20+ Back To School Snacks For Every Budget (Free Printable)

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Just about every lunch has school snacks to help get kids through the day while training to be Canada’s people of tomorrow.

Whenever I read a back-to-school article, I automatically think about the little kiddies attending elementary school, so I wanted to address all students today.

Plus, consider snacks not only for at school but also as after-school snacks, especially when studying.

School Snacks That Are Healthy And Budget-Friendly

Before I start this post about school snacks, I want to stress that we all have our definition of healthy, so keep that in mind with the snacks I’m sharing.

I’d send these snacks with our son to school and snacks I took to University as a student.

I also want you to consider your grocery budget as it may differ from mine or someone else reading this post.

Buy what fits your budget, but aim to keep snacks as healthy as possible.

Students from Junior Kindergarten to University all need to eat, which means bringing a lunch, which would be the optimal frugal way.

Some students may have meal plans, but having healthy, inexpensive school snacks for those on-the-go moments is essential.

If you’re a parent to elementary students, you already know that most schools have a no-peanut policy, so if the product includes peanuts, don’t bring it to school.

This is to protect kids that have food allergies.

Depending on what allergies are identified at the beginning of the school year, you may have more than peanut butter, so talk to your school and see what you can and cannot bring.

As far as I’m aware, high school, college, and university students can pack whatever school snacks they’d like for the day.

This means you have plenty of options, especially when the budget is tight.

Consider for a moment what you could buy at the grocery store if you were to eat breakfast at a fast-food coffee shop for $5.

I’m betting you could get a bag of bagels and a 227g pack of cream cheese at the least, which means you’ve got breakfast for at least five days for the one breakfast you bought on the run.

Avoid these impulse food choices because they will only set you back financially, especially as a student.

Even after you move on, budgeting for stuff like eating out is vital to your overall financial success.

School Snacks and Education

When I returned to school in Canada, I was 29 years old, and the worst thing I did was not take lunch.

I was one of those guys who didn’t take the time to pack a lunch but always remembered my coffee.

However, I always have school snacks because I found eating something better than nothing.

On certain days, I found that I didn’t have any school snacks packed and that I was tired even though I had coffee.

Eating something small and filling my tummy took my mind off the growl and back on the books.

I was a bookworm and graduated top of my class, but I had to push hard, so I’m encouraging other students to take a snack break.

I should probably stop and give credit to Mrs. CBB right here because it was with her urging to bring snacks to school that I even considered it, and she was right.

There were many times that I appreciated that break from studying to enjoy a crisp apple outside in the fall or homemade granola bars or muffins that she would make for me.

I wasn’t much of a veggie guy, but I loved beef jerky, which I’d get packed in my lunch bag secretly by Mrs. CBB.

I often found secret snacks in my bag with little motivational sticky note letters, which made my day. Going back to school as an adult is no easy task.

All you high school kids out there reading this or parents of kids in high school, make sure you pack healthy snacks in your bag because even you, too, need to take a break.

Eat healthily, and you’ll feel healthy from the inside out.

School Snacks For Kids

Now that we have a wee one who is not so tiny anymore, entering junior kindergarten in just two weeks, we’ve had to step up our school snacks game.

Just like adults need snack time, so do the kids, and as you know, snacks are encouraged from a young age to keep kids from overeating and alert during the day.

After a school meeting, the principal informed parents of a list of approved foods and snacks.

This was probably the one part of the meeting that we dreaded since we weren’t sure what we would do.

Creating a back-to-school snacks list was at the top of our plan, so I wanted to motivate all of you to do the same.

Dealing With A Picky Eater

We face the problem as parents because we have a picky eater, so our options are limited.

Since one of our son’s favorite snacks is peanut butter, we had to cross that off the list due to school allergies.

Other snacks he loves are fresh-cut cucumbers, bananas, muffins, oatmeal chocolate chip banana loaf, blueberries, watermelon chunks, strawberries, pepperettes, beef jerky, pepperoni slices, and salami (he’s a meat-eater).

Anything to do with cured meats, he’s in.

If you don’t have a picky eater, you can quickly get back-to-school snacks with healthy treats that fit your budget.

There are deals at the end of August into September, which is a great time to stock up.

On the other hand, if you are like Mrs. CBB and love to do the homemade thing, then making apple sauce, pudding, muffins, bread, and even crackers might be on your baking to-do list.

We just went apple picking for the first time at the farm on Saturday with our son, and he loved it.

The apples are just starting to come ready, so we plan to visit a few more orchards over the next couple of months.

20+ Healthy Back To School Snacks For Every Budget

We try to avoid messy foods as our son is a messy eater, and after seeing what the junior kindergarten classroom looks like, the teachers will thank you after school.

Our son also gets mini cartons of white milk daily as we order it, and once a week, a slice of pizza from Domino’s Pizza for Pizza Day.

The Full School Snacks List

You can also PRINT the above list of school snacks for free HERE or save it as a PDF. File.

• Healthy Muffins (low-sugar or sugar-free): Banana muffins, apple muffins, chocolate chip muffins, etc.
• Dill Pickles
• Salsa and Tortilla or Pita chips
• Carrot sticks
• Hummus
• Cheese and Meat Pinwheels (tortilla with meat and cheese, mustard, mayo, or other condiments rolled up and sliced into pinwheels.
• Bagel and Cream Cheese
• Unsweetened Apple Sauce or Puddings
• Popcorn
• Trail Mix
• Low-sugar cookies, homemade or store-bought
• Pretzels
• Celery boats with cream cheese filling
• Baked Chips
• Dry Cereals
• Raisins
• Yogurt and Yogurt tubes
• Plain or Flavoured Rice Cakes
• Cottage Cheese Cups
• Apple Chips
• Naturally Flavoured Fruit Snacks, Dried Fruits, Dehydrated Fruits.
• Gold Fish crackers and other crackers
• Hard Cheeses cubed
• Soft Cheese *Laughing Cow
• Cheese Strings
• Tuna or Chicken Salad Cups
• Hard-Boiled Eggs
• Salami, Pepperettes, Beef, Turkey or Pork Jerky
• Vegetarian options include raw veggies, cucumbers, carrots, celery, sliced fruits, clementines, oranges, bananas, apples, blueberries, etc.
• Raw options- nut-free granola bars
• Dairy-Free options – any foods that contain no dairy

Heading back to school in September after a long summer holiday with delicious healthy snacks is a surefire way to get kids through the day.

Discussion: What other healthy school snacks can we add to the list above?

Please leave your comments below.

August 2018 Grocery Game Challenge

Join the 2018 Grocery Game Challenge (GGC), but before you do, you must read The Grocery Game Challenge Rules and Print the 2018 Schedule, which includes new prizes!

• 6 Inexpensive Meals When Unexpected Guests Drop By- July Shop #4
• Back To School Lunch Ideas For Parents– August Shop #1
• Common Cooking Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid– August Shop #2
• 24 Types of Grocery Shoppers You WILL Meet – August Shop #3

2018 Grocery Shop Results

Yearly grocery budget for two + 1 Toddler 2018: $3600 or $300/month (The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $300/year or $25/month.

Points Overview (Add any other sections you need to show us your savings or that you would like to track on your own.)

• Total Grocery Budget for this Month: $300
• Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $300-$13.63=$286.37
• Total Gift Cards used to date: $0
• Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0
• Total Rewards Points used to date: $0
• PC Optimum Points to Spend: 3400,000
• Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0

Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)

• Zweet -$0
• Checkout51- $1.50

Our Grocery Shop This Week

Shoppers Drug Mart

• 4 x 4L Sealtest Milk $4.27 each

Total Out-of-Pocket $17.08

Note: All totals below already have tax factored into them.

• Total to spend this month: $300.00
• Stockpile budget 2018: $25.00/month
• Stockpile budget used this month: $25.00
• Christmas Reserve Fund : $35/month $245 Saved
• Total coupons used this week: $0
• Total coupons used to date: $1
• Total in-store discounts this week: $59.75
• Total in-store discounts to date: $174.94
• Total spent this week: $17.08
• Total spent so far this month: $330.69
• Total over/Under spend this shop: -$30.69
• Total left to spend for the month: $0
• Total Spent To Date 2018: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $323.04+Feb $169.42+March $228.70 + April $337.84+ May $275.79 + June $271.88 +July $257.76 +August $+September $+ October $+ November $ + December $

Weekly Overview (your final thoughts)

We bought milk at Shoppers Drug Mart at 20x the points, which put us over even more. However, we received almost 5,000 points, equal to $5.00 or a free 4L milk bag.

Coupons and Coupon Apps

Here are some great places you can find Canadian Coupons! These are your latest Checkout 51 offers, which you can use to help save money.

Sign up for the Nielsen Canada Home Scan Program, and you can earn rewards points fast to redeem for excellent products or gift cards. I did this in the UK and loved it!!

Grocery Game Challenge 2018 FAQ’s

• Do you stockpile food? We don’t mind stockpiling items that won’t be affected by expiry dates or have long expiry dates but not so much food any longer as we found we weren’t eating it fast enough.
• Stockpiling is still great and is just one way to help cut your budget and save money if you find items you can buy in bulk at a sale price.
• Canadian Coupons: Where can I find Canadian Coupons?:
• Best Coupon Apps: Coupons are slowly fading, with mobile coupon apps being the biggest rave.
• Recently, the popular coupon site Save.ca, which mailed coupons to households, has gotten involved with adding a new mobile Save.ca app.
• If you find an app I don’t talk about, please let me know, as they are always being added, and I’d like to review them.
• What is the Best Flyer App- We use Flipp on our iPhone, so if you want to have all your flyers in one spot, download Flipp from the Apple Store or get it on Google Play.
• How Do I Grocery Shop?: I can tell you about grocery shopping, what we do to save money, and how it works for us. There are no wrong or right answers, just smart choices.

If you’ve just joined The Grocery Game Challenge 2018, get ready to look at your grocery budget by learning;

• Where you are spending money
• How much money you are spending
• How much money you are saving every month

If you want to learn everything I know about grocery shopping in Canada, check out my Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide! 

You’ve decided to take control of your grocery budget. Now show me your shops, and let’s get started!

Welcome to The Grocery Game Challenge 2018!

-Mr.CBB

• The Ultimate Back To School Savings Guide
• Simple Back To School Budget Lunch Ideas
• 10 Simple Back To School Treats For Kids
• 25 Healthy Snacks to Stock In Your Kitchen: The Grocery Game Challenge #4 Apr 27- May 3, 2015
• The Grocery Game Challenge Oct 7-13, 2013 #1: Grocery store activities for kids