Preparing Healthy Snacks During the School Year #ad

*We received free samples to facilitate this review. We only give honest reviews and all opinions expressed are our own.

School is back in session! That means snacks and lunches must be packed ahead of time.  During school time I like to make sure I have healthy snacks and lunches readily available when needed. Being our first year doing school from home, I know we are going to be busy (especially in the beginning) and I want to try to prepare as much ahead of time so I can focus on the teaching/learning and getting into a nice routine.

Finding snacks that are not only healthy, but taste good and my children will eat can sometimes be a challenge. Thankfully, we were able to receive some samples to review before I went out and bought everything up in the store (that would have cost me time and money!) My boys were happy to be my little taste testers too (they sure love to eat!)

We received samples of the following…

We received Stoneridge Orchard cherries which are free from artificial colors, flavors and hydrogenated oils and sulfites. There were several varieties in the package. The dark chocolate cherries were by far a favorite in our house. My boys also enjoyed the Greek yogurt cherries as well (I’m not a big yogurt fan, but they are!) The Chili Lime cherries were interesting and I think we would have loved them had they not had that little kick to them. It was a little much heat for our boys. The bags were resealable, which was quite convenient as well, allowing us to sample a few and reseal for later.

We also received samples of non-GMO corn chips from RW Garcia. The samples we received were of their new product, Tortatos—a mix of half potato, half tortilla chips. They have 25% less fat than regular potato chips, making them a healthier snack for my boys! I must mention that they are gluten free as well! We have friends and family members on a gluten-free diet, and I know how important it is for them to find products that are gluten-free, yet still taste good. The flavors we received were Salt & Pepper (our 9 year old son’s favorite–he didn’t want to share!), Salt & Vinegar (my favorite!), Original and Barbeque (this was voted best by everyone in the family!)

I’m a huge fan of trail mix and so are my boys! We love snacking on trail mix in between classes and sometimes in the evening when we were playing games together. The SunRidge Farms Organic Hit the Trail Mix was perfect for us and it was well loved by all in our family! This stuff really did not last long! We also tried out the all-natural organic dried fruit from SunRidge Farms as well as Pistachios. I thought the bananas were great on their own, but even better when mixed in with the trail mix—yummy! My boys couldn’t get enough of the Pistachios and we have actually had to go out and purchase more since the review—they love having Pistachios in the evening while watching television as a family.

I feel as though we are definitely on our way to a good school year! I’m making up lists (and checking them twice–hehe!) and we are all gearing up for a great year filled with healthy meals and snacks and lots of learning and love!

Are you quickly getting back into the swing of things?

How about your kids, are they adapting to the routine yet?

*We received free samples to facilitate this review. We only give honest reviews and all opinions expressed are our own.