Created in partnership with Kidfresh.

Snacking gets a bad rap in terms of living a healthy lifestyle, but in my opinion, snacking can be good for everyone—especially kids!

For one thing, most kids need to eat every two to three hours to get in all the nutrients and calories they need to sustain adequate growth. Healthy snacks—like Kidfresh’s frozen snacks and sides—are the way to make that happen.

The key is providing them with healthy snacks they’ll actually be excited to eat. Here are a couple of simple guidelines to start with:

Simple Guidelines for Kids’ Snacks

Think of your kids’ snacks as small meals.

This means they should be just as nutritious as the rest of the food you give them throughout the day. A good general rule: When choosing snacks for your kids, look for foods that have a nice balance of protein, fiber, and good fats, don’t contain trans-fat, and are low in sugar and sodium. Kidfresh’s SuperBlastin’ Pizza Bites for example, have lots of protein and fiber and 45 percent less sodium than other pizza bite brands.

Use snack time to fill in nutrient gaps.

When your child’s tummy starts rumbling at 3:00 p.m., you can use this as an opportunity to get in important nutrients that he or she may have missed in meals. For example, if your child wasn’t hungry at lunch and threw out half of that peanut butter sandwich you lovingly made, use the next snack as an opportunity to get in some protein. Instead of grabbing a bag of potato chips, try offering a whole-wheat tortilla spread with some mustard, rolled up with two slices of turkey, or heat up some Totally Rockin’ Potato ‘N Cauliflower Tots, which have 5g of protein per serving and plenty of important vitamins.

(Featured Photo: Shutterstock)