Toddler Snack Solution

There are tons of ideas on Pinterest about how to organize a pantry and I am not ashamed to admit that this type of thing gets me very excited!  One specific idea I found is the “snack box”, which we've been using for awhile now.

My daughter typically eats a morning snack and an afternoon snack, but if it were up to her she'd snack all day on cheese and graham crackers (sorry kid, not happening).  She has also recently found her voice when it comes to deciding what she wants to eat at snack-time.  The words, "no", "no" and "no", followed by a small tantrum are often heard.  To avoid this we have implemented a “you choose” method.  Here's how it works:

I created two snack boxes for her, one is kept in the refrigerator and the other in the pantry.  Both are filled with (fairly) healthy snacks that she likes.  

For the dry snacks, I used a wicker basket to hold goodies like granola bars, crackers, pretzels, etc (trust me, it’s not normally this neat). 

For cold snacks, I used a small, plastic bin that sits on the top shelf in our refrigerator.  This holds things like fruits, cheese (her favorite), yogurt, etc. 

When snack-time rolls around we simply reach for both boxes, bring them down to her level, and tell her to choose one item out of each box.  She loves it!  Once her first choice items (like cheese) are gone from the box, I don't replace it right away so that she moves on to try other things. So far it's working!

In the future I see this box coming in handy when it comes time to pack her school lunches or for quick snacks on the go!

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