If you are planning on bringing your entire family to a picnic, you might want to choose different foods than what you would bring just for you and your significant other or a picnic with your friends. For family-friendly foods, you want to keep them healthy for the kids, but also fun for them to eat. Here are some different ideas from our functional medicine Burbank specialists at Functional Medicine Los Angeles you can try:
Rainbow Fruit Cups
Fruit is one of the best sides you can bring on a picnic, as it is good for you and something most kids will enjoy. To make it even more exciting they eat plenty of it, and make some fruit cups with rainbow colors. You can arrange different types of fruits in rainbow colors like red, orange, yellow, green, and blue into a cup to where it forms a rainbow. Some good fruit options for these colors include strawberries or watermelon, mandarin orange slices, cantaloupe or mango for yellow, blueberries for blue, and some green grapes for green.
PB&J Squares on Skewers
Skewers do provide an excellent benefit for picnics and any time you will be eating outdoors. They are convenient to hold, preventing you from needing plates and forks, plus they can be fun for the kids. If you want to make them a healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it doesn’t have to be a plain, boring sandwich. You can make the sandwiches and slice them into little squares, then put them on skewers to bring with you.
Veggie Sandwich Sushi
These little sandwiches are fun for kids to eat, turning their sandwiches into what looks like sushi. All you need to do is take a piece of bread that is soft and easy to roll up, add whatever ingredients you want inside, then roll it up and slice it into pieces that look like sushi. To get it to stick together on its own, our functional medicine Studio City practitioners suggest you consider using peanut butter, cream cheese, or hummus, depending on the type of sandwich you are making.
Cheese and Crackers
For a light snack while on your picnic, you can bring your own healthier version of cheese and crackers as advised by experts in functional medicine digestion in Los Angeles. Choose some seed crackers or whole grain crackers instead of the more fattening kind, going for something with minimal ingredients and no preservatives. Combine that with some cheese you have sliced yourself, not using any processed pre-sliced cheese you get.