Whether you are Baby Led Weaning or you just want some ideas for finger foods when you are out and about here are some of my favourites. There are suggestions for fresh foods you can prepare before you go and snack staples, those foods you can keep in your changing bag or car so you have them in an emergency.

All the snack suggestions for babies have been tried and tested by my three children. I might pack them now for my youngest, but the other two insist on sharing.

Gifted: Dr Brown's Tummy Grumble Reusable Snack Bags

What makes a good snack to take out for babies?

• Low mess - often on the go you might give them food in their pushchair or without a bib so covering everything in strawberry juice for instance isn't ideal.
• Doesn't need to be kept cold - everything on this list is fine to be kept at room temperature for a few hours and half of the list can be kept in the changing bag for days.
• Low in salt - it's recommended that children under 1 have a maximum of 1g of salt a day. Food targeted at babies is normally low in salt, but some of my other suggestions are higher in salt. If they are still only eating a small amount it wont be a problem, but if your child is eating lots of ready made food and snacks you will need to be more careful monitoring the amount of salt across the day.
• Low in added sugar - once children are used to eating lots of sweet foods they are more likely to reject savoury offerings, but fruit is sweet so it's a difficult balance. Lots of food targeted at babies and toddlers use fruit to sweeten it so I balance it out with other foods and make sure they don't just have sweet snacks.
• Self feeding - babies need to be monitored at all times when eating, but whether you are giving them something to eat in a coffee shop or on the school pick up it's easier if they can feed themselves. Babies (and everyone really) should always sit up right when being given food or drink.
• Age appropriate - children all develop at different rates, you will know best how well your baby can chew food and move it around in their mouth. If introducing a new food pay extra attention to make sure they can manage it ok. I have given many of these snacks to my children from 6 months.

Snack Ideas To Take Out For Babies

Fresh Snacks Ideas For Babies

• Cold, cooked, plain pasta. Penne or the spiral pasta is really easy for little hands to hold.
• Raw peppers. Depending on their development choose to cut into thin strips or smaller pieces. Use a variety of colours to make it more interesting.
• Crusts of bread or strips of toast. The middle of bread can be quite hard to chew and end up stuck to the top of babies mouths, but the crusts or dry toast is much easier for babies to handle. (salt warning)
• Oat cookies. If you have a bit more prep time then you can make homemade baby friendly cookies. There are lots of recipes out there like Baby Food Oatmeal Bites and Banana Oat Baby Cookies. Oats will help fill baby up and you can make them the best size and shape for your babies development.
• Apple or pear segments. You can easily cut an apple up at home, but you will need to coat it in a little lemon juice to stop it going brown before you get to eat it. Handily you can often buy snack packs of precut apple in most supermarkets sandwich sections making them a great healthy choice to buy when you are out. As they get older giving them whole fruit is easier, but while the risk of the dropping food is high I prefer to give them smaller pieces.
• Lightly cooked carrot, broccoli and cauliflower. These vegetables can all be prepped to be the perfect size for little hands. Steam or boil them until soft, but not mushy and allow them to cool. You can prepare them that day or the night before and keep in the fridge until you head out.
• High protein snacks that keep children fuller longer are also a good idea like yoghurt sticks or cheese.

Longer Life Snack Ideas For Babies

...because you don't always have time for prep.

• Crackers. I always have a tupperware box in my bag with dry crackers in because they make a great low cost long life snack. A friend suggested the wholemeal version and in fact lots of the options in the cracker aisle work well, just check the salt levels.
• Breakfast cereal. especially Multi-Grain Hoops (supermarket brand Cheerios because I don't buy Nestle), Bears and Kelloggs Multigrain all make great options to put in a snack bag and eat dry when out once baby has their pincer grip. Check salt and sugar levels of cereals, they vary a lot between brands.
• Bread sticks. Most supermarkets sell multipacks of mini breadsticks which are easy to hold and munch on for little people. As they aren't designed for babies they are higher in salt than is ideal, but they are ok occasionally. In the baby aisle you can normally find versions for babies that are lower in salt (and much higher in price).
• Snacks from the Baby Aisle. Of course there is always the option of buying the bags of snacks targetted at babies in the baby aisle. There are lots we love, but they can be expensive and messy so a few tips:
• The packets saying "suitable for 7 months plus" are normally lowest in salt and sugar.
• Aldi and Lidl do some great lower cost versions.
• Apple rice cakes are great, some other flavours have a coating on that can get messy so save those for when they get more in their mouths than everywhere else.
• Look out for the offers and bulk buy the ones you like then. 
• You can buy Ella's Kitchen snacks directly from them online and save 10%  using my discount code "joshua10"  which makes ordering direct good value compared to their normal supermarket price (I have received gifts from Ella's Kitchen in the past which is why they gave me the code to share, it is not an affiliate code and I don't benefit if you use it).

Some Great Reuseable Options We Use For Taking Snacks Out 

***Disclosure: I was given the Dr. Brown's Tummy Grumbles Reusable Snack Bags for review. I have also received free items or worked with Ella's Kitchen, Kiddylicious and Mamia, but that has no bearing to me including them in this post.
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