School Snacks for Kids

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

A Vegetarian Resource Group member contacted us asking for ideas for snacks that their vegan child can bring to school for snack time. Snacks cannot be chips/popcorn, cannot have peanuts or tree nuts, and must be low-sugar. 

We’re happy to help with some ideas. If you have other suggestions, please add them in the comments section. All snacks listed appear to be nut-free, peanut-free, vegan, and have 5 grams of added sugar or less per serving. Be sure to check product labels since ingredients can change over time.

My preference is for snacks with minimal packaging or packaging that can be reused. I’ve included some packaged snacks that some may want to use for convenience or to support the child who wants snacks that look like what other kids are bringing.

When brand names are listed below, they’ve been included to provide some examples of products. This is not an all-inclusive list of products.

• Fruit can be a refreshing snack. Make sure it’s easy to eat – cut seedless grapes into small bunches, slice oranges, make a fruit cup with melon chunks or berries. Choose seasonal fruits – apple slices sprinkled with lemon juice to keep them from browning in fall, clementine sections in winter, strawberries in late spring. Even canned or jarred unsweetened fruit can work – try juice-packed pineapple chunks or unsweetened applesauce with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
• One of my kids’ favorite snacks were home-grown grape tomatoes which are even smaller than cherry tomatoes. Grape or cherry tomatoes can be sent with a dip like hummus for a savory snack. Other vegetables also make good hummus dippers – carrot and celery sticks, jicama sticks, cucumber slices, red pepper strips. Since hummus comes in many flavors, this snack can be different each week.
• Mini bagels thinly spread with vegan cream cheese. Check the vegan cream cheese ingredient list since many have nuts as a base. Tofutti and Violife both make nut-free products that have 0 grams of added sugar.
• Roast chickpeas or other cooked or canned dried beans by mixing rinsed and well-drained beans with a little olive oil, nutritional yeast, and a dash of salt; spreading them on a parchment-lined baking sheet in a single layer and baking at 400 degrees about 30 minutes or until crisp. You can add different spices. These can be eaten by the handful.
• If you’d prefer a commercial product, Seapoint Farms makes dry roasted edamame.
• Dry roasted pumpkin seeds are another snack that can be eaten by the handful as long as your child is old enough that these aren’t a choking hazard. Eden Foods has various size bags of pumpkin seeds including a 1-ounce single-serve bag.
• Make a cereal mix, choosing low-sugar cold breakfast cereals and adding raisins or other unsweetened dried fruits. Have your kids help – maybe they’ll even want to name their recipe.
• Homemade muffins – banana, corn, blueberry, oatmeal, carrot – for example. Avoid nuts, nut butters, or nut milks or very sugary recipes. Mini-muffin pans are nice for snack-size muffins. Make a batch and freeze them so they’re always handy when you need to pack a snack.
• Store-bought or homemade bread sticks with a refried bean dip. Amy’s Kitchen has lower sodium refried beans.
• Seedy crackers or rice cakes thinly spread with tahini or sunflower butter and made into a sandwich. Rice cakes can also be eaten plain. I’ve found Lundberg Family Farms Tamari with Seaweed Rice Cakes and Real Foods Multigrain Corn Thins to be especially tasty. Lundberg Farms also has mini-rice cakes and thin stackers – just watch for lots of added sugar in the sweet varieties.
• Baked tofu strips either homemade or commercial
• Vegan jerky (check label for nut ingredients or excess sugar). Savory Wild Jerky is made with mushrooms; there are many varieties of vegan jerky.
• Commercial low sugar fruit leather, fruit bars, or fruit wraps – here are a couple of products that meet our criteria (vegan, nut/peanut-free, <5 grams of added sugar/serving):
  • Stretch Island Fruit Leather
  • Bear Fruit Rolls
  • That’s It Fruit Bar
  • Trader Joe’s Fruit Bar
  • Trader Joe’s Fruit Wrap
• Commercial snack bars – here are a few brands we found that have vegan, nut-free, low-sugar versions (check the label since not all of these companies’ products are nut-free and low-sugar):
  • Blake’s Raspberry Snack Bar or Strawberry Rice Crispy Treat Bar
  • The Healthy Energy Bar – Lemon Poppyseed
  • Go Raw Sprouted Bar

If you’re looking for more ideas and are interested in making your own snacks, this website has a lot of low-sugar, kid-friendly ideas. Look for recipes without nuts or nut butters like the Lea Bars, Unbaked Granola Bars (make with suggested substitution for nut butter), and Magic Green Muffins.