Home made popcorn is cheap. A bag of kernels is 1.50 a pound and makes tons of snacks. This is my primary SHTF crunchy salty snack solution.

I make home made fried bread and use it as donuts or the crust for homemade personal pizzas.

 

Freeze dried berries make excellent snacks. I especially like freeze dried raspberries. You can also freeze dry banana slices, ice cream sandwiches, Skittles, Jolly Ranchers, and more. On the non-freeze dried side of life, I love various nuts (especially pine nuts & Macadamia nuts); and Chomps meat sticks. I also enjoy chunks or slices of plain cheese (especially Provolone, smoked Cheddar, Gouda, and Pepper Jack).

 

Homemade tortilla chips with homemade salsa are a frugal, healthful snack made from preps.

 

We make pizza bread, slice of wheat berry bread, canned tomato paste / sauce, chopped sweet peppers, salami, onion, ham, whatever, some grated cheese - pop in toaster oven.

Kipper sandwich snacks - cut sliced sandwich cheese into 4 squares (1 slice = 2 to 4 treats) take a water cracker, lay one cheese on it, take a piece of kippers (I break the can into 8-10 pieces) thrn squirt of mustard (vary the type) on top, add second cheese layer, 2nd cracker. About 4 makes lunch. Don't kiss your spouse (or anyone else) for a few hours...

Hummis - canned garbonzo beans, add some taziki sauce and other stuff, I forget - go look it up. Then blend to a dip in a small food processor. Crackers or chips.

And of course the Amaretto brownies! (Recipie in the forum.)

Did I mention I gain a pound when I eat any of these... YMMV

 

Some canned fish has very little mercury, some sardines and kippered snacks, salmon, mackeral. Chunk light tuna has less.

Oatmeal for cookies, granola or trail mix, atole, porridge with cinnamon sugar and dried fruit and walnuts or almonds.

Chickpeas for hummas or roasted.

Kale chips.

Onigiri rice balls. I have a mold for making spam musabi. Also this style that makes balls the right size for wrapping with seaweed snacks nori. I got from Amazon but you can find a Japanese dollar store, there are a surprising number of them out there.
Happy Sales HSSM-ONGR5, Japanese Onigiri Mold Rectangular Sushi Press Nigiri Maker Rice Ball Mold Made in Japan

 

I would not consider a half a can of beans as a snack, but a side dish - part of a meal. Most freeze dried or dehydrated veggies and fruits can work as snacks - maybe season them before you process. Dehydrated thin sliced tomatoes with oregano, or cucumbers with garlic or dill powder work to give me something to crunch on.

 

Well, I’m not buying prepackaged specific snack foods right now with the high prices, and I am trying to eat healthier also. Do sometimes eat fresh fruit, but buy canned for preps. I like plain yogurt, but that won’t keep in a storm where the power goes out for a few days.

 

Tuna and crackers.

 

For a while we ate candy and crackers, the peanut butter and cheese spreads from fresh that the entrees weren't palatable anymore. The dried cranberry ones are like craisins.

 

Homemade salsa, mixed heavily with cream cheese. Makes a good, cheap dip with chips or even crackers.

 

I like jalapeno jelly on cream cheese.

 

Pickles. Lots of pickles.

 

This is actually why I dig mres. To get that lemon poppyseed or applesauce muffin or chocolate pudding or whatever it’s a different flavor and it’s kinda rewarding. Change with food is good

 

Crepes. Especially easy if you have a blender.

 

Dehydrated tomato slices with Everything Bagel seasoning, Italian seasoning,or in olive oil. Salted dehydrated Zuccini, dehydrated Strawberries dipped in Salsa- don't knock it 'till you tried it.

 

Drain a can of chickpeas/garbonzo beans and season them well. Pop in your air fryer if you have one and crisp. Makes a great crunchy snack. If you don't have an air fryer I'm sure an oven will do the job.

 

I like to have a few Brazil nuts in my pocket. Rich in Selenium and magnesium. 3 or 4 a day can be good for your brain and thyroid function and help you sleep and be regular. Overdoing it is not smart as in excess they can be toxic.

 

Brazil nuts are recommended for prostate, 1-3 nuts per day. Again warning about too much selenium.

 

Don't know where you heard that about canned fish. I don't think Mercury poisoning has been an issue in the oceans since the 60's and 70's when the Japanese had problems with the fish they were catching in Tokyo bay.

Re snacks: I freeze M&M plain and Peanut candies, Vacuum seal those in Mason Jars and also vacuum seal cashews and other nuts and dried fruits. I make apple and banana chips and grow fresh fruits and veggies. A neighbor has bees where we get honey and in late Spring or early Summer we can harvest prickly pear fruits and make jelly or eat them after burning off the glocids.

 

Don't know where you heard that about canned fish. I don't think Mercury poisoning has been an issue in the oceans since the 60's and 70's when the Japanese had problems with the fish they were catching in Tokyo bay.

It's still being recommended to limit fish, at least in the US.

Benefits of Eating Fish and Serving Sizes - MN Dept. of Health

 

Big tuna are well known for mercury contamination. Mostly from coal burning.
That Japanese issue was from a company dumping its waste over years. It ended in 1960 because of regulation of dumping and stopping of fishing in a specific bay.

 

Big tuna are well known for mercury contamination. Mostly from coal burning.
That Japanese issue was from a company dumping its waste over years. It ended in 1960 because of regulation of dumping and stopping of fishing in a specific bay.

Okay, well my wife and I only have it once a week or so, so no problem. We're in our mid 70's and it hasn't killed us yet.

 

I like to snack by grazing in the garden. Snow peas, rat-tailed radish seed pods, baby carrots, sprig of parsley, fruit. It depends on what is available in the garden.
The more I snack in the garden, the less likely I am to snack on the less healthy things, like cookies, cakes and chips when I go back inside.

 

Roasted garbanzo beans are pretty good

 

I still buy the bags of trail mix
I also make a mix of roasted coffee beans in dark chocolate, give you a good caffeine buzz when needed and last a long time