One thing that I truly cannot stand to buy at the grocery store is high-priced, nutrition-less junk food. For one, I am not a huge snacker myself, so bags of chips and boxes of crackers really do not appeal to me. And if, say, a bag of Doritos is $4 and I have $100 to spend on groceries, that bag of Doritos is taking up 4% of my grocery budget for the week. (I think not!) I would much rather spend that $4 on something that adds nutritional value to our diet.
Occasionally, if I have a great coupon or there is a hefty sale, I will buy a couple bags of chips. But even then, this is not a type of food I like to "stock up" on. They just generally aren't very good for us!
But because my kids do like snacks and because I'm not a complete stick in the mud, I try to have a variety of healthy things on hand to munch on. These are typically cheese, yogurt, fruit, vegetables and dip, and applesauce. But for those times when we just want something crunchy, our new frugal favorite is......
Popcorn!
Easy to make, easy to pack, and fairly healthy.
And about as inexpensive as you can get. I can buy a 1 lb. bag of kernels for $1.99. This works out to be 12¢ per ounce. We make 1/2 cup at a time (4 ounces) so we get 3 quarts of fresh popcorn for about 48¢!
Also, popcorn can be dressed up quite nicely. Caramel corn and kettle corn are two of our less-healthy favorites :)
As we head into school lunch-packing season, I will be on the look-out for more healthy and inexpensive snack foods ideas to vary it up a little. So.....
What kinds of healthy snacks do you like to have around???

