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I used to get the fruit strips at Trader Joes, my son loves those. He was never into puffs or snacks, really. He ate at mealtimes and I was okay with that.

eta: also occasionally crackers, pretzels (unsalted), cheese sticks, small yogurt, fruit pouches, things like that.

Raisins and other dried fruit are good. Fruit leather is another one.

I would give Mum Mums a try, my DD loved them when she was younger and they are easy to throw in the purse!

My LO is too young, but my god daughter loves freeze dried fruit. You can get cases of to-go packs at Costco.

@tlcbaby: not sure how old LO is but in the beginning you need soft stuff that can dissolve in their mouth

Raisins would be a choking hazard

Grains like cheerios and mum mums are nice since they tend to break away and dissolve also yogurt melts.

Anyway not much help just a thought!

A friend gave her baby just plain rolled oats which I thought was a great idea. Let's face it, most of the time when we give puffs etc it isn't too satiate hunger, it's practice and those oats were great for it. For actual hunger purposes I like cut up fruit, pouches and bits of cheese.

My dd loves mum mums

Up until now our on-the-go snack has pretty much just been breastmilk. As we start the weaning process though, I've been thinking more about snacks. I'm not a fan of puffs or cheerios, so we've chosen to avoid those. Our plan is to mostly stick to fruit and homemade yogurt pouches (I use grass-fed buffalo milk yogurt and a tiny bit of puree mixed in).

I don't have much experience with snacks yet, but I can tell you I made some two-ingredient cookies (except I made them into four-ingredient cookies) yesterday that DD loves.

2 ripe bananas
1 c. oats
1 dollop nut butter
1/2 tsp/ cinnamon

Combine all ingredients. Drop onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

I've been trying to figure this out for months... Cut grapes and most fruits make for messy hands. dried fruit gets too expensive, she drinks too much milk so I don't like to give her cheese. I've given in to the various cereals.

Another thing that's less messy, but we use too often, is frozen peas and corn. I can put them in a snack cup while still frozen, and they slowly defrost. I put a paper towel at the bottom to avoid melting moisture. But, like I said, we use frozen peas and corn a LOT, so I need other snacks.

I do peeled cut up grapes and clementines. I also do Cheerios. They are just a genius baby snack!

dd loooooves dried fruit snacks!

We don't eat a lot of grains in our home, either, and DS (9.5 months) hasn't had baby cereals etc. but we do make an exception for organic brown rice puffs simply because I think the practice is really important for him at this young age and he maybe eats 10-15 at once so I don't think it's a big deal in terms of his digestion and gut health. They are also a really great distraction technique for places like my midwife's office when he has to wait and can't get down and run off.

He also sometime likes to gum/gnaw on apple slices, but he doesn't get much off of them. It's a good finger food though that is easily transportable - albeit messy.

Just a few thoughts:

1. ALL snacks are messy in the hands of a toddler.

2. Melts are a great dissolvable potentially less messy snack.

3. Soft whole fruits like bananas are another good potentially less messy option.

4. Puffs and other nommable snacks have made multiple grocery store trips and other errands possible. It never hurts to have as many options as possible, even if they are grains. Everything in moderation, including moderation!

ETA: Raisins won't be a good option for a year or two . . .

E only has two teeth, so we do puffs and yogurt melts still. She doesn't get a lot of grains otherwise.

But she looooves mozzarella cheese sticks so i grab those more often now...and I want to try some freeze dried fruit after reading this thread! She'll also eat chopped up chicken pieces, but I don't always have some ready to go.

eta: i also make banana cookies. I make a sugar free banana bread, add an egg, then scoop it out like a cookie. She also likes peanut butter, but not everyone gives their baby that.

@MsLipGloss . ALL snacks are messy in the hands of a toddler..... Never a truer word spoken! My kid makes a mess of fresh air!

@travelgirl1: lol @ fresh air!

i was going to suggest exactly what @tinyperson: said - cheese cubes and cut up grapes. i use one of those formula dispenser containers to go that is divided into 3 sections - one for cheese cubes, one for grapes, and the third section i put cheerios or mini wheats. it depends on his mood which snack he takes so i like always having all 3.

@tlcbaby: What about peas? My LO loves peas and especially frozen peas as a snack. I've never taken them out of the house (and they wouldn't keep forever, but should keep an hour or two), but she eats them at home a lot.

And they're only messy when I step on the ones she drops. Yuck.

@blackbird: my LO loves peanut butter, but i would never dream of taking it as on the go snack! so messy! unless you mean in the form of a sandwich?

We do cut up blueberries, peas and cooked carrots and beans. LO doesn't mind eating beans cold. I just make sure they're small enough for him.

@blackbird: ya, definitely i would give the sandwich one bite at a time! i did that once when we had to have lunch on the go....still got a little messy, lol.