Quick trips to the drive-thru while out can bust a budget, but sometimes this seems inevitable. If you are out all day your family needs to eat. To keep from spending money on unhealthy food, we keep a few “fast foods” in the pantry we would not normally buy. When we are leaving the house, for more than a quick trip, I put these foods in a bag and take them with us. I have one friend that keeps a Rubbermaid full of snacks in her car all the time. When we are out, and the kids are hungry they can have a snack that will fill them up until we return home and eat a real meal.
Here are some fast food ideas.
- Gummy snacks
- Fruit roll ups
- Goldfish
- Ritz Bitz
- 100 Calorie packs
- Beef Jerky
- Granola bars
- Cereal bars
- Cheese and crackers
- Individual cereal boxes
- Juice boxes
- Small water bottles
For those of you who are thinking that these items are all overpriced junk, I agree. But they are less than the overpriced junk you will get at McDonalds. These items also are available for free or next to free when you combine coupons and sales. All these items will keep for an extended period of time in your car or in your house. Just make sure you keep them separate from your other food. These things are all considered special treats in my house and would be gone in heartbeat if the kids knew they were available!
This post is linking to Works for Me Wednesday.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I do the same thing!! I get teddy bears and chex mix as well when they are on sale.
Something else that I have done is buy snack size plastic bags and then big bags of things(goldfish, pretzels, M&Ms, peanuts, etc) and made up my own trail mix then put in the ziploc bags and then grabbed for them a quick snack in the car.
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I used to do this.
Until I started getting mice nesting in my car. I know, a hazard of living out in the boonies!
I do agree with taking along lots of snacks though.
We like grapes and pretzels!
Sonshine’s trail mix sounds like a good idea too.
You guys were great tonight.
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I do this with 100 cal packs. I participated in a research study last fall and when it was over they gave me 4 grocery store boxes of them.
When the snack packs run out I think I’ll be making a dried fruit/peanut mix.
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We like puppy chow
it’s cheap to make and stores well for those kinds of trips 
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TheHappyHousewife Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Would you mind sharing your puppy chow recipe?
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I am so mean, I just make mine starve! LOL
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I’ve started doing this now that we live waaaay out in the country. One trip to the store ends up taking half the day, and hungry/thirsty kids are soooo cranky! I’ve designated one reusable grocery bag as the “snack bag” and load it with the necessary amount of ziplocked goodies and water bottles. Works great!
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Love these ideas! We moved out to the ‘country’ a couple of years ago. We are on the Dave Ramsey plan now AND I’m staying at home now too, so saving money is crucial. we used to hit the fast food joints whenever there was a complaint, and I am SO sick of hearing them whine!!! Thanks for the ideas!
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I do this with my kids,I could not makes our budget work if bought my kids fast food every time they ask for it.
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Another “country dweller” here… We’re a half hour from town, so I also keep a rubbermaid tote with snacks and bottled water in the car (along with wet wipes, emergency change of clothes for the littles). I am not good about packing fresh fruit, cheese, etc… unless I know how long we’ll be gone and think far enough ahead to bring the little cooler!!
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I did this all the time when pregnant – those food cravings seemed to always hit when I was out on the road (or nausea!) and it was healthier and cheaper to just keep my vehicle stocked with food and bottled water.
It gets really hot where we live so it’s not really a good idea to keep food in our car during the hot months, but I do take crackers or something like that for my boys every time we’re out for a bit, and I keep gum and/or mints in my purse for myself – it keeps me from being tempted to buy something from a fast food place!
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Oh, frozen grapes worked great for me. I don’t give them to the littles b/c of chocking hazards, but when I was pregnant I kept them in the freezer in zip lock baggies and would just grab and go!
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We do the same thing, but it is even more important for me because frequently I can’t buy something while out that my daughter will eat. I try not to buy individual packaged things though. For instance I will grab a bag of pretzels, or a box of teddy grahams on the way out the door. The kids pass it around and share.
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So true!
We do this too!
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i also do this…when we are at games i always pack a tote bag with sandwiches,fresh fruit,snacks and refillable water bottles….conssesion stands are very expensive. I even pop our popcorn at home and take that with us as well….
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