Kids Trail Mix/Snack Mix

After getting this idea a week or so ago I finally got around to making it today.  If your kids are like mine, they love snacks.  As the mom that means I have a few different problems to solve: price, health, and amounts that will fill their little tummies up until meal time.


Store bought snacks can be quite expensive! Some I can justify as semi-healthy, but others are just a convenience treat.  I try to have a balance of shelf stable (crackers, fruit, etc) and refrigerated snacks (veggies, yogurt, etc).

After buying a jumbo size box of gold fish crackers and having the whole box empty in 2 days I concluded there has GOT to be a better/cheaper way to have snacks.  Especially when I realized the boxes of Teddy Graham crackers I bought at the same time and hadn't opened yet were a LOT smaller than the jumbo gold fish box was.  And those can get expensive!

Here's my solution- Kids Trail Mix!  Or  Kids Snack Mix if you prefer!
Why not combine a bunch of their favorite snacks and let them have an assortment?!?!  It lowers the overall cost for my budget as well since some snacks are cheaper than others.

So for my first experiement I just combined what I had on hand:
Teddy Graham crackers- I had both regular and chocolate
Fruit Loops Cereal
Gold Fish Crackers
Quaker Oats Brown Sugar Cereal Bites

I'm storing them in a Tupperware rectangle 3 and found that one of the Tupperware rocker scoops is perfect for dishing up the right amount into a snack bag.  1 scoop will put just the right amount into a snack size ziploc bag.

And so far it's a hit!! The kids were so excited to see their favorite snacks all combined into one treat bag.

 Don't ask me what was up with the cheezie faces- they get a little silly when it's picture time!

Some other ideas I'll do in the future will include:
pretzels
marshmellows
M&M's
Smarties
Jelly Beans
Ritz bits
chocolate chips
craisins
dried fruit- banana chips, apples, etc