Frugal snack ideas.

[PotterWatch]

Pretzels are fairly easy and you can make big batches to store.

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

I buy the cheap cheese crackers, pretzels, and the generic gold fish or corn chips. When I get home I mix them all together in a large bowl or bucket to make like a snack mix. Then I fill small ziplock bags (that are probably reused about 100 times for this same thing) with about 1 cup of the mix. My boys get to have one bag a day. I like the saying...snack is a snack not a meal, if you are that hungry you should have eaten more at dinner. They always have access to bread and jelly or peanut butter so if the mix does not fill them up they need to find something different. Having three growing boys in the house they could easily run up my grocery bill. I believe in giving them snacks they like but within limits. I don't mean to preach this is just my opinion.

 

[MorelCabin]

A snack is always meal sized for a preteen and teen...they are always hungry. My favorate high carb thing to eat at that age was plain old macaroni with butter melted into it. It's cheap, filling, and easy for a preteen to make himself.
My kids ate us out of house and home as teens. I always kept bagels on the counter and cheese spread in the fridge. Hubby and son are making themselves one as I write:>)
Another trick is keeping in season fruit in a bowl on the table...if it is seen it will be eaten, and it is good for them. Put it in the refridgerator drawer and it goes to waste, cause all they can open is the cheese drawer! LOL

 

[me&thegals]

No kidding about the fruit! My kids are chowing their way through bushel boxes of pears and peaches after school each day (I limit them to 2 ) and soon will be doing the same with apples.

 

[MorelCabin]

Fruit juice also has ALOT of calories per serving, check out the antioxidant ones and the welches.

 

[poppycat]

My son is exactly the same!!! We call him carb-boy. He likes garlic toast, whole wheat bread, a little butter and garlic or garlic salt, toasted in the oven for a few minutes.

Popcorn of course, but he has been taking a break from it recently on account of eating it just before the stomach flu struck.

I had some stale bread setting out on the counter that I was going to grind up for bread crumbs and he ate that for a snack.

Frozen grapes or blueberries are always a hit, especially when it's hot out.

Cheezy bread, basically toast with melted cheese on it.

Buttered noodles.

Celery with peanut butter, or cream cheese.

 

[pioneergirl]

Oh boy do I know your pain! lol.. my DSS is 16 and bread and mild seem to be his 'staples'....leftover pancakes, toast, you name it. And although he eats a good meal, an hour later he is hungry again. I recall one morning I cooked up a pound of bacon, 10 rolls, a dozen eggs (scrambled w/cheese and tomatoes) a half gallon of juice, and the same with milk. That was for me, DH, DSS(16) and DS(9)....DSS at a majority, and was wanting more food later!! LOL

Point is, I don't know of a cheap snack...all I can think is if you hit the sales at the grocery and get the day old bread, or cheap bread at 50 cents - 80 cents a loaf and put it in the freezer. As I'm sure you know bread takes less than an hour to thaw, so he could get his carb fix in no time.

Like I said, I feel your pain! LOL

 

[VT-Chicklit]

My Swedish grandmother use to make something she called "Skorpa or possibly Skurpa". She took leftover bread and rolls and lightly buttered them and dusted them with cinnamon and sugar. She then placed the bread on cookie sheets in her gas oven over night. The heat from the pilot in her oven dried the bread to a light crispy consistancy. She would take all the dried pieces and put them in a large jar, to be used as snacks for the week. If you were to use day old bread from the store, this would be an inexpensive sweet treat that could be made way in advance and stored. It is very yummy!

 

[Homesteadmom]

No bake granola bars:

2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
2 cups quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, combine cereal, oats & raisins; set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar & corn syrup.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Stir in peanut butter & vanilla; blend until smooth.
Pour over cereal mixture; mix well.
Press into ungreased 13x9 pan.
Cool, cut into 24 bars.

I have not made this yet but my guys love granola & It looks & sounds pretty easy to make. I will substitue choc chips for the raisins as ds does not like raisins.
I also have a recipe for zookies(oatmeal cookies made with zuchinni that ds loved).

 

[FarmerChick]

WOW thanks for the granola bar recipe. I printed it and will try it definitely!

Zookies. That is wild. I didn't know about zucchini cookies. Could you post the recipe please?? Thanks