Easy Make Ahead Snack Ideas for Busy Moms

Save yourself time and energy by prepping a week’s worth of snacks in a few hours! Here are some healthy and easy make ahead snack ideas for busy families!

Healthy and Easy Make Ahead Snack Ideas

Happy Monday! Where did the weekend go?! Yesterday,  I spent a couple of hours  prepping some snacks for the week ahead. Every time I do any sort of snack or meal prep I wonder why I don’t do it more often. It is so helpful and saves me so much time in the long run! Prepping dinners seemed like a bit too much of a commitment, so I decided to focus on easy make ahead snacks!

I made THIRTEEN snacks in under TWO HOURS. I promise that you can do this too! Read on for some easy make ahead snack ideas!

 

13 Make Ahead Snacks in Two Hours

Here’s the list of what I made. These are things we normally eat and the kids love. You’ll notice I have a few non snack items–the quinoa and pesto. But these are things we eat throughout the week, so it was easy to prep while I was in the mode.

All of these snacks are items the kids can grab on their own–mom win! Tip: Review what snacks and foods your family eats and focus on those items for your snack session!

Hard Boiled Eggs

Egg Sandwiches (Loosely followed this recipe–I made the eggs on the stove. Already a new FAVORITE! My daughter had one on her way to practice last evening.)

Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins (I halved the amount of sugar in this recipe)

Peanut Butter Protein Balls (family favorite!)

Basil Spinach Pesto (Used this Whole 30 Recipe and swapped walnuts for almonds)

Freezer Smoothie Packets

Quinoa

Olives

Blueberries

Grapes

Cucumber

Pretzels

Pancakes **My husband made this for breakfast so I was able to save freeze the extra pancakes! Always double your waffle and pancake recipe for leftovers!

How to Snack Prep

Earlier in the weekend, I did all my shopping for this project. I got everything at either Aldi or my local grocery store.

BE SURE TO CLEAN OUT YOUR REFRIGERATOR BEFORE YOU MEAL PREP!

I spent just under two hours making up all of these items. Truth be told, if I didn’t have any interruptions, I could have probably saved even a little more time. Or I could have had the kids get involved with some of the smaller tasks!

Really, each of the snacks took very little prep time but some required baking/cooking. It is so easy to throw something in the oven and then work on another snack.

Prep Time Breakdown

Setting up (Getting out ingredients, organizing refrigerator and clearing off counter space) 20 min

Chop Veggies 5 min

Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins 15 min prep (+ baking time)

Egg Sandwiches 15 min prep (+ bake time for eggs and bacon)

Protein Balls 10 min

Wash Fruit 5 min

Boil Eggs 2 min prep (+ cook time)

Drain Olives & Store in Tupperware 2 min

Quinoa 2 min prep (+ cook time)

Make Pesto and Store in Ice Cube Tray 15 min

Divide Pretzels Into School Snack Size Packets 5 min

Clean Up 20 min

= 116 minutes

Tips for Making Ahead Snacks

1. Pick snacks you know the family will eat. It’s always fun to try new recipes, but stick to some of your family’s favorites!
2. Consider doubling or tripling some of your favorites–do the extra work now to save time later!
3. Make room in the refrigerator and pantry for all the snacks!
4. Write down a list of EVERYTHING you will need. It might be easiest to make a separate trip to the store for all of your items so that you can focus on this ‘project’.
5. Do not forgot to have a lot of Ziploc bags and storage containers on hand!
6.  Select a time and day that you know you can commit to snack prepping. If you don’t have time to devote a solid few hours, you can break down the task into smaller increments! Don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of time you think it will take and forgo the whole thing altogether.
7. Involve the kids and save time. Or enjoy this activity on your own. I chose the latter and enjoyed the quiet time!
8. Make it a fun activity–play some music, listen to an podcast or watch a show!
9. Document all of the things you make so you can remember for future snack prepping!

*****************************************************************************

We have no excuse about making healthy snack choices this week! I am hoping I can take time to do make ahead snacks more often. I already have ideas about other snacks I can prep. Take a look at your menu plan for the week and see what you can do ahead of time. You will thank yourself later for getting some food prep out of the way!

What are some of your favorite make ahead snack ideas?