Healthy, homemade snacks

[TinknBellesMom]

I need some new ideas (and recipes if you have them) for homemade snacks that work well for sending into school. It's nearing the end of the school year and my kids are less than enthused about the snacks I've been sending.
I usually send a good amount of fruit and cut up veggies and some other Annie's Bunnies or wheat thin cracker type things for them. But at $5 a box, that doesn't even last a full week, it's eating up my budget quickly. Especially with the rise of other food costs.
So any ideas?

 

[LaDonna]

how about raisains or hummus, I've never tried it but I'm betting hummus isn't too hard to make, isn't just chickpeas? Deviled eggs?

 

[zumbergc]

hummus is super easy. Chickpeas (aka garbanzo beanss), chicken stock, tahini sauce (sesame seeds ground up). You can add lemon or lime juice, garlic, salt pepper as you like. You can also mix it up by adding spinach or black beans in there too.

 

[Sinderelly]

apple slices with peanut butter, cheese cubes (cut your own from a block of cheese) and grapes, popcorn (pop in olive oil and add sea salt)

Peanut Banana Snack Mix:
1 box Quaker Os cereal
3 C dried banana chips
12 oz bag Reeses Pieces
2 C dry roasted peanuts
Mix together and serve

Honey Peanut Granola:
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine oats, peanuts, and wheat germ.
In a separate bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, vegetable oil, water, salt, and vanilla. Stir well; then pour into the oat mixture, and stir. Spread out on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool before serving.

Enjoy!

 

[LaDonna]

oh yeah popcorn is a good one, I have a microwave popper so you can pop w/ no oils

 

[heatherleigh]

Quiche is another good, portable, meal. It doesn't really fall apart either, so you don't need plastic ware to eat it. Hard cooked eggs are another favorite.

My son brought a ham sandwich, water, gold fish, and celery sticks in his lunch today- so we try to be healthy too.

 

[msmama]

You can make your own "trail mix."

Nuts, dried fruit, for an extra treat you could add marshmallows or chocolate chips, or even m&m's. I like to do this because I feel like mixing it all together makes it stretch longer than eating the stuff alone.

Target has a TON of different kinds - sometimes I check those out and then make my own.

 

[usnuzuloose]

how about raisains or hummus, I've never tried it but I'm betting hummus isn't too hard to make, isn't just chickpeas? Deviled eggs?

I use white beans for hummus as well

 

[dntd]

My kids complain that thier lunches are boring to the point that sometimes I fine thier ditched foods hidden! I give them a sandwich, either a applesauce/pudding/yogurt, a cereal bar, 2 fruits and crackers/animal cookies. My problem is we have allergies in our family, flax,fish,chocolate and the school doesn't allow nuts of any kinds.

 

[Marionnette]

These are really good and very healthy but I don't know if you could consider them to be budget-friendly unless you can buy the ingredients in bulk.

Alton Brown Granola Bars
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-bars-recipe/index.html

I made them with dried apricots but any dried fruit works. They're less likely to fall apart when they are allowed to sit for a day before cutting.

 

[MomToOne]

How about pretzels or rice cakes? Those two are regulars in our house. Pretzels are especially budget friendly. I get a big bag of the store brand usually for around $1.

Also, for novelty, my daughter will sometimes take half a sandwich as a "snack". Ah, it takes so little to entertain 10 year olds sometimes But she's also happy if I just give her a big hunk of good french or sourdough bread!

For fruit, my daughter has been taking a lot of kiwis lately, cut in half. She eats out the inside with a spoon. Apparently, it's an "in thing" right now. The kids are also into whole mangos - they just take a bite, spit out the skin and eat around the big ole pit. I don't get it but if it's fresh fruit, I'll work with it!

 

[SandrA9810]

What about frozen grapes?? It's like a treat and a snack in one. My friend used to dip her grapes into a cheese dip, I think it was pimento. She did a lot of wierd dipping like that.
Or strawberries with a little tub of whip cream.

 

[packofjedis]

Honey Peanut Granola:
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine oats, peanuts, and wheat germ.
In a separate bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, vegetable oil, water, salt, and vanilla. Stir well; then pour into the oat mixture, and stir. Spread out on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool before serving.

Enjoy!

Thanks SO much for this recipe. I made it this morning and my kids love it!!!!

 

[amez]

if you do a search for lara bar recipes you can come up with some good snack bars. I love Lara bars, but they get expensive so this is a nice alternative.

 

[Sinderelly]

Thanks SO much for this recipe. I made it this morning and my kids love it!!!!

You are welcome! I'm glad your kids like it.

 

[MrsHockey]

-celery sticks filled with cream cheese and topped with raisins
- crackers with laughing cow cheese triangles on the side (leave for them to spread)
- yogurt with fresh fruit and some granola in a baggie on the side for them to throw on top
- homemade applesauce but add some berries when cooking it
- popcorn

 

[scrapquitler]

I need some new ideas (and recipes if you have them) for homemade snacks that work well for sending into school. It's nearing the end of the school year and my kids are less than enthused about the snacks I've been sending.
I usually send a good amount of fruit and cut up veggies and some other Annie's Bunnies or wheat thin cracker type things for them. But at $5 a box, that doesn't even last a full week, it's eating up my budget quickly. Especially with the rise of other food costs.
So any ideas?

Pop up a batch of popcorn and put it in ziploc bags and send them with that. You can make it more exciting by sprinkling flavors on it (garlic, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, etc ...not all at once obviously)

Or take the bottoms of your boxes of cereals and crackers, add some pretzels, a few chocolate chips maybe even a few mini marshmellows and make some trail mix.

Saltines with peanut butter (unless the classroom is a peanut butter free zon

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I was going to suggest hummus as well.