It can be a challenge to choose healthy snacks that kids like. Fruit is a go-to snack for our family. My kids like fruit and I can buy a variety of berries, bananas, apples and citrus to mix up snack time. Recently we tried to dry some of our own fruit with pretty good results! We made dried strawberry slices and homemade banana chips. You can easily make dried fruit too!
DIY Dried Strawberry Slices
Make homemade dried strawberry slices by popping sliced strawberries in the oven at 200 degrees for 3 hours. Don’t slice the strawberries too thinly or they may get crispy or burn. Our homemade strawberry snacks turned out dry on the outside and gummy on the inside. I recommend placing fruit slices on a parchment paper lined baking sheet so they don’t stick. See our full dried strawberries how-to here!
Dried strawberry slices are tasty and kids think they are novel to eat. You can experiment by cutting strawberries into slices or quarters to create the ideal chewy texture. These homemade strawberry snacks are naturally sweet!
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Dried Bananas
You can also slice up a banana and bake at 200 degrees for 3 hours to make homemade dried banana chips. Homemade banana chips are softer and more chewy than store bought banana chips, which are dried using a preservative. Homemade banana chips are best if eaten right away and they taste like roasted bananas. Yum!
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Reusable Food Pouches »You could experiment with drying all sorts of fruits in the oven at 200 degrees for 3 hours. The best fruits for drying have a skin and are naturally juicy. Bananas work well for drying because they are starchy. I’d like to try drying apple slices, peach slices, nectarines, plums and grapes!
Homemade dried fruit is easy to make and delicious to snack on. You can store these DIY dried snacks in an air tight container and enjoy for several days. You could also probably add a natural preservative to the drying process to extend the shelf life of your homemade dried fruit. Enjoy!
Katie enjoys all things creative; DIY projects, photography, decorating and family adventures. She feels blessed to be a stay-at-home mom with 3 kids and many artistic outlets.
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