Okay so I’m not entirely sure if it is actually the season of snacking, but it seems like with back to school, prominent displays in all the grocery stores are full of delicious looking snacks or cute little lunch boxes.
I also haven’t been eating regular meals for the past year and a half so lots of small snacks have become a way of life (a pretty tasty way). Lincoln is really starting to pick up on the whole adult eating concept and if he ever sees me with food he drops whatever he is doing and crawls right over. He looks up with big, round, expectant eyes, and if he doesn’t get a bite or a distraction, he starts to fuss (I try to explain we are NOT a whining family…but he hasn’t caught on quite yet ;).
As Lincoln has been starting to eat more things, we’ve been loosely following a Baby Led Weaning program where basically we give Lincoln bits of whatever we’re eating, preferably in pieces large enough he can pick up and put in his mouth on his own. This is great for when we’re at home and he can eat lots of corn on the cob and slices of red pepper, but I’ve been looking for something he can eat out and about that is a little more interesting than cheerios (our go-to).
I stocked up at Target this week on a variety of different snacks from the Simple Balanced line – have you tried it? I’ve been eating their dried fruit for years and have kept their fruit strips in the pantry on and off for a long time too. When I was looking for a few things for company coming into town this weekend (half of which is under the age of 3), I found their fruit squeeze packets – they have vegetable too but our Target was out – and I’m looking forward to teaching Lincoln how to eat out of these little squeeze packets. I love that they’re organic (we don’t do organic for the adults in the family but I try to do more organic when it comes to things Lincoln is going to be eating). I also grabbed some of their granola bars and juice boxes for when we’re out and about on Saturday. The whole thing made me a bit excited for packing lunches for Lincoln in a few years 😀
Anyway – here’s a peek at the kinds of things Lincoln and I are eating these days:
- corn on the cob (Lincoln’s favorite by far)
- turkey and hummus (another baby favorite)
- apple slices
- red pepper slices
- baby carrots
- cheerios
- cheerios
- fruit + veggie pouches from Simply Balanced (also love the apple strawberry ones – Ben steals Lincoln’s there so good)
- goldfish
- dried mango from Simply Balanced (I’ll let Linc nibble on a tiny piece)
- fruit strips from Simply Balanced (I let Lincoln eat a small strip on our road trip last week and it kept him entertained for a solid 15 minutes), their raspberry lemonade twists, or organic fruit snacks
- granola bars (just got the Simply Balanced kind to try – but I think I’ll keep the chocolate chips to myself)
- trail mix (remember this post? I’m almost out)
^I have to hide these or Ben will eat all of them when he gets home from work, before dinner
^these are the fruit + veggie pouches I was talking about – how convenient right? 
^Lincoln’s first sip of juice (also organic)
Those Target fruit strips are seriously theeeee bestttt!!!
We love the simply balanced dried fruit too! The mangos are our favorites!
My babies loved sweet potato, so I would cut one into tiny chunks then roast it until it was cooked but still firm. I'd freeze the chunks and then defrost small amounts as needed for snacks on the go. That and individual peas were their favorite things when we were out and about 🙂