Mom Hack: Printable Snack Chart for Back to School

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #KeepingMomsCool #CollectiveBias

Teaching the kids how to choose healthy snacks and meals is so important to helping them grow into adults who make smart choices. We're working with our son Matthew to teach him how to make better choices at meals and snack times by using a printable snack chart, which you can get below. It's a challenge when you're a busy family with sports practices, homework, kids at multiple schools, events, and more. How do you skip the fast food but still get convenient meals and snacks that are healthy? That's why I'm so excited about Kidfresh meals at Target. When you can read and pronounce all the ingredients on the box, that's a WIN! Kidfresh contains no artificial ingredients, non-GMO ingredients, and no synthetic ingredients all in the convenience of a frozen, easy to prepare meal. Plus, each meal contains at least 1/2 cup of veggies hidden in the meal. My kids love vegetables, but for kids who dislike veggies, this is a great way to get them to eat more nutritious meals.

Kidfresh meals range in price from $2.99-3.99 each, depending on the retailer. Seriously, they cost LESS than getting fast food! We picked up every variety of Kidfresh meals at Target:

Right now Target has a Cartwheel app deal on Kidfresh meals! We stocked up on Kidfresh Wagon Wheels Mac + Cheese and Kidfresh Mighty Meaty Chicken Meatballs, both of which are favorite foods for Matthew. Being that I eat paleo and my daughter is gluten-free, I like these options from KidFresh that still allow my son to eat favorites like Mac and Cheese in a healthy, nutritious way.

The snack time and meal struggle – making nutritious choices

As much as I have very healthy foods in my house, my son Matthew still seems to find the few less healthy items in the pantry or he just eats too much. And simply telling the kids to just “eat fruit” when they're hungry, like my mom did, well, that just doesn't fly in this modern age! There had to be a better way to help him learn to make healthy choices.

We're also teaching Matthew how to cook (he makes some mean scrambled eggs) and helping him learn responsibility in this kitchen and for his health. We created this printable chart to help him make smarter choices for meals, even when he's making convenient meals for himself. You know those days when mom is rushing home to drop off one kid, then out the door to practice for another and there's simply no time to cook? That's when a printable “Choose A Snack” chart like this is so handy.

For this fast weeknight meal, Matthew chose broccoli along with Kidfresh Wagon Wheels Mac + Cheese and six meatballs (1 serving) from the Kidfresh Mighty Meaty Chicken Meatballs. This is a filling dinner that is under 500 calories, made with natural ingredients, and packed with nutrients. Plus it literally took five minutes to cook!

How to make a Printable Snack Chart

This “Choose A Snack” printable chart will save moms so much time and headache. We hung our chart on the pantry door so my son can easily grab the chart and choose a snack or meal without me being involved.

You can fill out the “Choose A Snack” chart with the foods that make sense for your family. This chart has 3 columns and your child will choose one item from each column to make a complete meal or just one item to make a healthy snack. These are all foods they can prepare themselves (peeling an orange for example) or that they can have an adult or older sibling help them prepare quickly (like Kidfresh meals in the microwave).

To make the “Choose A Snack” chart, you'll need the following supplies:

• printable “Choose A Snack” chart
• printer and computer
• graphics program (free online)
• white cardstock
• laminating machine
• dry erase marker

Click on the button below to get the printable “Choose A Snack” charts delivered to your inbox (or CLICK HERE).

We are sharing the completed chart that we used for our own son and a blank version where you can write or type in your own favorite snacks. I used a free online graphics program to add the snack names I wanted in each box. Watch this video to see how to make these easy laminated snack charts for the kids:

P.S. you can use the same technique to make printable chore charts too!

What's your favorite life-hack for the busy back to school season? I'd love to hear all about it in the comments!