Our Snack Set Up

A few months ago I got to the point of frustration with my constantly hungry, growing boys!  They wanted to eat ALL DAY LONG!!  So I started to think of some solutions to this problem.  Here is what I came up with:

On Sunday evenings after dinner I set out all of their snack choices on the dining room table.  They can choose from  pretzels, graham crackers, animal crackers, granola bars, fruit snacks and ritz type crackers.  Then I get out their baskets and snack bowls.  The bowls I use are just cheap plastic bowls big enough for a snack sized portion.

They each get 5 bowls, 5 granola bars, 5 fruit snacks, thats enough for 2 snacks a day for the week.  Occasionally we will have string cheese or a special treat like cookies or ice cream.  So once everything is set up they are allowed to come and fill their bowls with what ever snacks they want.  I decided that letting them pick their own snacks they would be more happy with what they had.  What I found before was that they would just start eating out of the bag of pretzels and before we knew it they had almost eaten an entire bag, so this has stopped that.

So now when its snack time (and yes we do have two set snack times every day, 10 am and 3 pm) they open the cabinet and get out their 1 chosen snack.  We have been using this system for about a month and its working amazingly.  They love having the "choice" and I love being able to just say at snack time go and get it.

This basket is one of the plastic handled ones found at Wal-Mart, I think they are intended for use in the freezer or refrigerator.  

They each have their name on one.

This is from today, so the week is almost over, but you can see his bowls and fruit snacks, along with some granola bars.

This is how they look in our cabinet.  Its a lower cabinet easy for them to get in.

I have recently realized that I need to add one for Zach because now when ever I ask him if he wants a snack he walks over to this cabinet.  He gets a little upset when I don't get his snack from there!

I am also still working on a drink system.  Right now I still pour them something but I am hoping to figure another solution out soon.  We do have a water dispenser on the fridge so that helps.  Any suggestions?

What system for snacks do you have set up?  I would love to see what you have come up with, so please leave a comment and share!