Budget Snacks to replace the candy bowl at work?

[eeyoresmom]

I'm looking for ideas for our new office. Most of my office mates are just out of college. No money, hard working, sweet young people. I want to keep a few big glass jars of HEALTHY (or healthier than candy anyway ), snacks in my office for them. I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas though.It can't require refrigeration and I need to be able to leave it out all week .Any thoughts?

 

[mrsabbott]

Granola or cereal bars might be a good option. I also like these fruit leather snacks at Aldi's. (The brand is Simply Nature) My kids go nuts over those. I would buy off brand or shop at Aldi's to save money!

 

[HeatherC]

100 calorie snack packs
Mini packages of nuts
Packages of peanut butter crackers
Dark Chocolate

 

[Alexle2007]

Fruit snacks, animal crackers, trail mix, Cuties, apples

 

[hsmamato2]

a bowl of apples or oranges ?

 

[starry_solo]

Safeway usually has good sales, buy 4 boxes and get the Quaker Granola (or Nature Valley) bars for $1.99 each box. And there are usually 8-10 bars in a box.

 

[robinb]

Aldi's also has small prepackaged trail mix. I pack it in my dd's lunch.

I guess you could also buy a jumbo bag of healthier snacks like veggie straws and Snapea crisps from Sams or Costo and divvy them out into snack sized bags.

Fresh fruit like apples and clementines will also work. Nothing will be as cheap as candy.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Thumbs up to you for wanting to give your co-workers a nice snack!

I would also buy Veggie straws or other big bag of healthy snacks at Sam's/Costco. Then put in a large glass jar with a scoop and lid. Put small paper cups by it and folks can portion out a snack themselves. Almonds would also work this way (kind of expensive though). Or granola/trail mix--if you mix in a small amount of M/Ms or chocolate chips they get just a touch of that candy sweetness with their healthy snacks.

 

[tvguy]

I'm not sure any thing other than apples is really healthy. Oranges have too much sugar if you are watching your blood sugar, most of the processed stuff has way way way too much salt.
At least when you have candy, you know going into it it is bad for you.

 

[TwoMisfits]

How about shell-on nuts? They last awhile, the shells would help keep them fresher and avoid the "touching" someone else's food problem, and they are a good protein push. Peanuts are good (but there may be allergies), walnuts are good, but pistachios are my favorite. You could have the tiny 3oz dixie cups and coffee scoops laid out for people to pick their favorite nut and grab a quick pick-me-up...

Dried fruits are also good - you could have a jar of raisins, dried apricots, dried cherries, banana chips, or dried apple slices. Yes, they are still mostly "sugars", but you get all the benefits of the fruits, too.

If you had a jar or two of each, people could mix and match their own favorites...

 

[eeyoresmom]

Great ideas everyone, thanks! I especially like the shell on peanuts idea, I can get a huge bag for $6. I love the dried fruit idea but I think that would be crazy expensive.........I used to make my own granola when my kids were little. I'm going to look into recipes for that.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I really like individually wrapped dried fruit strips. Some of them are just candy but some of them are really just condensed dried fruit that are really good.

Small bags of pretzels are nice too

 

[disneychrista]

Nuts, Pretzel

 

[Iowajes]

Mandarin oranges (cuties) go over really well in my office.

 

[havaneselover]

Pretzel sticks, pb filled pretzels.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Great ideas everyone, thanks! I especially like the shell on peanuts idea, I can get a huge bag for $6. I love the dried fruit idea but I think that would be crazy expensive.........I used to make my own granola when my kids were little. I'm going to look into recipes for that.

I love salted in the shell peanuts also--so much so that I buy a 25 lb. box and parcel out for little gifts at Christmas. Just be forewarned, they are messy. I spend a lot of time cleaning up shells and the redskins. Otherwise, they are delicious.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I love salted in the shell peanuts also--so much so that I buy a 25 lb. box and parcel out for little gifts at Christmas. Just be forewarned, they are messy. I spend a lot of time cleaning up shells and the redskins. Otherwise, they are delicious.

I know. DH eats them at home. Hopefully, they'll take them to their own offices

 

[robinb]

I also love salted peanuts in the shell, but for me the negatives would outweigh the positives. First of all, they are really messy. Secondly, some co-workers or visitors may have allergies.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I also love salted peanuts in the shell, but for me the negatives would outweigh the positives. First of all, they are really messy. Secondly, some co-workers or visitors may have allergies.

It's why I recommended the other 2 nuts - I know peanuts are popular, but so are pistachios and they taste awesome, too...and they have a much lower allergy/mess problem.

 

[Narnia_girl]

It's why I recommended the other 2 nuts - I know peanuts are popular, but so are pistachios and they taste awesome, too...and they have a much lower allergy/mess problem.

Where do you buy pistachios? I love them too, but generally only buy them a few times a year since they are expensive. My local stores sell them for about $9/pound in the shell.