Inexpensive snacking

We like to take road trips and one thing I've always done is to pack our own snacks for road trips. DH has no problem hitting those gas station stores, but I shudder at the prices and they don't always have things I like. 

A few weeks ago, I discovered this Goldfish veggie crackers at Dollar Tree so I bought a bag. Now we don't eat much Goldfish, but we love carrots. I fell in love after eating this Goldfish and vowed to get more. Then the last 2 weeks Meijer had Goldfish crackers on sale for 79c and guess what was included? I bought a total of 15 bags. Let me tell ya, when I stockpile, I really STOCKPILE!...lol. Why, because this price is lower than DT and who knows when this sale will come around again.

15 x 79c = $11.85

Regular Retail $2.49 x 15 = $37.35

Total Savings : $25.50

They also had Juicy Juice on sale for $1.35. Now this is not our preferred brand (high sugars), but at that price I wasn't gonna be picky. I had 2 x 75c Qs and you also earn $2 Mperks (Meijer rewards) WYB $10 Juicy Juice

9 x 8pks Juice $12.15

Less 2  Qs (1.50)

OOP $10.65

Earned $2 Mperks, so $0.96 per pack or 12c per juice box

I also got a $1.75 CAT, but it didn't say what the CAT was for. I'm not sure if my transaction triggered it, or if the person ahead of me left it behind. 

Last month Kroger had Sunbelt granola bars for $1.29 during their ME sale. There was also an Ibotta rebate for $1 per box (limit 5). So I got 5 boxes for 29c each. Each box has 10 bars. I've never had this brand before, but decided to try it. They had me at Chocolate (yep, I'm a chocoholic)...lol

So let's just call it 3c per bar. 

I also stocked up on those Snyders pretzels at DT. 

We always keep fresh and dried fruit and also bottled water.

So what does this all come down to.

The Goldfish has 4 servings per bag. Lets round it up and say it's 20c per serving

A juice box is 12c

Granola bar 3c

Pretzels (I don't know how many servings but I'm figuring 8-10. In SA we eat much smaller servings), so 10c per serving

Fresh fruit - I get these at our super cheap produce market, so we always have a nice variety. I also buy our dried apricots there, because it cost $2-3 less than the grocery store. I think it's about $6 and we only eat about 3-4 pieces at a time. 

Raisins and bottled water are bought in bulk from Sams. 

So if you grab all of the above, it will probably cost around (or maybe less) $2 - $3 per person. This is way less than buying snacks at convenience stores. 

I've long since stopped buying individually packaged items (for the most part of least). DT had the 6ct individual packs of Snyders pretzels too, but I skipped that. I could see (without comparing the weight) that it was far less than the bigger bag. 

I like to pack snacks in my purse for when I have lots of errands to run too. It's way better than those impulse splurges.

Now I'm not trying to be a cheapskate. We can well afford to buy a quick lunch, but it all adds up. Besides, I'm sick of junk food and any reseller will tell you that when we're in the zone (especially when yard saling), we have no time to stop for fast food. Besides, I prefer my own cooking.