasionally, sweets also exceptionally, taking into account the child’s weight and physical activity.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: Again, it looks like a morning and afternoon snack, if it disappears whole, I would tolerate the occasional variation with a cookie, but I would adjust the selection (ideally with a whole grain portion), without toppings and fillings.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: Nicely decorated, but the bag and cookies are not healthy or necessary. Fruit, vegetables and ham crack.
The sandwich has butter, ham, lettuce and tomato. Also whole grain salted crackers, fruit, Kinder pingue
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: This snack without Kinder Pingui and whole grain biscuits would cover the energy and nutrient needs for the morning for an older schoolboy. With sweets and salty biscuits, its energy content is already too high and will cover even the need for energy for an afternoon snack.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: Yes, it can be like that, I would tolerate the occasional cut.
Plum cake with almond sprinkles, fruit and cashew nuts
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: The total energy content is a snack suitable for an older school child, if the portion size can be estimated from the picture. Thanks to the large portion of fruit and fruit cake, the proportion of simple sugars is too high, while the proportion of protein is slightly smaller than it should be. The cashews balanced out the portion of fat nicely.
I would recommend serving vegetables instead of fruit when using a sweet version of the snack. Thanks to the higher proportion of sugars and the small content of proteins and starches, the child could soon be hungry after a snack despite sufficient energy intake.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: A very nice snack, it would be useful to add a source of protein (e.g. a little milk in a box, yogurt, cheese cubes between the grapes,…)
Margit Slimáková’s comment: I really appreciate the nuts and fruit, but I’d rather have something sent with them. This is only suitable if the child had a sweet breakfast and the next meal of the day will be without any sweets.
Sourdough sandwich, paprika, mozzarella, fruit and a mix of raisins and cashews
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Beautifully put together in color and composition and artistically edited. Without fruit, the snack would cover the needs of a first-grade schoolboy, so it would definitely be enough for the afternoon. The fruits depicted are enough even for an older schoolchild for the whole day – ideally, every child should have 2 portions of fruit a day, each portion is the size of a child’s fist or palm.
These are healthy sources of carbohydrates, but remember that even too much fruit can lead to increased energy intake. If this snack is also for the afternoon, instead of 1 portion of fruit, it would be necessary to give foods that are a source of starches, proteins and quality fats.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: A very nice snack, the composition is absolutely fine, the nuts are suitable unsalted.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: I highly recommend a sourdough sandwich, cheese, vegetables, fruit and nuts. Probably the best snack.
Puff pastry pizza with high-percentage ham and mozzarella, pineapple, cruciferous vegetables
Author: Blesku archive
Marcela Floriánková’s comment: Homemade pizza is certainly a welcome addition to the menu, but I would prefer regular pizza dough instead of puff pastry, which has a very high fat content. Beware of the probably higher salt content in the snack due to the dough, sausage and cheese. It is then necessary to reduce the salt content in other daily meals. We can give dried fruit occasionally.
The total energy content at the estimated size of a pizza portion is enough for approximately 1.5 snacks for a younger schoolchild with high physical activity or for 1.5 portions of a snack for an older schoolchild with normal physical activity.
Věra Boháčová’s comment: A snack rather for a smaller schoolboy, but even so, for variety, the snack can look like this.
Margit Slimáková’s comment: The puff pastry is already a semi-finished product, I understand that this way the snack is attractive for a child, but I would at least add a decent portion of vegetables to it.
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Roll with salami, vegetables, fruit, small biscuit, cheese Happy cow
Author: Blesku archive