Don’t Munch on Money: Frugal Snacks

My husband is usually very good about sticking to our budget and is supportive of our frugal lifestyle. But every so often he "falls off the wagon" and comes home with fast food or a couple of bags of chips. Of course, he's the big hero to our junk-food deprived daughters, but I get annoyed. I can feed our family of four at least two, possibly three, meals for what he paid for a bag of Doritos or a Big Mac and super-sized fries. I understand the "urge to splurge" on greasy, salty, crunchy junk food every now and then. I get cravings, too. But I refuse to believe you have to spend big bucks on expensive snack food to satisfy the munchies. Homemade alternatives are just as yummy. Here are some frugal snack recipes to try.

Popcorn - Popcorn is low in calories (until you load on the melted butter!) and cheap. I buy the biggest bag of store-brand unpopped corn that I can. Forget Orville Reddenbacher--I can live with a few old maids. Keeping the unpopped corn in the freezer will keep it fresher. I have a hot-air popper that I bought at a yard sale when I was in college. That $1.50 have served my family well for more than 10 year. I avoid microwave popcorn. It smells great but it's too salty for me--and too pricy. Instead, I confess, I drench my air-popped corn with melted butter. I buy the cheapest margarine I can find, in stick form, and melt it in a cup in the microwave. My mother-in-law saves bacon grease to re-use when popping corn on the stove. It gives it an unique flavor my husband loves.

Home-Made Potato Chips and French Fries - I bought my husband a deep fryer for Christmas last year to go with the onion blossom maker he also received. We still can't get the onion blossoms to work and the deep fryer isn't the healthiest of gifts but it satisfies his junk food cravings. I use it to make home-made potato chips and French fries. Using my food processor (I won it in a recipe contest), I thinly slice raw potatoes. I deep fry the chips and then drain them on my cookie cooling rack with some paper towels underneath to catch the grease. After I salt them, I put the home-made chips in brown lunch bags for easy serving. I make home-made French fries almost the same way except I partially cook the potatoes in the microwave first.

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