It can be hard for anyone to eat healthy and stay within a grocery budget. For full-time missionaries, this can be especially challenging. As a missionary, I was often hungry. And when you're hungry, you tend to gravitate toward junk food and it can be difficult to think of healthier options. Don't worry - we've got your back!
We've compiled a list of 8 easy snacks that are low-cost, require little or no work, and are healthier than eating a tub of ice cream! If you're getting ready to leave for your own LDS mission, you might want to have a list of healthy snacks like this with you to reference when you go shopping in your first area. Depending on where you serve, you may not have access to all of these items and ingredients, but this list is a good place to start!
If you are a relative or friend of an LDS missionary who is currently serving, feel free to pass along this list to your missionary! (see printable version of this list at the end of the post)
First up, CHIPS & SALSA! Buy pre-made salsa (either the canned kind in the mexican food aisle or the fresher kind usually in the produce section of groceries stores) and a bag of tortilla chips.
Cost (in my local store): about $5 ($3 for salsa, $2 for chips)
Effort level: 0 out of 10
Cost (in my local store): about $1 (for a 4-pack). Cost per serving: 25 cents.
Effort level: 0 out of 10
FROZEN GRAPES: These are a great treat in warm weather. To make these, you buy regular fresh grapes, then wash them and pull them off of the stem. Dry them off with a paper towel and put them on a cookie sheet (or something similar) in the freezer. Once they are frozen, put them in a zip-lock type baggie and keep in the freezer. You could put them straight in the baggie without freezing them on a cookie sheet first, but they might stick together. In our part of the United States, we can get grapes year-round, but they do not taste great year-round. Usually the smaller the grape, the more sour. When they are very plump they usually taste very sweet, in my experience. You can ask someone working in the produce department if you can try one, if you're not sure (you're not supposed to sample without asking). Another tip: My daughter recently bought grapes and saw that the price on the sign was $3/lb, but didn't realize that they were bagged in 3 to 4 pound sizes. She assumed that they were all 1 pound bags, so she didn't think of weighing her grapes. She thought she was buying 1 pound of grapes for $3, but she was actually buying 3 pounds of grapes for $9. It is a little confusing sometimes, because many types of produce that are pre-bagged (like bags of potatoes or bags of apples) are usually a flat price instead of by the pound. If you are on a tight budget (as missionaries are), make sure you know what you are buying before you get to the check out.
Cost (in my local store): varies by season, from $2 per pound to $5 per pound
Effort level: 2 out of 10
HUMMUS & VEGETABLES:
Even if you are not a big vegetable person now, you might start craving them on your mission. I found that I started craving vegetables that I didn't even like (like broccoli) and I think that it was because I needed the extra nutrients. Most of the time fresh vegetables can be purchased at a fairly low price year-round. Items like carrots and celery are usually very cheap. Peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and tomatoes are usually slightly higher in cost, but still pretty reasonable price compared to fast food and packaged snacks.
Using hummus as a dip is a good way to add some protein to your snack (and keep you feeling full longer). If you're not familiar with hummus, it's basically a dip made from garbanzo beans and a few other things. It's very mild and smooth - try it, you'll probably like it! We like the flavored varieties (like garlic flavor or roasted red pepper flavor) better than plain. You can buy pre-made hummus in most grocery stores (sometimes it is kept by the produce, sometimes it is kept by the deli, sometimes it is kept by the sour cream/dips - in any case, it should be in a refrigerated section, so probably along the outside perimeter of the store if its a big grocery store (usually they have their refrigerated stuff around the edges and the canned goods and non-perishables near the center of the store).
Cost (in my local store): Hummus - $3-$5 depending on brand, veggie prices vary
Effort level: 1 out of 10 (because you may have to cut up vegetables)
MICROWAVE POPCORN: If you've got a microwave, this is a tasty & easy snack for around $1. There are healthier varieties with less butter and/or less salt, but even if you get the butter-blasted kind sometimes, its still a pretty good snack because it has a lot of fiber and is very filling.
Cost (in my local store): $3 for a box of 4
Effort level: 0 out of 10
BANANAS WITH HONEY: This is so good. Chop up a banana and pour a little bit of honey on top, then sprinkle some cinnamon over the whole thing. I really love this because it's very little effort but tastes way better than it looks - its like eating a fancy dessert! Honey is not exactly cheap and you may have to buy ground cinnamon if you don't already have some in your apartment, but you could plan to have this once a week and get good use out of your cinnamon & honey!
Cost (in my local store): $5 for a small bottle of honey, $1 for a bottle of ground cinnamon, 50 cents each for a banana. Overall, probably about 75 cents per serving total, since you use so little of the honey and cinnamon each time, but you do have to buy the honey & cinnamon up front.
Effort level: 1 out of 10
RICE CAKE WITH PEANUT BUTTER: Buy a package of rice cakes (usually by the chips or the nuts and snack foods) and a jar of peanut butter. Easy!
Cost (in my local store): $2 for rice cakes (package of 10) and $3 for a small jar of peanut butter. Probably about 50 cents per serving.
Effort level: 0 out of 10
FROZEN COOKIE DOUGH: No, you don't actually need to eat the frozen cookie dough - this idea is even better! This one requires a little more work than the others, but totally manageable. Buy a cookie mix (baking section of the grocery store) like a chocolate chip cookie mix or whatever. You may also need eggs, butter, OR vegetable oil (not all three), so check the instructions before you leave the store. Make the cookie dough, but instead of baking all of the cookies, roll some (or all) of them into balls and put them in the freezer on a cookie sheet (or something similar) until frozen. Then put them in a ziplock-type baggie and put them back in the freezer. Again, the cookie sheet thing is to keep them from freezing together into one giant mass). The idea here is that you can take a couple of the cookies out at lunch time or when you get home at night a make a couple of cookies at a time. Instead of making a whole batch at once and eating them all right away, this method allows you to space your cookies out. Cookie mixes are much easier than trying to make cookies from scratch (since you don't need to buy all of the individual ingredients) and they are a pretty cheap treat. They usually make 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on the size that you make them.
Cost (in my local store): $2 for a mix (not inclduing cost of egg(s), oil, or butter that may be needed). Even after you add in the cost of the egg, etc. I think you'd probably be looking at a cost of about 10 cents a cookie.
Effort level: 4 out of 10
Here is a free printable that you can use to take on your mission as a reference if you ever need snack ideas (you can either print it on your home printer, or have it printed as a 4x6" photo at a photo place). If you are a parent or friend of a current LDS missionary who needs some cheap and easy snack ideas, feel free to save and attach this as a photo in your next email!
Oh! And by the way, check out my new blog (which is actually sort of a companion to this blog!) called, "Missionary Momming with the Overzealous Missionary Mom" which focuses on helping parents, relatives, and friends of currently serving LDS missionaries with tips and advice for supporting your missionary and helping them when they return home. Click here to see the new blog!
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