Coming up with a new, original and healthy school treat every year is not always easy. If you also want to make the treat as sustainable as possible, it can be even more of a challenge. What do you need to consider when making a healthy, sustainable school treat? And how do you make a treat that is not only kind to the environment, but also a hit with the children? Kirsten found out for you. With the help of followers of thegreenlist.nl, she compiled a top seven sustainable school treats. These sustainable treats not only look pretty, they are also healthy and easy to make yourself.

How to make a healthy and sustainable school treat?

Children's birthdays are a celebration every year. Not only at home, but also at school. Because, when it's your birthday, it's your treat. Are you still looking for inspiration on what to make for treats this school year? And would you like to make your treats a bit more sustainable? Then read on quickly. In this article you will find out how to choose a school treat more sustainably. You will not only find tips, but also a top seven sustainable and healthy school treats with tasty recipes. I promise to come up with something other than a pointy bag of popcorn for a while. There is nothing wrong with popcorn though. This can be a perfect sustainable treat. But admit it, this one is no longer very original....

How do you choose a sustainable treat?

Go vegetarian or vegan

Meat is the food with the most negative impact on the environment. So if you want sustainable treats, the first step is to make a treat without meat. Dairy also taxes the climate more than plant-based products. So if you want to make the treat one step more sustainable: choose to avoid dairy or replace it with a vegan version.

Local and seasonal fruit and vegetables

If you like a sustainable vegan treat, you always do well with fruit and vegetables. If you prepare this in a fun way (see below), children will also be very happy with this treat. Want to make it one step more sustainable? Then go for local vegetables or fruit grown on Dutch soil. Buying seasonal fruit and vegetables is also a sustainable choice. Finally, you can choose to buy organic food. At thegreenlist.nl we have listed all seasonal fruits and vegetables. Each month got its own article!

Avoid unnecessary packaging

Not only the treat itself, but also the packaging has an impact on the environment. Although this impact is less than the choice of treat. According to Milieu Centraal, food packaging only accounts for ten per cent of the environmental impact, 15 per cent is wastage and the rest is caused by production and transport. So you make the most impact by choosing a vega(n) treat that you buy locally and seasonally. And by making sure no food is wasted. But every little bit helps and so it does pay to avoid unnecessary packaging. Be it plastic or paper: less is more. Also look at what you have left at home, you might not need to buy anything new at all to craft a fun treat.

Even though plastic has a much worse image than paper, it is not necessarily bad. You can read more about this in this article. Do you prefer paper packaging to plastic? Then choose certified paper with a quality mark.

When the treat needs to be coronaproof, you almost can't get out of packaging. The only packaging-free option we can think of: thick-skinned fruit like banana or tangerine. You can find some suggestions in this article.

Avoid waste

Wasting food is not only a waste for the environment, but also for your wallet. Therefore, inform yourself well in advance how many treats are actually needed and whether there are any special requests or allergies.

Top 7 sustainable school treats

It is quite difficult to find sustainable school treats that meet all the above tips. And then, of course, it has to look fun for the kids too. Nevertheless, with the help of followers of thegreenlist.nl, collected as many ideas for sustainable school treats as possible. Below are our top seven sustainable school treats.

Two festive and sustainable children's treats.

Fruit skewers

A treat that fulfils almost all the sustainable tips above is fruit skewers. This treat is vegan and you can easily choose local and seasonal fruit (or vegetables). Apart from bamboo or wooden skewers, you don't need any other packaging. If you search the internet for inspiration for fruit skewers, you will find plenty of examples. I made this peacock for my daughter's fifth birthday and it was within no-time eaten.

Vegan cactus

Does your child like things more savoury? Then how about this cool cactus with vegan sausages. With this treat, your offspring is sure to steal the show at school. Another advantage: this cactus is easy to make. I used a large courgette from our own garden, but you can also use a large cucumber. With a knife, I cut sharp points on the vegan sausages and then pricked them into the courgette with a wooden toothpick. As an accompaniment, you can make vegetable sticks or add some tortilla chips or breadsticks, for example. This treat is also delicious when combined with a (homemade) hummus dip.

Mini pizzas

Pizzas are always popular. Mini pizzas are easy to hand out and need no packaging. Place them on a pretty tray or decorated cardboard box and you have a delicious, long-lasting treat. Mini pizzas look festive and are easy to make yourself. The tastiest recipe for your own pizza dough can be found here. Roll out the dough and cut out mini pizzas using a round dish. If you stick to the recipe, you will have about 12 mini pizzas. For the topping, take 100 grams of strained tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of oregano. Then top with some vega(n) cheese and local seasonal vegetables of your choice. Bake the pizzas at 230°C for about 8-10 minutes in the oven.

By the way, these mini pizzas are great fun to make together with your child. No treat stress, just quality time together with your child while preparing the treat. Lovely right!

Two sustainable children's treats: homemade mini pizzas and banana biscuits.

Homemade vegan biscuits

A fun tip from a follower of thegreenlist.nl: a coffee filter with homemade (vegan) biscuits. Biscuits always do well. Then when the biscuits are also vegan and sustainably packaged, you're in for a treat. With this quick and easy recipe, you can bake delicious vegan biscuits in no time:

Vegan banana biscuits:

Supplies for about 60 biscuits:

• 8 ripe bananas
• 240 g spelt flour
• 2 tablespoons of baking powder
  
  

Instructions:

• Mash the bananas, then stir in the flour and baking powder.
• Using a tablespoon, put the batter on a baking tray. A biscuit is about the size of one tablespoon.
• Bake the biscuits in the oven for about 20 minutes at 175°C until golden brown. There is no need to preheat the oven.
  
  

Bananas are obviously not the most sustainable fruit. Therefore, choose labelled bananas such as organic, fair trade or Rainforest Alliance. The advantage of bananas in the above recipe, is that you don't need sugar and the biscuits are still nice and sweet. You can also choose to replace (part of) the bananas with, for example, apple, pear or strawberries.

School treat voo summer kids: homemade vegan ice creams

In hot weather, nothing beats a nice, cooling ice cream. If you make your own ice creams, you avoid a lot of packaging and know exactly what's in them. You can then make it as sustainable as you like, with seasonal and local fruit.

The ice creams in the picture are made from strawberries, apple and pear. First mash the strawberries and pour into the ice cream moulds, so that about ¼ of the mould is full. Then mash the apple and pear and use this to fill the ice cream moulds.

(Homemade) water ices for the summer kids.

Pre-packaged sustainable school treats

For a while, school treats had to be coronaproof. In this case, a bit of packaging is almost inevitable. Hopefully this hassle is now finally over, but just in case it is not, we also have a few ideas for sustainable pre-packaged treats.

Sultana watches

How cute are these watches? At least my daughter played with them for quite some time before eating the sultanas. The watches are easy to make: wrap a box of sultanas with wrapping paper, craft paper or any other kind of paper you still have at home. Then fold a long strip of paper in half a few times for the strap. Cut another round piece of paper for the bell and then stick it on the box. If you use plain paper, you could also write a message on the tape.

Make your own craft glue:

By the way, did you know that you can very easily make your own craft glue with a little flour, sugar and water? Take as much flour as sugar and then mix in the water until it forms a smooth mass. If you have any glue left over after crafting, you can store it in the fridge for two to three months. The only downside is that you do have to be careful with this glue outside in summer, as wasps and bees love it.

Pirate bananas or Indian mandarins

These treats are coronaproof and packaging-free. All you need is a little craft material, which you might already have at home anyway. How fun are these cool banana pirates? They are quick and easy to make. All you need for it is a black marker and a few pieces of fabric or paper. A fun alternative for autumn or winter, when mandarins are in season: Indian mandarins. Draw a face on the tangerines and make a headband and a feather out of a bit of paper. Ready is your sustainable treat!

Sustainable school treats: less difficult than it seems

These seven fun examples prove that making a sustainable school treat is quite easy to do and, above all, produces very original ideas. My kids' favourite school treat? They love the banana biscuits and ice creams, but since I make these more often, it was less of a surprise for them. I think the peacock and the pizzas were the biggest hit, because of course a treat that looks so pretty also tastes so much better.

I hope that with my roadmap and recipes, I've helped you a bit on your way to doing it even more sustainably next time. Do you have another great recipe for a sustainable school treat? Let us know via the contact and follow buttons at the bottom of the page. Disclaimer: No food was wasted for this article. All the treats you see in the photos were eaten in their entirety.

More sustainable tips from thegreenlist.nl

• Also see: healthy sweets made from dates.
• Also see: Sustainable budget tips for school-age children.
• Also see: This is how to make your birthday a greener party!
• Also see: nice list of sustainable children's clothing brands.
  
  

Sources: Milieu Centraal, Milieu Centraal, Milieu Centraal, Rainforest Alliance. Photo credits: Kirsten Schoner.