7 Healthy Homemade Snacks for Under $1.25
A lot of people don't believe me when I tell them you can indeed make snack foods for $1.25 or less per serving. When you make a healthy snack involving basic ingredients like fruit, milk, or eggs, it really is true. It may take a little more time to make homemade fruit snacks or graham crackers, but you'll get twice as many servings than you can buy at the store for less than half the price. If that isn't the most economical way to make snack food for kids, I don't know what is!
Easy Homemade Yogurt
Healthy homemade yogurt costs less than a dollar to make and can even be eaten for breakfast or dessert.
Milk = $1.00 ($3.99/gallon)
Yogurt = $.25 ($3.99/16 oz. container)
Total = $1.25
Ingredients
• 1 quart of fresh milk
• 2 tablespoons yogurt
Directions
For a good yogurt texture, avoid ultra-pasteurized milk and milk with vitamin C added. Make yogurt when your milk is fresh. Whole milk works best.
Put the milk in a saucepan and heat it to about 180 degrees. No need for a fancy thermometer: if it's steaming and starting to froth a little, turn off the heat and let it cool down to the temperature of a baby bath. You should be able to stick your finger in the center of the pot and feel it warm but not uncomfortably warm.
Related: 10 easy family dinners for under $10
When the milk gets to roughly wrist temperature, add two tablespoons of yogurt to it. Any yogurt with live cultures will do; I have a preference for the Liberte brand. More is not better. Too much starter yogurt will lead to overcrowded microbes and bitter yogurt. Just stir in your two tablespoons.
Transfer the milk to a quart container and set it somewhere it can stay at about body temperature for 8 to 12 hours. I use a small cooler full of warm water to set mine. I've also seen people use an electric heating pad and a towel. Whatever works.
I make my yogurt before bed, and let it ferment overnight. In the morning, I take it out of the cooler and put it in the fridge. It's ready to eat by lunchtime.
Related: 7 thrifty kitchen tips to fatten up your wallet
Homemade Fruit Snacks
Puree any fruit you'd like, and you can have inexpensive, delicious fruit snacks at home!
Mango = $1 ($2.00 each)
Applesauce = $.80 ($3.69/48 oz. container)
Powdered pectin = $.60 ($10/4 oz. container)
Sugar = $1.10 ($4.49/5 lb. bag)
Total = $3.50
Cost per serving = $.88
Make homemade fruit snacks
Homemade Graham Crackers
Graham crackers are easy to make at home, and the ingredients are a quarter of the price of one store-bought box.
Flour = $.90 ($3.79/5 lb. bag)
Brown sugar = $.70 ($1.39/1 lb. box)
Baking soda = $.02 ($1.09)
Butter = $.76 ($3.49/4 sticks)
Honey = $1.00 ($4.19/12 oz. jar)
Milk = $.16 ($3.99/gallon)
Vanilla extract = $.19 ($1.59)
Total = $3.73
Cost per serving = $.93
Make homemade graham crackers
Related: The 25 healthiest foods for under $1
Soft Heart Pretzels
The ingredients for soft pretzels are very cheap, and this simple recipe yields ten servings!
Dry yeast = $.60 ($1.79/3-pk)
Milk = $.20 ($3.99/gallon)
Vegetable oil = $.07 ($3.79 / 48 oz. bottle)
Flour = $1.50 ($3.79/5 lb. bag)
Sea salt = $.15 ($3.49)
Baking soda = $.06 ($1.09)
Total = $3.01
Cost per serving = $.26
Make soft heart pretzels
Hard-boiled Eggs
An individual egg costs less than fifty cents, and hard-boiling them using this easy method makes for a nutritious snack.
Eggs = $2.49 ($2.49/dozen)
Total = $2.49
Cost per serving = $.20
Make hard-boiled eggs
For 2 more cheap and healthy homemade snacks, visit Babble
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