Q: I noticed that you don’t really have any snack foods in your shopping. What do you do about snacks?
A: Now that my children are older, they don’t really snack very much.
My teens prefer to sleep late in the morning and because we home school and can do our school work any time during the day, we have that luxury. They usually eat breakfast around 10 a.m. and lunch around 1:00 or 2:00, then dinner around 6:00. With our meals being so close together, they don’t usually ask for snacks, but if they do, we have several options available:
homemade popsicles made from juice or yogurt (recipe here)
popcorn (purchased on sale or air popped)
apple slices with cinnamon or peanut butter
banana boats (recipe here)
frozen bananas
peanuts and raisins
corn chips (purchased at Save A Lot)
The available snacks depend on what I have found on sale or what is leftover from a previous week’s grocery shopping. One week Walmart had banana chips on sale for $1.00 a bag, so I bought several bags and the kids snacked on that for a couple of weeks.
A great idea to save money on snacks is to buy the larger size containers and divide them into snack bags or other plastic containers. You’ll pay much less per serving and you can usually reuse the bags.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
we chop up broccoli, carrots, and celery. Leave them in the fridge and the kids grab those as a quick snack. We also do goldfish crackers.
Great idea!
Although our diet is not gluten-free, I do try to keep our snacking to a minimum and on the healthier side. I learned from my own upbringing that when you bring a “yummy” sugar loaded snack (or cereal) into the house, it usually disappears far too quickly. I like to keep my snacks “boring.” I think this teaches the kids that snacking is not for boredom, but for necessity. The snack holds you over until the next meal. Make no mistake. If the kids are hungry, I am pleased to feed them, I am just trying to teach them the value of portion (and self) control. Snacks in my house are pretzels (often on sale $1/bag), plain popcorn, cheese (sliced from the price club sized brick of cheddar i buy biweekly), and green apples (or other fruit if it is in season). The simplicity of our snacks is little burden on my grocery budget, and on the occasions when I may make cookies or by something fun, I think they are more appreciative.
Thanks for all of your great tips, I really enjoy reading your blog, and hope to implement your tips into our budgeting practices!
I agree with you Christian. Keeping the snacks boring is a good thing.
My kids really appreciate when we are able to get “special” snacks on sale like Edy’s Fruit Bars (one of our faves).
Great ideas! I do buy one packaged snack of choice for each person in my family based on sales/coupons and placed on the list before leaving for the store. Otherwise we snack on fresh fruit and veggies and airpopped popcorn. I also use dessert as a snack rather than serving with a meal.
First I have to say how wonderful it felt to read that y’all don’t do breakfast till around 10. That just makes me feel so much better. We sleep late here also. My four year old sleeps till about 8 (I pay for it by her being up later) So we don’t eat breakfast till later in the morning either. In fact our schedule runs a lot like the one you said.
Love the snack ideas! Especially the buying in ‘bulk’ and separating them into small portions.
That’s funny Felicia, I almost didn’t write it because I just knew someone would make a negative comment, but I decided to just tell it like it is.
I am glad that everyone has proved you wrong so far! =) And I am super glad you told it like it is.
Thanks so much for the great answers! I like the ideas. I think many times my children snack out of being bored, and it drives me nuts since I have always struggled with my weight. I don’t want them to turn to food for anything but nourishment!
I have a toddler and an infant, so we snack frequently. Well, it more like we graze throughout the day. I have a shelf in the pantry at eye level for my toddler that is full of healthy choices, like dried fruit, whole wheat crackers, home made granola bars, nuts and seeds, and whole grain, low sugar cereal. He is free to choose from that shelve anytime during the day, and usually in any amount as long as his last meal was a full one (meaning, he ate his veggies). In the fridge my toddler knows he can have any fruit or veggies he finds, sliced cheese, yogurt or cottage cheese. We adore home made yogurt pops or whole fruit pops. And, my infant loves frozen yogurt drops. (I just put yogurt into a pastry bag and make drops and freeze them on a cookie sheet, then transfer them into a baggie). I love the idea of pre-portioning the snacks, which is something I will try when my kiddies are a bit older.
I can’t believe you are saying that now that your kids are teens they don’t snack much – I sure wish i could say the same. My 1 teen snacks more than the other 3 combined LOL. I thought that was normal, hmm, might have to feed him more at meals and institute a no snacking policy as he wants to just eat all day. He is skinny as a rail though, so I usually let him since he really does need to gain weight.
Have you tried adding more fat and protein to his diet? Teens actually need more fat and protein than adults because they are growing and changing so quickly. I know that if I feed my kids lots of carbs with little fat or protein they are constantly hungry. Just a thought.