5 Easy, Toddler Snacks That WON’T Fill Them Up Before Dinner!

We aim to have dinner on the table by 5.30pm in our house. If it’s delayed for any reason, I’m in all sorts of trouble with a very little someone snapping around my feet with her cranky face on as I try to finish any last minute dinner prep or serving of the meal! What to do?

These are my 5 quick and easy toddler snack ideas that won’t fill them up so much that they won’t eat dinner but might just distract them long enough to let you get on with making it!

5 Toddler Snacks That WON'T Fill Them Up Before Dinner!

1. Frozen peas: Both of my girls love to sit and eat a little cup of frozen peas. When you eat them one by one it can take quite a while!

2. Dried spaghetti: I used to love sticks of dry spaghetti too when I was little.

3. Steamed veggies: Even if the rest of the meal is still a little while away, having the green beans, carrot sticks, broccoli or cauliflower already steamed means that the little ones can start on part of their meal while I finish off everything else.

4. Grated cheese: Like the peas, this one is fiddly for toddler fingers, perfect.

5. Frozen berries: Not for the fainthearted as they can be quite messy (and who wants messy when they are busy chopping, stirring and boiling!), I keep a box of frozen berries in the freezer and they are a big hit with both my girls. I usually stick AJ in the high chair as I don’t want raspberry or blackberry smeared around my house but my usually velcro baby is happy to sit there for her beloved berries!

Do you have any tips or tricks to keep your little ones out from under your feet as you’re making dinner preparations?

Related Posts

22 Comments

  1. Love ice – we often use that one – any shapes are good, cheese I find they eat too fast and want more.
    If I'm cooking with carrot I keep a couple of thin cut carrot sticks ready to pass to my hungry munchkins.
    I'm looking forward to giving the peas, spaghetti and berries a go.
    Great tips.
    xx

  2. I do the shredded cheese thing with Blaze too. He loves it. Or baby carrots.

  3. Theta Mom says:

    I'll have to give the dried spaghetti a try. Never thought of that before!

  4. Christie Burnett says:

    Thank you for your comments, good luck if you are trying something new. Love the watering hole idea, unfortunately my sink is never clear when I am prepping dinner!

    Christie

  5. Raw carrots are a big hit here. Also frozen peas and raw spaghetti (must use that more often!). One of my daughters often decides to eat a banana right before dinner – I don’t mind because it is healthy and if that substitutes for some of her actual dinner it doesn’t matter!

    1. It’s not unusual for me to find Immy munching on a carrot at any time of the day!

  6. Oh yeah – ditto to all these! My girls especially love frozen berries and peas… and their dinner is often served prior to ours or in courses! 🙂 Great post! 🙂

  7. I haven’t tried the dried spaghetti, that makes me shudder! But the kiddo might like it. Frozen peas and grated cheese are favs here, as well as bits and pieces from what I’m chopping up – funnily enough often the foods that she won’t eat at the dinner table!

    1. That’s always the way! Immy eats half her meal while it’s still in the preparation phase 🙂

  8. Our faves are mini breadsticks & pre-packed melba toasts with a scrape of cheese spread 😀

    1. Oooh, I had forgotten about mini bread sticks. AJ is gluten free at the moment but Immy loved them as a toddler

  9. I love frozen peas and corn for this – i don’t even mind that much if they *do* spoil her appetite. 🙂 Also raw carrots or whatever vegies I happen to be cutting up. Both my younger two tend to prefer veggies raw anyway…

  10. Gabrielle @ Littlelock says:

    My two little ones love frozen peas and corn too. Raw veggies like chopped carrot, capsicum and cucumber are also great for snacks before dinner. I like that they’ve already had a serve of veggies before their dinner has even been served.

  11. My little ones really like to eat frozen blueberries. They can be a little messy and stain, so I keep them in the kitchen or highchair while eating them, which works out anyways cause don’t all little ones like to be right under your feet as you are cooking? Hadn’t thought of frozen peas…I’ll have to give that one a go!

  12. For frozen berries, do you defrost them first or stick them in the microwave.. or just give them straight out of the freezer?

  13. Be prepared for some interesting construction with the peas and the spaghetti as materials. My boys end up creating towers and using the whole table top to create pictures with them.

  14. We call frozen peas “pea popsicles”! They are a big hit!

Comments are closed.