Saving Money with Homemade Snacks

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

You can save a lot of money by making healthy homemade snacks. With these recipes, you can control the ingredients your family is eating.

The cost of store-bought healthy snacks can really add up. When you buy snacks at the store, you pay a lot more than the actual cost of the food. Production costs, packaging, shipping, and store mark-up all work together to escalate the expense for the consumer. By making healthy snacks yourself, you can save a lot of money. More importantly, you can control what goes into the snacks you’re eating, and you can minimize your carbon footprint by bypassing all that packaging and transportation. With a little work and planning, you can have a snack cabinet stocked with homemade goodies for your family.

Homemade Snacks

Here are 8 types of healthy homemade snacks that I make on a regular basis. My life is busy with many activities including freelance writing work, PTA involvement, and my children’s sports commitments, but I make the time to cook from scratch because I think it’s important. I like saving money on food, but that’s not my primary motivation. My family has been much healthier since we cut back on highly processed food last year, and as a parent it means a lot to me to know exactly what we’re eating.

Flavored Popcorn
Average Cost $.25 Per Serving

If you want to be committed to maintaining a real food household, you should have popcorn kernels on hand at all times. It’s one of the fastest whole-grain, healthy snacks to make, as well as one of the most affordable. You can flavor popcorn so many different ways. Look for organic, non-GMO popcorn kernels because corn is one of the biggest genetically modified crops in America.

Chocolate Popcorn
Fiesta Popcorn
Maple Gingerbread Popcorn
Pumpkin-Glazed Popcorn
Vanilla Almond Popcorn

Energy Bars
Average Cost $.50 Per Serving

Homemade Larabars and protein bars are so quick and easy to prepare, and they taste like dessert. My daughter recently bit into a peanut butter cookie dough bite and asked me, “Is this Reeses?” That little girl knows how to melt my heart.

Apple Pie Larabars
Banana Larabars
Blueberry Lemon Larabars
Chocolate Larabars
Mango Lime Coconut Larabars
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites

Muffins and Breads
Average Cost $.33 Per Serving

Homemade muffins are one of the best healthy snacks to send to school with your children. I like to have a couple different flavors in the freezer so I can pull one out in the morning if I don’t have other snacks on hand to send with my children to school. They defrost by snack time and my children get to enjoy a healthy, homemade treat.

Aloha Muffins
Blueberry Banana Muffins
Blueberry Lemon Bread
Carrot Cake Muffins
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Cornbread
Pumpkin Bread

Baked Bars
Average Cost $.35 Per Serving

I include many different baked goods in my arsenal of snacks. Most of them include fruit, and they’re all healthier than any packaged food I might buy at the store.

Brownies
Cherry Peach Bars
Chewy Blueberry Banana Oat Bars
Coconut Bars with Chocolate Drizzle
Pumpkin Cranberry Oat Bars
Raspberry Jam Bars

Roasted Nuts, Seeds, Legumes
Average Cost $.23 Per Serving

Protein is a great feature to include in healthy snacks because it helps you to feel full longer and maintain energy. I like to have a wide variety of nuts and seeds on hand for those occasions when hunger strikes and I need a quick fix. These recipes for roasted nuts, seeds, and legumes are great for an after-school energy boost.

Chipotle Lime Chickpeas
Maple Nut Snack Mix
Savory Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Savory Roasted Chickpeas

Crackers
Average Cost $.25 Per Serving

When we first removed highly processed food from our diet, crackers and pretzels were one of the things we missed the most. These simple carbs always seemed like they made the perfect quick, healthy snacks in the past. I’ve developed a few whole-grain cracker recipes that my family enjoys, and I’d like to expand this list in the future. I’d love suggestions for other homemade cracker recipes if you have a favorite.

Sourdough Pesto Crackers
Graham Crackers

Dips and Salsa
Average Cost $.30 Per Serving

Plain food like tortilla chips and fruit become much more interesting when there’s a dip involved. I like to have a good stock of homemade salsa in my pantry so I can enjoy the bounty of summer year-round. Hesitant fruit eaters can be swayed by a yummy bowl of this honey yogurt dip.

Honey Yogurt Dip
Corn Salsa
Tomatillo Salsa

Ice Cream & Sorbet
Average Cost $.72 Per Serving

Homemade ice cream and sorbet are the ultimate summertime treat. They cost a little more than the other snacks I make, but they’re still significantly less expensive than what you’d find at the store. There’s no need to grab a pint of Ben and Jerry’s when you can make it yourself at home.

Mango Sorbet
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Peach Coconut Cream Sorbet
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches

What other healthy snacks do you make from scratch? I’m always hungry, so I’m on the lookout for new ideas to keep things lively in my snack cabinet.

Check out the other posts in my “Saving Money on Real Food” series:
Saving Money with Homemade Staples
Saving Money with Vegetarian Dinners
Saving Money by Joining a CSA
Saving Money with Reduced Produce