50 Cheap Healthy Snacks (2024)

Cheap healthy snack ideas for your busy family! A nice mix of no-prep snacks and make-ahead options as well as tips for saving money on snacks.

The number one thing parents ask my advice on when they subscribe to my blog is for ideas for cheap healthy snacks. Quite understandable if you ask me. In my experience, if there's anything that can jack up your grocery bill quickly, it is convenience snacks, especially fancy "healthy" packaged snacks.

How to save on snacks

Limit snacking

First, my advice is to limit snacking to once or maybe twice a day if you want your children to be hungry at meal times. Snacks are a dream to a picky eater. This is a bit harsh, but if there is a constant supply of highly palatable junk food available throughout the day to keep their caloric needs met, why should we be surprised that they don't eat dinner? It's no surprise that they don't have a taste for more well-balanced foods. Don't get me wrong, I still frequently buy a bag of plain chips or tortilla chips to satisfy that salty crunchy craving from time to time, but I find every eats much better if we don't make it a habit to graze on them all day long.

Keep the snacks simple

Elaborate snacks don't happen in this house. I simply don't have the energy or time to put towards fancy or cutesy. Most of the time, snacks around here are a piece of fruit, popcorn, a hard boiled egg, applesauce, jerky, or another one ingredient item that can be easily grabbed by my kids.

Check the sales

Berries in the winter are very pricey, so we don't buy them during that time. Berries in the spring and summer are almost always on sale so we go crazy on them during those seasons. A practice that I find helpful in my own home, is to put on my grocery list a generic listing for "fruit" or "snack veggies" or packaged snacks. Then when I am shopping, I look for items that are on sale that fit those categories.

For packaged items that you frequently purchase, look for when they go on sale and buy several at a time to stock up. Bonus if you can stack them with a coupon. With packaged snacks, if I buy them in bulk, I do find that I have to put the extras away somewhere and ration them so we don't eat them too quickly.

Prep your own snacks

By prepping snacks on your own, you are saving money and filling your family with healthier options. I don't know about you, but I am much more likely to eat well if the hard work is already done for me and I just have to grab and eat. So get used to prepping your own convenience food on the weekend. Go ahead and cut up some carrot sticks, cut that pineapple, make that one homemade snack, and you are good to go for the week armed with your own convenience food.

Choose only a few

This is an important reminder when buying or making snacks. We can choose cheap healthy snacks all day long, but if you have ten of them as an option for the week, your family will eat all ten and your grocery bill will inevitably be very high. Instead choose just a few options for the week to keep cost down. As always, shop your pantry/fridge first. If you have a ton of oats to use, it would be a great week to make oat balls or granola. If eggs are on sale, boil a large batch of hard boiled eggs. I find success with a couple of store bought snacks, a few varieties of fruit and veggies, and we always have popcorn on hand.

1. hard boiled eggs (cook in bulk at beginning of the week)
2. cheese slices or cubes (cutting up your own from a block is cheaper)
3. cottage cheese
4. cottage cheese and fruit (peaches, strawberries, tomatoes)
5. yogurt (as low sugar as possible) Tip: Big tubs are cheaper than individual packs.
6. applesauce (no added sugar)
7. fruit strips (look for no added sugar and no artificial food dyes. I like Aldi's Simply Nature.)
8. fruit (bananas, apples, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapple, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, mango) Read about how to find cheap fruit and lower your pesticide exposure.
9. vegetables (cucumbers, snap peas, carrots, peppers, celery)
10. popcorn (bulk air popped or stove top popped)
11. olives
12. dried mango
13. dark chocolate
14. pickles
15. jerky
16. salami, ham, or turkey
17. hummus
18. oatmeal muffins
19. peanut butter oatmeal balls
20. bean dip
21. toast with nut/seed butter and sliced bananas (I also like to sprinkle chia and hemp seeds.)
22. toast with smashed avocado, salt, and red pepper flakes
23. chips or veggies and salsa
24. chips or veggies and guacamole
25. apple chips
26. sweet potato chips
27. ham and cheese roll ups (slice of ham and slice of cheese rolled up together)
28. nuts
29. seeds (pumpkin, sunflower)
30. toast and cream cheese
31. cherry tomatoes
32. celery with cream cheese
33. celery and nut/seed butter
34. peanut butter with chocolate chips
35. peanut butter/seed butter and banana
36. smoothies
37. cheese and crackers
38. roasted chickpeas
39. coconut chips
40. quesadilla
41. tortilla pizza
42. cottage berry whip or pops
43. trail mix (save by making your own and buying in bulk)
44. granola
45. fat bombs
46. chia pudding
47. homemade granola bars
48. crackers with meat or cheese
49. salami, cream cheese and pickles
50. popsicles (look for all fruit)

I'd love to hear from you! What is your favorite cheap healthy snack?