If you’re on a quest to eat “real food,” you’ll soon find that coming up with snack ideas is the trickiest part, especially if you have kids.
Here are four tips to follow as you work to get more whole food ingredients into your snack rotation without breaking your budget:
Never leave home without food and water.
Survival skills 101. If you’re going to be out of the house for more than 18 minutes, someone in your car will get hungry and thirsty. Plan ahead and have water and snacks with you so you don’t have to go through the drive-thru or stop in the store to refuel.
Besides the fact that you’ll most likely be eating healthier options if you bring them yourself, you’ll also save money over buying a $2 granola bar at the mini mart and avoid temptation in the candy aisle.
Buy in bulk or on sale and create your own snack packs.
Forget those pre-packaged containers of carrot sticks or overpriced snack-sized bags of chips. You can do that for a fraction of the cost.
If you’re busy, try spending some time slicing fruits and vegetables or bagging up cheese and crackers into smaller portions for the upcoming week. That way, your fridge is stocked with healthy snack options you can grab in a hurry and your wallet doesn’t take the hit.
Add snack ideas to your menu plan and grocery list.
Don’t you hate going grocery shopping only to come home and there’s “nothing to eat”? Whether you buy fruit snacks or dry your own fruit leather, make a plan to keep your family and your finances on track.
Try to think like an elementary-aged kid during the summer. ALWAYS hungry and you just want to get back out to play. Quick, grab and go snacks are all you want.
Set a snack time, especially if you have little kids.
Work really hard to get yourself out of the kitchen. Most kids only need a small snack between meals, so plan accordingly. This way you’re not constantly preparing food and your kids will actually be hungry when meal time rolls around.
Keep a running snack list in the kitchen.
Make a list of snack ideas in your kitchen to keep your kids (and you) from grabbing a handful of chocolate chips. Removing the guesswork is also a lifesaver when life is too crazy for real meals (moving or remodeling, new baby, big deadline, etc).
Here are some healthy-ish snack ideas to get your imagination going:
- hummus with crackers and vegetables
- chips and salsa or guacamole
- homemade Larabars
- fresh fruit and cottage cheese
- yogurt, maple cluster granola, and fruit parfaits
- apples and cheese slices or peanut butter
- vegetables and ranch dip
- “Ants on a Log” (variation: bananas & chocolate chips)
- Frozen grapes or berries
- Crackers or pretzels with peanut butter or Nutella
- homemade granola bars
- frozen yogurt tubes (like Go-Gurt)
- roasted almonds or cashews
- No-Bake energy bites
- ham and cheese roll-ups (spread ham with cream cheese and roll up)
- cinnamon-sugar or peanut butter and jelly tortilla roll-ups
- trail mix
- perfect popcorn
- cinnamon graham popcorn
- graham crackers and milk
- dried fruit
- fruit muffins or banana bread
- gluten-free zucchini bread
- cinnamon toast & applesauce
- string cheese
- fruit and vegetable smoothies
- peanut butter and banana smoothies
- sweet & salty roasted nuts
We’d love to hear from you! What’s your favorite healthy snack idea?
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So I know this post was from a long time ago so I doubt you will see this comment but it’s worth a shot! I am trying to find simple homemade healthy snacks and I am really excited about the granola bars but the link doesn’t seem to be working. Any suggestions? Thanks for all you guys do! 🙂
Thanks for the comment! I updated the link. Let us know how your granola bars turn out!
Wow thank you for the quick response! I can’t wait to try them out!
A recent go to for our family has been chickpea sandwhiches or we use it as dip on pita bread or crackers. Similar to hummus but with celery, onion, mayo, etc. Here is a link to my recipe.
http://iamnotsuper-woman.blogspot.com/2012/04/chickpea-sammies.html
Love the snack list! Thank you so much. I so resonate with what you said – I HATE going grocery shopping and coming home to have… nothing to eat. I think I will print out the list for ideas.
thanks for the snack list Emily! all sounds good and very doable…
I have 4 growing kids and they all love the Franz cinnamon mini bagels. They sell for about $2 at WinCo for 12 but you can get them for about half that at the Franz bakery outlet stores. They are all natural (no HFCS or preservatives) and are 100 calories. We buy a ton and they freeze really well.
I also aim to spend 15 cents each or less on snacks. It just helps me keep on track.
Oh and they have plain (ewww) and whole wheat (yum) varieties as well.
Thanks for the ideas. I think I am going to follow your lead and set a snack time because my kithen seems to always be open for the little ones.
I have a friend that makes homemade Lara Bars and now I want to try. Kids love them. Just google it and a ton of different ideas/flavors will come up.
The homemade granola bars look really good-I am going to try them. Those are the kind I like with nuts, dried fruit & oatmeal (have lots of the quick now after the great oatmeal catalina & seemed like that was the type they had the most of).
I also make the no bake cookie: oatmeal, milk, sugar, butter, cocoa-or chocolate chips work too-last time I was out of cocoa & that worked, peanut butter, & vanilla. I think it is better than a lot of choices, but I eat too much of them, so rarely make it-although you can cut the recipe way down & only make a small batch. Another time saver-just put it all in a pan-like a bar cookie-press lightly & works fine.
Here is another cookie I was thinking of passing on as there is going to be LOTS of corn flakes now!-also I consider semi-healthy-and very quick:
1 small pkg butterscotch chips + 2 tbsp Peanut butter (I use heaping Tbsp)-
melt together in the microwave in a large glass bowl-heat 15 sec then stir & repeat until melted-(also can use the old fashioned double boiler-if you know what that is!-I first got this recipe in grade school-before microwaves!)
add 2C+ corn flakes (I put in as much as can get coated with the melted mixture-to cut down on sugar)-
drop by tsp on a cookie sheet-or can put loosely in 9×13 & break a part.
Also very addictive!
So true. Honesty and eevrthying recognized.
I love the idea of a snack list. I don’t think its sill at all! A good practice for adults too so you aren’t always grabbing for the potato chips.
Thank you so much for the snack list and I love the idea of putting it on the fridge. I too set a snack time (twice a day), but some days I find it hard to be creative with “real” food and not just throwing fruit snacks at them! I do well with all three meals and making sure they are balanced with fruits, veggies, protein, etc. Thanks for the insipirational snack post – off to make homemade granola bars! Yum!
Great list with lots of good ideas, thank you. It is so easy to get stuck in a snack rut.