The Art of the Snacky Plate

At some, hazy point in time, the ‘Snacky Plate’ became a thing for us. It’s not some revolutionary idea. It literally is just a full-sized plate that you fill with different, random foods and present to your kids as a snack. However…..this has become an indispensable staple in our home. If the kids are watching a tv show…”Mom, can we have a snacky plate?” If the kids are playing outside in the backyard… “Mom, can you make me a snacky plate?” It’s a thing.

My son always gasps with excitement when he looks at the snacky plate (what I put on it is always a surprise) and I feel really good about myself for a moment. It’s funny…for some reason, the kids will always eat almost the whole snacky plate; whereas, I could put a lot of the same foods on a plate for dinner, and they’d act like it’s torture to put it in their mouth. Because of this, I take the golden opportunity to put lots of raw cut veggies, dried fruits, and cold cuts on the plate. Admittedly, I’m not one of those creative, DIY types…you know, the ones who vomit Pinterest scenarios and probably even hand-make their own underwear. But the snacky plate does allow me to have my moment of creativity, and it always pays off. I make kid snacks look fancy! Anyway, if you want to feel good about yourself for a hot second when your kids are hungry, make a snacky plate.

Popular snacky plate items in my house: salami slices, cherry tomatoes, cheese sticks cut into pieces, dried fruit, sliced bell peppers, popcorn, pitted olives, berries, pretzels with cream cheese to dip (I think this is a Philly thing), cashews, yogurt pouches, leftovers (I swear, if you cut them a certain way, they’ll eat em), sugar snap peas, cereal, trail mix, dried fruit (you can find the best at Trader Joe’s and I LOVE the Oregon brand Sisters Fruit Company for their badass dried fruit chips), Lära Bars, Rx Bars cut into small pieces…

🍾 Cheers, Julie 🍾