Trying to keep your children’s snacking under control can sometimes feel impossible.

Plus, they always seem to be hungry at the exact moment that you’re in the middle of something too. (How do they do that?)

In an ideal world, we would love to give our children the healthiest of fruit and veg every time they’d like a snack, but this isn’t always possible

Sarah Hornung, a mum-of-two from New York, found herself regularly facing this exact issue. Hornung told Best Life: “Kids are most likely to eat healthy foods when they are hungry, so I found myself always scrambling to wash and cut up fruits and vegetables every night before dinner.”

She continued, “They’d have a meltdown while waiting, so I would end up just giving them something processed because it was quick and ready to eat.”

Sarah then saw a post online about a “pack your own lunch station” for kids and her view of snacking changed. She created a self-serve station for her kids in the door of her fridge and the simple hack has changed their eating habits for the better.

In a Facebook post which has since gone viral, Sarah said that after she shops for groceries, she washes and preps fruit and veg pieces and puts them into little containers in the door of her fridge, meaning carrot sticks and cucumber slices are within easy reach for her hungry sons.

“Like adults, kids have preferences, and they need options,” the mum said, “I believe in teaching kids how to listen to their bodies and not just to eat because it’s a mealtime or wait because it’s not.”

We think it’s an amazing idea and one we will definitely be trying out at home.

Note: To avoid risk of choking, we would recommend that you ensure your child is old enough to snack on foods cut to this size. If you have younger children or toddlers, we would not recommend this method.