It's the hot topic of conversation when school starts again — the gluten-free breaktime snack. We can help you give snack boxes more variety and discover what a healthy gluten-free snack for your child looks like.

A healthy breaktime snack rich in vitamins after breakfast acts as an energy boost during the morning and has a significant impact on the performance and concentrational ability of your child. A child's energy store is smaller than an adult's; if it is not filled up again in between meals, performance drops rapidly. A healthy snack is therefore a fixed part of your child's healthy diet.

Gluten-free bread is part and parcel of it
The ideal snack should have three main components: gluten-free bread, milk and dairy products and a few pieces of uncooked vegetables and/or fruit. Bread provides carbohydrates; pure energy for the body. Milk and dairy products are important for teeth and bones and contain calcium, phosphor, proteins and vitamins D and A. Fruit and vegetables are important providers of vitamins and mineral salts. This is ideally how a breaktime snack provides your children with protein, calcium, vitamins and fibre — the supply of nutrients is guaranteed.

The tasty Panini from gluten-free bread specialists Schär are particularly well suited as a base for breaktime as it is naturally gluten and wheat free with no hardened or animal fats and with no colouring or preservatives. They are perfectly sized for children's bread, but best of all they taste great! A little butter, curds or cream cheese as a spread, bread with low-fat cheese and meat varieties and, to round off mealtimes, yoghurt or buttermilk as a dessert.

Fight off boring snacks with Milly
Very important for junior connoisseurs — vary what you put on the bread. You can get ideas and inspiration from our "action against boring breaktime snacks" on our kids' page www.123milly.com. We asked a dietician to put together 10 great recipes for a healthy and nutrient-rich breaktime snack, all using the Schär Panini and tailor-made for children of school age. Then there is an entertaining timetable for your little ones that you can fill in and print out and that will stay with them the whole school year.

Quick alternative for chocolate lovers
Occasionally something sweet doesn't do any harm — your child will certainly appreciate you also putting in a gluten-free chocolate bar every now and again. The new Twinny from Schär with no colouring or hardened fats and with the smoothest Belgian milk chocolate is a simple and quick alternative and satisfies a sweet craving.

And don't forget to pack your child enough to drink. A lack of fluids can easily result in lapses in concentration. Vitamin-rich 100% fruit juices mixed with water are ideal, as are milk or buttermilk drinks. Water and tea (not too sweet) are also suitable.

This is how gluten-free bread snacks are more appealing
Another couple of practical tips, so that your snack arrives fresh and intact at school. So that the bread doesn't go soggy, place a washed and dried lettuce leaf or cucumber slice under the filling. Cut fruit and vegetables into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle with a little lemon juice — this way they stay fresh longer and do not go brown. Pack the snack in a practical, air-tight container. This also applies for yoghurt pots that cannot be damaged in an additional container. Also pour the drink into a sealable bottle. Last, but not least: don't pack your child too much to eat — less is often more!