What to feed a child for an afternoon snack?

In the old days, Russian people had an afternoon snack at noon, because they got up for work with the third rooster (at 4 am) and had lunch at 9 am, and had dinner before bed. In our time, an afternoon snack at 4-5 pm is a must – for both children and adults. And there are good reasons for this. A person should eat five times a day to rid himself of … extra food. From unhealthy food. The ideal picture of the day: we have breakfast in the morning, a couple of hours later – a second breakfast (kefir, fruit), harmoniously come to a hot lunch. After 2-3 hours we have an afternoon snack (cottage cheese, fruit, salad), after another two – dinner. What do we have in the end: there was no time for unhealthy food, no urge to snack on something forbidden. We we"re eating our fill. But all this, of course, is ideal, and life disposes in its own way. Only mothers staying at home with children can recreate the picture in full. And it doesn’t matter that the child ate 25% of what was offered. The main thing is not to retreat.

Why do you need a second breakfast and afternoon snack?

Thermally processed foods don’t pair well with fruits, fermented dairy products, or desserts. In general, fruits require a separate period of time to digest. As a result, kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, and fruits are designated for consumption during a second breakfast and afternoon snack.

A person goes into intensive mode during the second half of the day because he is exhausted and needs a good shake-up (this is also when he frequently has cravings for "harmful things"). It’s time for a pre-dinner snack.

Fermented milk products are typically eaten as a midday snack. Absorption of capricious calcium occurs at night and in the evening. Therefore, 17.00 is the ideal time for calcium-rich foods.

For an afternoon snack, it is advisable to use products that have not been thermally processed. Casseroles, baked dishes – processed. But you have already cooked porridge for your child, gave him soup or a second course for lunch, for dinner he will again get something boiled. What is food that has undergone heat treatment? These are boiled, fried, stewed, baked products. Their structure has been repeatedly disrupted: defrosting, peeling, cutting, cooking. Imagine how many times the product was tortured before it got to the baby"s spoon. But a growing body also needs other food that has been abused to a minimum. It is not so easy to "insert" it into the daily diet, it does not go well with hot dishes.

Desserts in the form of buns or cookies, eggs, fruits, raw vegetables, and sour milk products all need to be consumed separately. At least two hours should elapse between this and the hot food. I eat all of this as a snack in the afternoon.

When a child has a poor lunch, an afternoon snack should be served as a full meal rather than just a snack. But an afternoon snack is a snack, even if lunch "went away" with a bang! Not a thing more. Dinner is still to come, after all.

Ideas for a full afternoon snack:

• Curd and fruit casserole, manna, pancakes, syrniki.
• If the child has had very little lunch, you can make a “broth with boats”. To do this, cook any vegetable broth, add a little vegetable oil. Remove the vegetables – or grind them into dust so that their presence is not noticeable. Take a boiled egg, cut it into two halves and launch the “boats” into the broth. A sprig of greenery or a crouton can serve as a mast. If you take quail eggs – there will be more “boats”. It is also not forbidden to give a hungry child a “lunch” soup or a second course, cook porridge – you know, children can have anything that they eat with pleasure. As long as it is live home-cooked food.
• Salads. During lunch, heavy salads made of potatoes or beets are inappropriate. But for a full-fledged afternoon snack-as-a-second-lunch they are suitable, and for a snack we prepare any simple combinations from the anamnesis of a housewife. For a change, try making a salad of baked vegetables, it has a special taste.
• Tomatoes stuffed with buckwheat, rice, pearl barley, any porridge that the child likes. To do this, boil some cereal, add grated carrots, onions (you can sauté them, but not more than a minute) and fill 2-3 medium tomatoes with this stuffing. You can leave it like this and serve with sour cream, or you can quickly bake it in the oven.

Ideas for an afternoon snack as an appetizer:

• Baked apples, bananas and pears with honey or cottage cheese;
• fruit kebabs (pieces of fruit on skewers);
• fruit and baby yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese;
• cottage cheese with honey. And also with grated fruit and soaked baby cookies (beat with a blender, keep in the refrigerator and serve with a dressing of low-fat sour cream, yogurt). Unsweetened options: cottage cheese with grated cucumber, radish;
• bread with goat, cottage cheese or other cheese, sliced ​​fruit or dried fruits;
• quail eggs, compote;
• raw vegetable slices: pieces of turnip, carrot, celery.

Some of us still remember the “chocolate porridge” that was given in Soviet kindergartens. It was prepared from oatmeal in milk with the addition of cocoa powder. Oatmeal is oatmeal or barley flour, it retains all the beneficial properties of the grain. Thanks to special processing, oatmeal dishes have a “chocolate” flavor. In the old days, this flour was very widely used, especially in villages. In beloved children"s books about peasant children who invented (due to total hunger) dishes out of nothing, figurines of birds and animals molded from flour and water are often mentioned. This was thickened oatmeal. In ancient Rus", oatmeal dishes were eaten for lunch. You can partially return this tradition by enriching the diet with an unusually healthy product. The good thing about oatmeal is that it doesn"t need to be processed: just mix it in water and eat it. It is also stirred in warm milk, resulting in “chocolate milk” (the oatmeal has a brownish tint).

Tolca has a protein content of roughly 15-20%, a fat content of about 5%, and a substance called lecithin that helps with protein absorption. B vitamins, essential amino acids, and bioflavonids—powerful antioxidants that support the immune and endocrine systems—are all included in the composition.

The body acts as a natural immunomodulator and cleanses the body. These days, it’s sold in stores alongside items for a balanced diet. In the same location as the honey, muesli, herbal beverages, diabetic products, dietary foods, etc.

Catcin glue

Two eggs, 2.5 cups milk, two tablespoons of honey, 100 grams of cereblines, and salt to taste.

Add 1/2 cup of cold water to the frill, fully mixing to prevent lumps, then add the eggs and salt and knead the dough. Bring the milk to a boil, add the stroke spoon, and cook for eight minutes. Present the jams alongside the cooked milk and honey.

Syrniki "with best wishes"

Oatmeal, cottage cheese, egg, and sugar.

Using a blender, whip the cottage cheese and add the sugar, egg, and oatmeal. Using your hands, form cutlets and cook in hot oil. Oatmeal pancakes with cottage cheese don’t need to fry for a long time.

Oatmeal-based dessert from the East

Form a crushed mixture of 4 tablespoons of oatmeal, 150 grams of grated apples, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 hour lemon juice, and dried fruits into balls. Add some oatmeal to the balls.

Pour enough kefir (old is best) into a glass of oatmeal to cover the flour, stir, and leave for two to three hours. It’s best to add a little more later when pouring kefir; don’t pour too much at first; instead, pay attention to the thickness. To taste, add raisins or other fruits, sugar, salt, and two eggs. Add a spoonful of flour if the batter is too thin, and stir until it reaches the consistency of pancake batter. Bake into tiny pancakes in a frying pan. Serve with jam and sour cream.

A word about desserts and the wrong afternoon snacks

Frequently, store-bought pastries or cookies with tea are served as an afternoon snack. This is obviously not quite the right meal. It is preferable to do so, if you can, at least in minor aspects.

Select fortified baby cookies (due to their dense composition, they are not recommended for children under one year old; however, after that age, they are highly appropriate) or the most straightforward options: fruit wafers, pretzels, or oatmeal cookies. Regarding desserts, try pastila, marshmallows, and marmalade (not chewy). Favor the goods made in your city or region. Weak, but a surefire sign of freshness and quality.

Sterilized baby milk or other sterilized milk can be used for "washing down" if the child enjoys milk. It is better to give a glass of milk separately between meals or at night. "Richer" and heavier milk with a short shelf life is, of course, healthier, but in terms of properties it is more food than drink. You also do not need to mix it with other products.

Lunch, afternoon, and dinner dishes must be combined thoughtfully and sensibly. Observing forums has revealed that many mothers do not view certain pancakes and fritters as heavy foods. This is a heavy dish, I assure you. Because, really, what kind of childhood would it be without pancakes?, you can’t resist spoiling your kids with it too. However, prepare a light supper if you fed your infant pancakes, potato pancakes, and other fried and baked treats for an afternoon snack. There is no need for tests because the pancreas has already agitated.

Avoid serving meat or fried foods for dinner; instead, serve vegetables, oatmeal, or an omelet. A handful of oatmeal (any) flakes, grated carrots, or grated apple added to the dough are a few healthy ways to enhance pancakes and fritters. Additionally, attempt to make the dough lighter. It’s time to become proficient with buckwheat, oatmeal, and corn flour in addition to regular wheat flour.

Recipes for an afternoon snack

Crisp apples and dehydrated apricots

One tablespoon cranberry jam, two large apples, two to three carrots, one hundred grams of dried apricots, and one hundred milliliters of sour cream.

Using a coarse grater, wash, peel, and grate the carrots. Peel, then chop into straws or rub on a coarse grater. Finely chop the dehydrated apricots for your salad. Add the prepared salad ingredients to a salad bowl, toss well, and season with a sour cream and jam mixture. Arrange the salad on the table, garnishing it with dried apricot slices. (Refer to cooking.Wild-Mistress.ru as the source)

10 g of sugar, 2 g of gelatin, 50 ml of berry or fruit juice, and 100 ml of baby milk.

Bring milk, sugar, and a gelatin that has been soaked in cold water to a boil. Transfer into molds and store in the fridge.

Overflowing apples

One egg, two teaspoons of honey, six apples, and seven teaspoons of cottage cheese (with a tiny slide).

Wash the apples, cut the middle with a knife. In a circle with a knife make an incision. The acute part of the knife, walking in a circle (like a corkscrew), cut out the middle, not very close to the peel. We get an apple in the shape of a barrel. Prepare the filling. Combine cottage cheese with honey and egg, mix well. Fill the apples with cottage cheese filling, level with the apple or slightly lower. Fill without a slide, since during baking, the apples will release juice, it can flow out onto the baking sheet and burn. Put the apples on a dry baking sheet. Put the apples in the oven preheated to 150-160C, bake for 20-25 minutes.

This method works well with any fruit; the egg is not necessary.

Yogurt and dried apricot cookies

1.5 cups flour, 0.5 cups sugar, 1 cup chopped dried apricots, 2-3 cups natural yogurt, 3 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 tsp ground cinnamon (for those who like the taste), and 1 tsp baking powder (which can be substituted with slaked soda).

Dried apricots wash and cut into very small pieces (if the dried apricots are very dry, soak them in warm water for 15-20 minutes first). Mix the flour with baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add oatmeal, sugar, dried apricots, mix. Whip yogurt with vegetable oil until smooth. Pour the mixture into the flour and knead the dough. Put the dough on a surface not sprinkled with flour, divide it into 20 equal parts (according to the number of cookies) and roll small balls. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Cover the baking sheet with parchment, sprinkle with water. Put the balls on the baking sheet and press with a fork, making thick cakes. Sprinkle the cookies with sugar (you can also use crushed nuts) Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool, then remove from the baking sheet. (source: magazine "School of Gastronomy")

Fruits and cottage cheese dessert

Bananas, apples, two pieces of curd cheese, 300–400 grams of sour cream, berries, and other fruits as garnish.

Slice the bananas and apples into thin circles and slices, respectively, after cleaning. Arrange the fruit in layers. Top the fruit with the cottage cheese.

Combine sugar and sour cream, then drizzle it over the dessert.

Cottage cheese and fruit casserole

One teaspoon of lemon juice, twenty grams of flour, butter for the mold, four nectarines, four eggs, fifty grams of sugar, four hundred grams of cottage cheese, fifty milliliters of cream, and one teaspoon of any berries.

Slices of nectarine pulp should be made. Grease four flat molds that can withstand heat. Sort the yolks and whites apart. Do a good job beating the whites. Beat the egg whites until they are fluffy. Mix thoroughly after adding the cottage cheese, cream, lemon juice, and flour. Combine with the protein foam. Arrange the berries and nectarines on top of the curd mass that has been spread into the molds. Bake at 180C for 25 minutes. Dust the casseroles, which are still hot, with powdered sugar.

An omelette with cauliflower

200 grams of cauliflower (kohlrabi and broccoli), one coffee spoon butter, two egg whites, three tablespoons milk, and one tablespoon sour cream.

Boil the cauliflower in salted water, break it up into small heads, and place it in an oil-greased skillet. Next, add the egg whites and sour cream, and bake.

Echmak biscuits (the crumbly cottage cheese biscuits of our youth)

500 grams of cottage cheese, 500 grams of margarine, flour to dough elasticity, soda ½ hours, vinegar extinguishing, and 0.5 teaspoon of sugar.

Blend cottage cheese, butter, soda, slaked with vinegar, and flour until the dough reaches an elastic consistency. Roll out the flatbreads, cut into triangles, and fold in four. Coat each triangle in sugar and place it in a preheated oven. If you can roll out the dough very thin, the cookies will be light and delicate.

It’s crucial to choose wholesome, well-balanced foods for your child’s afternoon snack that will satisfy them until dinnertime and give them energy. Nutritious snacks that don’t overindulge in calories, such as fruits, yogurt, whole grain crackers, or veggies with hummus, provide vital nutrients. Steer clear of processed or highly sugary foods as they can cause energy crashes. In addition to ensuring they receive a balanced intake of vitamins and minerals, providing a variety of snacks keeps snack time engaging and fun.

Mothers Adelina (of Adelisha), Grisha (of Znayka), Natasha (of Yalta), Lesha (of Ksenchik), and Sonya (of Lapka Carduus crispus) are shown in the pictures.

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