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When I was a kid, I got home from school just about the same time my dad got home from the steel mill.

I'd kick off my shoes and start my homework, and Dad would turn on our favorite soap opera ("Guiding Light," of course) and head to the kitchen to fix me an after-school snack.

Most days, he came back to the living room bearing a plate full of apple slices smeared with peanut butter and maybe a few saltines. Pretty simple, but it satisfied me till dinnertime.

Today, snack options — and children's palates — are a whole lot more sophisticated than they were back in the 1970s.

Case in point: I think the 100-calorie individual packs of everything from Wheat Thins Toasted Chips to Oreo Cookie Crisps are pure genius.

When I'm stocking my pantry, convenience and cost are big selling points, but nutrition also plays a role in my purchasing decisions.

Here's a list of our new favorites:

FoodShouldTasteGood chips: We love these delicious and nutritious tortilla chips! They're gluten-free and full of good things like flaxseed and oat bran. Sounds like something kids would avoid like the plague, but the exact opposite is true.

I received a sample box at work and brought them to a tasting party. Well, actually I brought some of them: My hubby had already devoured the Jalapeno mini-bag, and I had cracked open the Chocolate chips (which was the only disappointment in the bunch, in my opinion — tasted burnt to me).

Olive, Multigrain, The Works — old and young tasters alike gave them all raves. A popular combination was the Buffalo chips paired with Dorothy Lane Market's buffalo chicken dip (yummy!), but the hit of the snack table was a Sweet Potato chip dunked in Trader Joe's Pineapple Salsa. Divine!

Hot snack tip of the day: Go to foodshouldtastegood.com for a $1 off coupon.

Michael Season's Lite Cheese Curls: Found these on sale at Kroger (two good-size bags for $5) and brought them along on our last road trip. I couldn't keep Hubby and the kids out of them! My 10-year-old says the cheese they use tastes like a better quality than Cheetos. They're also reduced-fat and all-natural.

Quaker Chewy Granola Bars with Protein. I like to give the kids a piece of fruit and one of these bars for quick energy before soccer or football practice. They like both the Nutty Peanut Butter and the Peanut Butter with Chocolate, and each bar has 5g of protein. There's also a 25 percent less sugar version and a low-fat version.

Oogie's Gourmet Popcorn. We really dug the Spicy Chipotle and Lime, but we haven't tried their other flavors yet. (Oogie's was on sale at DLM recently. Keep your eye out.)

Old stand-bys include:

Quaker Quakes Cheddar Cheese Rice Snacks.

Light Yoplait yogurt, or Go-Gurts from the freezer.

Frozen fruit juice bars.

Low-fat string cheese or mini wheels of Babybel Light.

Baby carrots and pretzel sticks with ranch dip.

Fresh fruit. (I sometimes chunk up a bowl of seedless watermelon or fresh pineapple before the kids come home and set it out on the counter, letting them nibble at will.)

Individual servings of in-their-own-juice diced pears or mandarin orange sections. (I keep plastic spoons and forks in the minivan's glove compartment — does anyone actually put gloves in those things?)

Dried fruit from Trader Joe's. Our favorites are Montmorency cherries, wild blueberries and cranberries with added Omega 3.

Homemade GORP featuring granola, nuts and the dried fruits mentioned above. My 12-year-old loves to make a batch to take on family hikes. Bonus question: Do you know what GORP stands for? Give yourself 10 extra points.

Freeze-dried mango slices from Trader Joe's.

Homemade fruit smoothies (again, with help from TJ's — frozen berry blend or mango chunks are a great addition).

Yogos and fruit snacks. My kids go bonkers for this stuff.

Cereal bars, especially Special K brand.

Bagels.

Microwave popcorn. Your local Boy Scout wants to sell you some!

And every now and then, I slice up a few apples and spread on a little peanut butter in honor of Dear Old Dad.

Read more of Lucy Baker's parenting blogs at DaytonDailyNews.com/mommy.