Make Your Own School Snack Packs

If you’re a teacher, you know there isn’t much time to eat lunch. You grab a few bites between dropping your students off, going to the bathroom (finally!!), and making some copies for the afternoon. Before you know it, your 30 minutes are over, and it’s time to pick up the kiddos. Since I wasn’t able to eat much at lunch, I started making snack packs for other breaks during the school day.

My lunch usually consists of leftovers from one of my dinners for the week. Like I said, I get to grab a few bites and then it’s back to work. That tiny bit of lunch doesn’t hold me over for the whole day. Plus, this year, my lunch isn’t until 12:30. My stomach starts rumbling around 10:00, and I need something to hold me over.

A trip to the faculty room usually provides some sort of treat – cookies, candy, donuts. However, those aren’t the healthiest snacks. I wanted something that would keep my energy up for the rest of the day, not give me a sugar rush and make me want to take a nap.

During my recent grocery store trips, I’ve noticed a huge number of snack packs on the shelves. They are filled with healthy, protein-rich foods. They were exactly what I needed!

Until I looked at the price tag. . .

Ranging from $2.99 to 4.99 in price, these snack packs are too expensive for me to buy for every day of the week. Plus, I know if they are in the refrigerator, my kids will want them, too. That means I need to buy at least 10 packs a week, and I don’t have an extra $30 for snacks.

That’s when I decided to try to make my own snack packs.

School Snack Packs

When I was at the grocery store, I picked up a few packaged snacks as inspiration.  The Giant brand snack pack had a $1.00 off coupon attached, so I picked up one of those.  It was originally $2.99, and I got it for $1.99.  It contains apples, caramel sauce, cheese, and pretzels.

I had a coupon for $1.00 off a Ready, Egg, Go! snack pack.  They were originally $3.99, so I paid $2.99.  It contains a hard boiled egg, pistachios, and cheddar cheese.

I bought the ingredients at the grocery store:

• Eggs
• Cracker Barrel Cheese
• Pistachios
• Apples
• Pretzels
• Peanut Butter (I prefer dipping apples in peanut butter instead of caramel)

Assembly

Once all the ingredients were gathered, it was time to start making the snack packs.  I put water on the stove to boil the eggs.  During the 15 minutes it took to hard boil the eggs, I prepared the rest of the ingredients.  I cut the block of cheese into cubes, shelled the pistachios, sliced the apple, and soaked it in some lemon juice.

Since I wanted my snack packs to be portable just like the ones at the grocery store, I picked up some cute containers at The Dollar Tree.  They are perfect for these little snacks.

By the time the eggs were boiled, all the other snacks were packaged and ready.  After cooling and peeling the eggs, I added them to the containers and put them in the refrigerator until I needed them.

In under 30 minutes and for about $10.00, I was able to make 10 of each type of snack pack.  That even allows my husband and kids to have a few snacks this week.

Endless Possibilities

You can really put anything into your snack packs. I’ve seen them with meats, cheeses, crackers, fruits, veggies, and chocolate. You can make hundreds of different combinations and never get bored with them.

I created a list of 50 different foods I can put into my snack packs and hung it on the refrigerator. That way, I just have to glance at it to get new ideas for the week’s snacks. You can download my snack pack ideas at the bottom of this post.

Discover other ways I balance life and teaching.

Want more tips to make teaching less stressful? Sign up for the Teach Without Tears newsletter below, and join our private Facebook group to ask all your questions.

What Do You Think?

What are your favorite school snacks?

Let me know in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this post and think your teacher friends will, too, please click the button to share it on your favorite social media platform.