10 Cheap and Easy Toddler Snacks
10 Cheap and Easy Toddler Snacks
In our house, I serve healthy, filling meals three times a day. It takes a bit of effort and with all of the other things I need to accomplish, I don’t have the time to spend on extravagant snacks as well. That, combined with the rising costs of groceries left me looking for some easy snack ideas that didn’t cost me an arm and a leg.
So today I’m sharing the cheap and easy toddler snacks that keep my son happy and fed. These are cost effective and a breeze to put together. As a SAHM, I’m sure you are super busy as well, so I hope these make your day just a little bit easier. For more ideas on how to be productive with toddlers, click here.
Apple Slices With Cheese
$4.99 for 3 lbs., roughly 8-11 apples. A toddler will eat about half an apple. Roughly 20 servings of apples (10 apples/2) is just under 25 cents each.
An 8 oz. block of mozzarella (or cheddar or swiss or whatever your kid prefers) is $1.39, and I can usually slice that into about 20 slices, which comes to just under 7 cents per slice.
So half an apple and five slices of cheese comes to $0.60 per serving. Even if your kid wants the whole apple and ten cheese slices, we are still looking at $1.20 per serving, which is still pretty good.
Cut or core your apple and serve with cheese on a plate.
Banana and Peanut Butter
Bananas are approximately $0.33 each.
It costs $3.89 for 40 oz. of peanut butter. One serving is 2 tbsp. 3.89/20=.1945 (less than 20 cents per serving.
$0.53 per serving!
Slice bananas (or keep whole) and smear peanut butter on top. Keep your wipes handy!
Cheese and Crackers
As I mentioned above, cheese is $1.89 for an 8 oz. block. Cut into 20 slices, it equals roughly $0.07 per slice.
A 12.9 oz. box of wheat crackers is $2.75. At 5 crackers per serving, that comes to $0.55 per serving. One serving equals $0.90, but seems a little on the stingy side, so ten crackers with a slice of cheese to match equals $1.80 per serving for our purposes.
Carrots and Ranch
16 oz. of peeled baby carrots is $1.45. 12 baby carrots is a serving which comes out to about 5 servings per bag. That makes it $0.29 per serving.
A 36 oz. bottle of ranch is $3.69 and has 35 servings per bottle. I don’t know about you, but my toddler has never eaten just one oz. of any dipping sauce that I put in front of him. So for the purpose of this post, I am going to say that he’s getting 2 ounces of ranch to dip his carrots in. That makes it $0.21 per serving.
$0.50 per serving is not too bad, if I do say so myself.
Raisins
My kid will just eat raisins by themselves, nothing else needed. At $1.95 for a six pack, that comes out to just $0.33 each, AND I can throw them in my purse without worrying about the mess. Win-win! This is the simplest of the cheap and easy toddler snacks on this list!
Tortilla Pizza
A 20 count package of flour tortillas is $2.19. That comes to just under $0.11 per tortilla.
A 23.9 oz. jar of pizza sauce is $1.75 with almost 12 servings (I use about 2 tablespoons per tortilla pizza, which stretches it farther than if it were on a full sized pizza). This comes out to under $0.15 per serving.
As mentioned above, an 8 oz. block of mozzarella is $1.89, and I use about an ounce per tortilla pizza, making it $0.24 per serving.
I usually stop here, but if you wanted to add pepperoni or veggies you could. This comes to a total of $0.50 per serving.
Put your tortilla on a microwave safe plate. Spoon pizza sauce over the tortilla and top with shredded cheese. Pop in the microwave for 30 seconds or until the cheese is melted. Cut into quarters and serve.
Cheese Quesadillas
Most of this is mentioned above:
A 20 count package of flour tortillas is $2.19. That comes to just under $0.11 per tortilla.
As mentioned above, an 8 oz. block of cheese is $1.89, and I use about an ounce per tortilla pizza, making it $0.24 per serving. That comes to a total of $0.35 per serving.
Put your tortilla on a microwave safe plate. Top with shredded cheese and fold in half. Pop in the microwave for 30 seconds or until the cheese is melted. I usually serve it to my son in one piece. You can cut it if you like.
Turkey Cheese Roll Ups
Deli slices of turkey run $3.55 for 8 oz. That comes to $0.44 per ounce, and I am guesstimating that each slice is one ounce.
Sliced cheese is a bit more expensive, so you can slice blocks if you would like but I find the pre-sliced cheese is easier to roll. It costs $2.09 for 11 slices, making it $0.19 per slice.
I serve 2-3 roll ups per snack, costing $1.26-$1.89 per serving.
Lay your turkey on a plate and place the cheese slice on top. Roll up. Yes, it’s that simple 🙂
Check out more frugal family ideas on my Instagram page. I share family activity ideas every friday!
Yogurt with Fruit
You can find individual 5 ounce servings of yogurt for $0.65 each. If you would rather do the leg work, you can make it a bit cheaper by buying the 32 oz. containers for $3.85. That comes to just over $0.60 per serving.
Homemade Applesauce
This snack takes a bit of forethought but really, it is very easy to do. A bag of apples goes for $4.99 at my local Aldi. I can usually get about 4-6 squeeze pouches per bag, which comes out to less than a dollar per snack.
Peel and core the apples and then steam them in a rice cooker. Pour them in a blender and add a little bit of the water from steaming them. I add cinnamon if I’m feeling frisky. Blend it until it’s a desired consistency and pour into reusable squeeze pouches or freeze. They stay good in the pouches for up to six days and in the freezer for 3 months.
These cheap and easy toddler snacks are in regular rotation in our house. What are your go to snacks to keep your toddler happy between meals? Let me know in the comments below!
