A recent thread really got me to thinking about this. Ways to cut cost. One thing we have been doing in recent months is we quit buying "snack food" Usually it cost more than homemade or "outside of the box" snacks and usually they are also less healthy (think HFCS) So I thought I'd share our snack ideas and I'd LOVE to get some more snack ideas from you guys. A snack in our house now is a a full or 1/2 serving of: * a bowl of cereal * a sandwich (PB&J, cheese, tomato, banana, meat) * leftover dinner * Something on a tortilla (PB & banana or apple, lunch meat, beans, cheese) * popcorn in place of chips (cheaper and healthier. $5 for 24 bags) * Make your own pudding or jello * Canned or fresh fruit * Homemade from scratch bakery items (or a mix is still cheaper than actual bakery items) * A can of veggies (add a little butter and nature's seasoning and microwave one minute!) * soup * pasta (I make a full batch of pasta with cheap meatless sauce, it can be used for lunch or snacks) * Here's a fun (although not healthy) cheap replacement for chips-cook some pasta, drain and dry it, then deep fry it! As soon as you take it up, sprinkle with your choice of flavorings. Try butter/salt. Parmesan cheese. Popcorn flavoring (usually on the top shelf near the popcorn) I haven't made this in forever, I might try and see if baking would work as well as deep frying.... So what are some of your money saving snack ideas?
Fried apple pies (small small) http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/fried-apple-pies-recipe/index.html Spaghetti Carbonera http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/classic-spaghetti-carbonara-recipe/index.html *Sub bacon for ham, sausage, or chicken if you want. VERY versatile. I use sprinkled garlic, and no fresh parsley leaves. lol Easy to make-cheap- BBQ pulled chicken! http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=59333#ratings I usually do the carbonera for dinner time, but it can really be for anytime and keeps well! The fried apple pies are small, and my kids really like them. Not the best for you, but for a snack every once in awhile it's great. Gets rid of those apples in the fridge that need getting rid of.
spread peanut butter on a waffle, make up a lot of waffles one day and keep the rest in the freezer and pop them in the toaster. fruit salad, with cut up fruit, or when its time to clean out the can cubbord biscuit pizza, or pita bread pizza or engilish muffin pizza home made pop sicle or fruit smoothie frozen in a dixie cup with a stick or regular popsicle mold cheese straws..... easy recipe its cheese and flour ... I''ll look one up
We have homemade snacks around here. I make carrot raisin salad, homemade cookies (peanut butter, or sugar), plain muffins, leftover pancakes with jelly on them, crackers with peanut butter, cheese, sliced fruit or veggies with dip, cereal, homemade granola bars.
Oh pizza-we used to make pizza out of loaf bread all the time. I wonder if I have any tomato sauce??? Smoothies, my oldest lived off of smoothies and peanut butter crackers when he was younger LOL I'd love a good granola bar recipe!
We normally snack on fruit or veggies here. I try to keep them all cut up and ready to go so the kids can get it themselves- I hate spending all day in the kitchen preparing and cleaning! I also make homemade smoothies in the mornings-extra gets frozen in popsicle molds and that is our snack on hot days! We also do cheese and crackers or nuts and dried fruit!
I use hillbilly housewife's recipe for granola bars. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/granolabars.htm
I know you are talking about cutting cost, but we stock up on brownie mixes when they are just a dollar. Same for cake mixes.
My kidlets are still in that growing toddler range, where they can eat a full meal, but 2 hours later are STARVED little nuggets, so we snack often around here. :lol: Both my kids were born with food allergies (DD was soy and nuts, DS was dairy) they have since outgrown, but their allergies taught me how to read labels right from the start, and terrified me at the way unexpected things are hidden in foods. For that reason, 99% of foods around here are from scratch, made by me. It's been a great challenge and learning experience for me and my cooking/baking skills. :lol: -Hummus and pita/veggies/multi-grain chips -Raisins and yogurt (we buy it by the tub!) -Hard-boiled eggs -Peanut butter on wheat toast -Pickles! -Any number of fresh/raw veggies (cucumber slices, shelled peas, corn kernels, carrot sticks, celery, etc) and fruit (grapes, bananas, apples, etc) -Anything leftover!
~ mozzarella cheese stix ~ small bowl of cereal ~ fruit or fruit cup ~ cheese and crackers ~ granola bars ~ fruit snacks ~ Gogurt or yogurt drink ~ peanut butter mixed w/syrup & spread on crackers ~ veggies (carrot stix, etc.) ~ cereal bars (like Nutragrain) ~ jerky stix ~ waffle or waffle PB&J ~ pretzels ~ popcorn ~ tortilla chips w/ salsa ~ Cheez-its If you have an Aldi's or Save-a-Lot in your area you can save $ buying some of this stuff there.
Some of my kids' favorites: fresh fruit or veggies with or without dips of many sorts plain yogurt with pureed fruit mixed in pb on a spoon (I swear this is their favorite thing in the world, lol) veggies with ricotta cheese to dip (they call ricotta "dippy cheese" ) ricotta spread on crackers cereal bars (Trader Joe's has HFCS-free ones that are cheaper than the regular store brand anyway) string cheese dry cereal hummus n' pita chips (mommy's favorite; kids like it too!) french toast cut into squares with applesauce, honey, or yogurt to dip (I make a ton and freeze it; toast or nuke as needed) pancakes served the same as above french toast popcorn raisins nuts (pecans and cashews are soft enough that they're great as a "first" nut when they're 4 or so...) Of this list, the biggest cost cutter for us is the yogurt. We buy the gargantuan tub of plain yogurt and just mix in pureed fresh or frozen fruit. My kids also love it with just a little cinnamon and sugar mixed in (no fruit sometimes). Being 4 and 2, my little monsters are notorious for eating half a banana or taking one bite of a piece of fruit and suddenly being "done." I just toss leftovers in a freezer bag, no matter what kind of fruit it is and I always have smoothie fruit.
Oh yeah ~ Forgot about the pnut butter 'n apples! That's one of my favs. I love hummus 'n "Triscuits" too.
Peanut butter on just about anything - celery sticks, carrot sticks, pear slices, leftover pancakes or waffles or biscuits, toast, rice cakes, crackers, a spoon, my finger..... crispy bacon (the two best things in the world - peanut butter and bacon - why shouldn't they go together??) Take a round cracker OR a vanilla wafer. Cover it with peanut butter and top it with a slice of banana!
I'm with rebekkah-they'll eat pb off a spoon any time. We are very tight $ wise-I swear I can make a 5lb bag of carrots and a big ol hunk of celery last 4-5 days....that's the snack in our house. My son's therapist flipped out-Joey said,"I want a snack" So I said, "you know where the carrots are." He said,"I don't want a carrot." So I said, "ok-well there's celery then. Make sure to clean it off with a towel." And he said,"Oh right! thanks mommy!" and munched his way back intop therapy.... Unfortunately-that's it for us. I mean, I have to buy 7 bananas for everybody to have 1 in a day...that's approx 49 bananas a week...which isn't happening....and man, we tried crackers for awhile-but now betweent he 4 (almost 5) of them; they'll blow thru an entire box of crackers, even with me delegating out the #!! Oh-I do every once in awhile make this-if the tortillas are on sale: Spread butter on a tortilla-then sprinkle just a touch of cinnamon and a touch of sugar...then roll up like a burrito. Not super healthy, but not too bad and my kids eat tons of veggies so this is a treat for them.
bananas with pb on them carrot sticks (i keep tons of veggies cut up in the fridge....slowly getting ds to eat them) tortillas with pb and jelly tortillas with cheese, lightly toasted tortillas made into pizza (can you tell we love the tortillas?) i get a big tub of vanilla yogurt and we mix jelly or fruit in it, and top with granola or grape nuts cereal
My kids love me to roll a banana in melted peanut butter and then freeze it. We do lots of vanilla yogurt with fruit, pb, or honey. My girls love cut up peppers, but my son loves graham crackers with milk poured over them. We also do lots of fruit and cheese.
I love some of these ideas. We are a gluten free house now. So we are always looking for new snacks that we can have. We eat lots of yogurt plain with honey ( here is a way to make it in your crockpot http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html My kids eat banana's, apples and oranges like crazy. We go through them so fast I can't hardly keep them in stock. Carrot sticks dry cereal in a cup (not sure why they have to have it in a cup but that is it) nuts or sunflower seeds I have found to keep snacks fuss free ( if I have to work at it it won't get done, I don't have time to mess with it to much) I have a snack pan - a place where I put all the snack food in the pantry. The kids will get their own snacks from there. They know to ask for certain things, and know that they can't have sugary snacks before lunch etc. I also have the bottom drawer in the fridge where I put their cold snacks. Then they can just get it themselves without my assistance. They do ask first, and I OK their choice, but they get it themselves.
Last week, I went to IHOP with a friend for lunch. They now display a calorie count alongside every meal, and I was quite taken aback! I chose to have a fish meal because it had the lowest calorie count (about 950). Initially, I'd thought to have a spinach salad - healthy, right? - but the calorie count was over 1800! I've read about new laws in some states requiring calorie count to be displayed on menus, but I thought nothing of it. Having gone through this experience, I'm now a big believer. To what extent do you take into account the calorie count, the salt content, the amount of sugar, etc. when deciding on a snack?
Carbs are a big deal here since youngest was just DX w/Pre T1 diabetes. I also watch their salt intake as I don't want them to take after me when it comes to salt, I really like it!
