Did you eat an after-school snack?

[Sony]

I did, but only through elementary school With after-school activities in middle school and high school, I was often getting home right around (if not after) dinnertime.

My perception may be skewed, but it seems like the after-school snack is a waning tradition. A packed snack that's scarfed during a practice or in the car or on the bus between activities seems more commonplace. Maybe something served at an after-school program. I don't think I knew anyone who ate cookies and milk at the kitchen table after school .

So, I ask you, eGulleters- what did you eat (or do you eat) after school? Or, if you're a parent of a school-attending child, what are your kids eating between lunch and dinner? Is it at home?

Personally, I LOVED after-school snacks when I was little. Often leftovers from dinner....sometimes warmed up. Occasionally tuna salad. "Pizza" made with an English muffin. A piece of cinnamon toast. Maybe half a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk.

[minichef]

I A piece of cinnamon toast.

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cinnamon toast!!! i had that, also had pitta pizzas, or pitta bread with cheddar cheese and apple cubes.... now thinking of that I really want a cheese apple and grainy mustard sandwich.

we had 'egg in a cup' as well, done in the micro wave, and the ubiquitous packet soup.

gonna make me one of them sambos.

[hjshorter]

It's not a waning tradition at my house. Both my kids come home starving. Some of their favorites are milk and half a sandwich, apple slices with peanut butter, cheese and crackers, and cold cereal. I had forgotten about the english muffin pizza - we may try that this week.

[shellfishfiend]

I don't remember eating an after-school snack. However, we got off of the school bus about 3:30 and ate supper early. My father would get home around 5 p.m. and as soon as he cleaned up, we would all sit down at the table to eat.

I'm sure my mother was afraid a snack would spoil our supper.

[annecros]

Always. And always made sure there was something for my schoolaged children to chew on when they got home.

Mine was usually leftovers, a coke and a candy bar, or cookies.

My favorite was leftover greens in a cornbread sammich!

My kids usually scarfed the leftovers, or nuked pizza rolls or bagel bites or that sort of stuff.

[Gruzia]

I was not introduced to the concept untill about a year or two after I came to America. It was, needless to say, a welcome revelation

my mouth would start to water the moment I stepped off the schoolbus. My snacks of choice were the Little Debbie, or some similar brand, of chocolate macaroons or fudge brownies. Went great with Animaniacs and DarkwingDuck!

[ninetofive]

I don't recall snacks pre-junior high, but I do remember rushing home from high school so I could watch the Guiding Light with a cup of coffee.

[Rebecca263]

I alternated. Kosher salami sandwiches made with mustard and relish, served on Hollywood Bread or in a pita. Or, a chopped up half head of iceberg lettuce, with lots of vinegar and oil mixed in. Then, occasionally, we had Hydrox cookies and milk.

My Kiddle eats a snack EVERY day. Her lunch is at 11:00AM and she gets home from school at 3:45PM! She eats toast with cream cheese and tomato, she eats a tomato salad, she eats leftovers, she eats an apple with some cheese, she eats a bowl of cereal with milk, she eats a yogurt, she eats a Luna bar, she eats whatever I baked that day, she eats a veggie burger. She basically just eats. I love her!

[sparrowgrass]

I had an old fashioned stay at home mama til I was 12, and there were often cookies in the oven for an afternoon snack. Peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip. Or sometimes homemade bread with lots of margarine.

[LindsayAnn]

I always had an after-school snack...I was always very hungry as my school served lunch between 10:40 and 12:30 (I always happend to be on the earlier side of the schedule, somehow, around 11AM). I was either out of school and home by 3, and often times later if I had an after schoola ctivity or sport (home around 5 or 6!).

Thinking back, I often had string cheese, handisnacks (crackers and a soft cheese all in one package - you make your own cracker/cheese sandwhiches), apples and peanmut butter, left-over whatever looked good in the fridge, some sort of fruit snack or fruit roll-up/leather, sunchips/doritos, or cerial out of the box. Oh yeah - also an occational icecream bad/frozen fruit bar. I liked my junk-food a lot as a kid...I had so sneak candy though (that was saved for a special occasion/dessert so I had to sneak it)

[duckduck]

Graham crackers and milk when I was little at the baby sitters and when I got a little older, since Dad was a fisherman, salmon pate and ritz. Spoonful of peanut butter was always a good grab and go snack too.

[Le Forgeron]

I don't recall snacks pre-junior high, but I do remember rushing home from high school so I could watch the Guiding Light with a cup of coffee.

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ME too ninetofive!!

I totally was obessessed with Guiding Light. I would have a nasty flavored coffee (i liked it, obviously, at the time), or a cookie and Crystal Light, and zone out watching the soap to forget about high school. Phillip and Beth! Fletcher and Vanessa! too much fun.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

My older kids (9 and 7) are usually starving by the time they get home from school. On the days my daughter has preschool, we have a snack while we're out killing time waiting for her to get out of school (9 year old typically has a donut while 7 year old opts for a bagel). On the days my daughter doesn't have preschool, they just pick munchies from what I keep in stock here. Typically cereal, a pop tart, a sandwich or pretzels.

[miladyinsanity]

Absolutely. Even though I get home at 5 most days (leave the house at 8am), I have a snack, then a late dinner. Sometimes no dinner.

Though, I don't have breakfast usually, and have a very light lunch.

[Domestic Goddess]

In the Philippines, we woud have fried plantains dusted with sugar or caramelized plantains stuck on a stick. Like THIS.

Sometimes my mom or grandma would fix champorado (chocolate oatmeal porridge), pancit molo soup or even arroz caldo (chicken porridge or jook). Most of the time the afternoon snacks were bought from the market like bibingka (Filipino rice cakes cooked with coals), palitaw (silver dollar rice cakes boiled, topped with fresly grated coconut), lumpia (spring rolls - either fried or fresh with garlic sauce). If my mom was up to it, there would be homemade pizza waiting for us.

[SuzySushi]

I only had after-school snacks in grade school. In high school, I got home so late that it was almost time for dinner (my family ate dinner at 5:30!).

My after-school snack was usually cookies and a glass of milk, or a scoop of ice cream in warmer weather. I remember visiting a Chinese friend and being surprised that her mother didn't serve us something sweet after school. I don't remember exactly what we ate there, but it surely must've been some kind of dim sum!

My daughter (now age 10) has an after-school snack every day, usually a glass of milk + about 15 grams of "other" carbohydrates -- a 100 calorie snack pack of cookies or crackers, Cheerios, a piece of fruit, a waffle, a smoothie that combines the milk and fruit, or whatever else she craves that particular day. If she's especially hungry, she'll add an ounce of cheese to her snack.

[DCP]

Cinnamon graham crackers for me (around junior high), then a candy bar and a soda (usually Skor + 7-Up) in high school.

[therese]

Both my kids (13 and 16) arrive home from school hungry, and both prepare themselves snacks. Typical at the moment are ramen noodls or an omelette for my daughter, cereal or yogurt for my son.

[slo_ted]

My favorite was sausage patties my father left from breakfast.

[bavila]

I just had a flashback that caused me to shudder. Once, after seeing a similar sandwich prepared on Happy Days (or Joanie Loves Chachi?), I pulled out two slice of squishy white bread, slathered one with Cool Whip, dotted that with M&Ms and pressed it all together. Amazing I didn't become diabetic on the spot!

For my daughter (who gets an afternoon snack at preschool anyway) I try to stick to fruits and veggies, though she often favors a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.

[sanrensho]

After-school snack is definitely a must in our household. It doesn't help that the kids are forced to scarf down their lunches in 15-20 minutes before they are scooted out of the classrooms. (That is definitely sending the wrong message to kids...)

We generally let the kids have a snack of fresh fruit, finger sandwiches, home-baked goods or sometimes steamed BBQ pork buns. Possibly a slice of cake/tart in lieu of dessert in the evening (but not on a regular basis).

Edited March 12, 2007 by sanrensho (log)

[lovebenton0]

definitely a snack as a kid, and for my kid too.

for me, there was always a couple glasses filled with water in the fridge, one for carrot sticks, one for celery sticks. or i could have an apple. and spoonful of peanut butter was always allowed. mother was not a baker and cookies or anything sweet was saved for special occasions.

for my son, i was more lenient than my mother was for me. we didn't eat candy or drink many sugar sodas, but he could have anything i'd baked, leftover pizza [we made lots of homemade pizza], a sandwich, fruit, smoothies, pretty much anything he wanted. it never kept him from being hungry enough for dinner.

[Teri Everitt]

My sisters and I were strictly forbidden to snack after school....so PBand J eaten as quickly and discreetly as possible. Dinner wasn't til 6:00 or 6:30!

[Lilija]

For me, I didn't snack much after school, unless I stayed with my grandmother, which was a few days a week. My little Polish grandmother would always have some popcorn, or homemade soup, potato pancakes, a bit of kabanosi and some rye bread, or a few pierogi, for me. Some real treats were the Polish doughnuts, honey candies, or some chocolates from the butcher shop.

In high school, I would often stop at the corner store by my bus stop and grab half a sub, or something from the deli.

My son eats, but not right after school. We had to stop that, when he would linger over his snack for so long, that he neglected to get anything done. Now he does his homework, and then gets a snack. Usually popcorn, a granola bar, a few handfuls of nuts, pretzels, a few slices of lunch meat on a piece of bread, half a sandwich, or some choice leftovers.

Edited March 12, 2007 by Lilija (log)

[MissAmy]

I always had a snack after school. In the States, it was PB&J, crackers and cheese, fruit, or something similar. In the Philippines, my mother's maid had a freshly cut mango waiting for me every day when I got home. Sometimes, she would make sushi for parties, and save the end peices for me as a snack. I looooved her!