10 Holiday Snack Hacks for Busy Families posted by Staff Writer Pin Share Tweet Email This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PublixWinWinSnacks #CollectiveBias We know the holidays are a busy time for families, so I’ve teamed up with Jif® Power Ups™ to bring you 10 Holiday Snack Hacks for your busy family this holiday season! Be sure to check out my favorite holiday recipes! 10 Holiday Snack Hacks for Busy Families The holiday madness has descended upon us, and I know we aren’t the only ones living out of our cars, making a mad dash from carpool to recitals and cookie decorating parties. Not to mention the gift exchanges, family gatherings, holiday shopping, and everything else in between! And in the middle of all that chaos, it’s really easy for my family to slip into fast food chicken nuggets for every meal and those at-child-eye-level bags of candy in every store checkout line for our snacks. About a week into December and I’m just too exhausted to even put up a fight when my kids are begging for junk on-the-go! This year, I’m heading into the holiday madness with a plan for my picky eaters. Here are my top 10 snack-packing hacks for kids– and parents too! 1. Stock up on Jif® Power Ups™ at Publix. Kids can be picky (and don’t I know it!!), and it can be hard to find a snack that both parents and kids agree on. That’s no longer a problem with Jif® Power Ups™ at Publix! Jif® Power Ups™ come in two different forms – Jif® Power Ups™ Creamy Clusters and Jif® Power Ups™ Chewy Bars. Both have peanuts as the first ingredient. Which means these are snacks that will fill you up, give you energy, and have a taste that appeals to kids (moms too!). Use this coupon to save $.75 off any one Jif® Power Ups™ Creamy Clusters or Chewy Granola Bars 5 ct. Valid until 1/31/19. 2. Pack your snacks the night before. Easier said than done, I know. But if you can get this done before the crazy day begins, it’s well worth the extra 10 minutes it takes at the end of the day. You can hit the ground running in the morning– just grab the packed snacks and go! 3. Use blender bottles for water. I’ve been using blender bottles as our water bottles for years. I like them so much better than the other water bottles for kids you typically see in the stores. They don’t leak at all, which always seems to be a problem with other bottles. The lids snap on tight and secure, and I know they won’t pop open in my bag. The spout is small enough for little mouths. It’s also perfect for pouring (sometimes I’ll just pack cups for the kids instead of individual bottles if we’re eating a lunch at a park or something). Blender bottles are also the most durable water bottle I’ve used, and when your kids are as destructive as mine are– that matters! 4. Use bento-style boxes for easy meals on-the-go. I seriously would go crazy without these genius snack/lunch boxes for my kids! They keep food separate, appeal to the kids, and have lids that snap right on for grab-and-go convenience. You can also use them as plates in the car, whether you’ve packed them with snacks or a full meal. They fit and stack easily into most of my bags too, which is an awesome bonus perk! 5. Use individual snack cups with lids. This is my preference for snacks (versus meal-type food), because I can just hand back one snack at a time and have a bowl for each kid. They eat what they want and hand it back to me. I pop the lid on, pack it back in the bag, and we still have more snacks for later! Sometimes I’ll pack A LOT of snacks in these type cups, and we just keep them in the car for easy snacking that lasts us all week. 6.Buy snacks in bulk and keep them in cereal storage containers. I saw this idea at my neighbor’s house immediately transformed my own pantry with this simple hack (see the photo above)! I was so tired of lots of little, half-used boxes of snacks cluttering up the pantry. The pantry chaos made it hard to see how much of certain foods we had left, created lots of messy crumbs, and resulted in a lot of wasted food. Buying snack foods in bulk is budget-friendly; and storing them in these cereal storage containers makes them easily accessible for packing snacks and also makes keeping track of what’s left a lot simpler. 7. Transfer wrapped snacks into snack cups or bento boxes. Depending on the type of week we’re having, it’s sometimes easier if I go ahead and get the unwrapping of snacks out of the way before we leave the house. It keeps the trash out of the car and eliminates the frustration of my toddler trying to open snacks on his own in the car. 8. Use insulated lunch boxes to keep cold snacks cold! I like to pack string cheese, yogurt tubes, apples, bananas, and applesauce in an insulated lunch box for more healthy options I know my picky eaters will go for. 9. Don’t dismiss shelf-stable foods. Sometimes shelf-stable foods get a bad rep, since they’re not fresh. But don’t overlook nutritious foods like applesauce pouches, dried fruits, and nuts. They can withstand being left in the car, on the counter, and are durable enough to get crammed in a bag without being ruined. These are usually some of your best on-the-go snacking options! 10. Utilize peanut butter. Peanut butter snacks are really your best friend during extra-crazy times. PB packs in lots of energy, good fats that keep your satisfied, and it’s pretty low maintenance. It’s a really great snacking solution for both the kids and YOU! Spread it on crackers, make a simple homemade granola, use it to dip apples and celery, etc. And, of course, look for ready-made snacks that include peanut butter like Jif® Power Ups™!