I buy in bulk and store the ingredients in glass jars on the counter. The kids LOVE making their own combinations of goodies. We usually have the following items to choose from:
unsweetened coconut chips (larger than flakes) (Market of Choice, bulk)
raw walnut pieces (Market of Choice, bulk)
unsweetened banana chips (Market of Choice, bulk)
raisins (Costco)
dried cranberries, sweetened with apple juice (Market of Choice, bulk)
raw almonds (Trader Joe's)
diced macadamias (Trader Joe's)
sunflower seeds (Trader Joe's)
READ LABELS. Many coconut and dried fruit are sugar sweetened and/or treated with sulphates.
EVEN BETTER. Make your own dried fruit at home.
NUTS. Buy raw, soak (maybe even sprout), and dehydrate or make crispy if possible. This helps break down the anti-nutrients making them more gut friendly.
GO ORGANIC. Whenever possible.
As a rare treat we include some dark chocolate. The problem with having it avaliable all the time is that the kids will not use just a little bit. I prefer Dagoba Dark Chocodrops (pieces are big though, so breaking up for trail mix is good). Enjoy Life mini chips might be a good option or a chopped up dark chocolate bar of choice.
It's great to have small containers to house the daily trail mix in so you aren't wasting a ton of plastic baggies. I'm also considering putting the scale out next to the trail mix station and teaching the kids about weighing out servings. This will help with over consumption of nuts and sweet things (dried fruit is concentrated). Currently we use a pre-measured scoop and the kids can do one scoop of nuts and one of each of the other items. Or they can mix their scoop to combine all the nut options into one serving.
We love our PlanetBox lunch kits. . . the individual sections are perfect for housing our grain free lunches!
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