School holiday chef

To hush the constant whining, my mission for the next five weeks is to keep them fed — whilst somehow keeping my food costs in check. Difficult when I seem to be permanently marching up and down a supermarket aisle.

I also want to avoid giving them sugary snacks or crisps, so I’ve been trying to be creative. Here are a few of the healthy snacks I’ve been serving:

• Frozen grapes — in hot weather these are genius. Strip off the stems, wash and freeze in bags.
• Apple circles spread with peanut butter — slice the apples horizontally into discs and punch out the cores a small round cutter or icing nozzle. Spread with nut butter and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
• Fruit skewers — more fun when they spear the cut-up fruit for themselves.
• Baby cucumbers — halve them horizontally, remove the wet seeds and spread with cream cheese or hummus. (Or quarter whole cucumbers horizontally, deseed, cut into smaller sections and fill them.)

I’m sure by week three I’ll be lobbing packets of crisps their way, with Smartie chasers, but for now, I’m winning.