My 4 favorite easy homemade zero waste snacks.

 

I LOVE to have snacks around the house for me, for my kiddos, and for their friends that come over to play.  Snacks are the best! H-anger, be gone!

 

But it can be hard to find snacks that aren’t packaged in plastic.  Like crackers. I miss buying crackers. Ya feel me?

 

So I’ve slowly built up a little repertoire of easy homemade zero waste snacks I can whip up when needed to feed me and any hungry pint-sizers.  And today I’m sharing my 5 favorites!

 

These are amazing because they are:

1. KID FRIENDLY!
2. EASY!
3. VEGAN!
4. GLUTEN FREE!

And

5. DELICIOUS!

 

So let’s get started!  

Here are my 4 favorite easy homemade zero waste snacks.

 

4.  Cashew cheese on ANYTHING! (carrots, sweet peppers, celery, cauliflower, bagels, bread, tortilla chips, etc etc.)

 

I got this recipe from Minimalist Baker and make it ALL.THE.TIME.  The awesome thing about it is that it only takes about 10 minutes to make it.  No nut soaking required. And you can make it on any blender or food processor – no fancy or powerful equipment required.  AND it works great even if you don’t have all the ingredients – just use what you have.

 

The way I make it, it comes out like a thick spread.  You can also add hot water to make it more saucy and dip-like.  But the spread is great for a quick snack with ANYTHING.

 

So here it is:  

 

Easy Vegan Cashew Cheese (adapted from Minimalist Bakers Easy Vegan Mexican Cashew Cheese):

 

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup raw cashews (I get these in bulk and keep them in my freezer)

3 T nutritional yeast (or less, if you realize last minute you’re almost out of it!)

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp garlic powder (or none – I never have this stuff on hand)

½ tsp cumin

1 pinch chili powder

1 chipolte in adobo or any salsa or hot sauce you have on hand

1 T olive oil or more for blending (if you don’t have a super powerful blender)

Optional: water to help blend (I ALWAYS have to add a little water to get it blended because we don’t have a super fancy blender)

 

Instructions:

Put it all in a blender and blend it up!  Ta-da! Done! And sooo good.

 

Like I said, this stuff is great with sooo many things.  And it keeps pretty well in the fridge too.

 

3.  Nut butter energy balls

These are SO yummy and filling and satisfying.  Bonus: they also satisfy your sweet tooth! These are probably the most involved to make of all of these easy snacks, but you can definitely whip up a dozen of these in about 10 minutes.  You can also customize these to your liking and swap out or cut out some ingredients.

 

This is also based on a Minimalist Baker recipe.  What can I say, I love her food!

 

Ingredients:

About 1 cup dates (a mix of raisins and dried apricots work too if you don’t have dates!)

3 T nut butter (peanut, almond, or other)

¼ c chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 T chia seeds (or your favorite seeds)

⅔ c gluten free oats (or whatever oats you have)

Optional: shredded coconut, maple syrup or honey

 

Instructions:

Blend the dates or other dried fruit into small bits.

Add everything else and pulse it together.

Roll it into balls as big or small as you like.  

Optional: roll the balls in shredded coconut.

Optional: put them in the fridge to set, or just start eating them!

 

So good.  Totally worth the 15 minutes to make them.

 

2. Roasted chickpeas

Okay, these are super fast to prep!  But do you need to have some chickpeas on hand.  We cook a big pot of chickpeas about every other week.  Sometimes we freeze some, but usually we eat them up pretty fast.  I love to make bean salads with them, and we also do a lot of chana masalas and soups.  Gotta love the chickpea – such a flexible little bean.  So, if you don’t already, this might be another staple to add to your fridge.

 

And here’s the recipe for easy, no fuss roasted chickpeas:

 

Ingredients:

Chickpeas (however many you want to make)

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Any other spices you want to add

 

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 or 425 F (depending on how hot your oven gets).

Put your chickpeas on a clean dish towel and roll them around to dry them out.

Spread them onto a baking sheet, making sure they aren’t too crowded.  

Drizzle them with olive oil, and add salt, pepper, and any other spices.

Toss them around a little on the sheet so the seasoning spreads around.

Bake them for 15-30 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like them.

*Note that you will want to stir them around a couple times while they bake.

 

These are SO good.  I’ll eat them on their own or add them to a salad.  Yum yum.

 

1. POPCORN!

This is my all time favorite easy homemade zero waste snack.  Hands down. I probably eat popcorn about 3 times a week. Seriously.  I love it. Kids love it too.  Duh.

 

I make sure to have popcorn kernels on hand ALL of the time.  For me, the easiest way to pop it is with an air popper, which you can probably find at a thrift store.  I like to then drizzle olive oil, nutritional yeast, and salt on it. SO GOOD!

You can also pop it on the stove in coconut oil – also delicious!  You have to keep a close eye on it, though, and constantly shake your pot as it pops.  It might also take you a few tries to figure out the best heat to pop it at – sometimes I have lots of leftover kernels when I pop this way, sometimes they burn.  I definitely haven’t mastered this technique, but it sure turns out tasty!

 

Another easy popping technique is with a paper bag in the microwave.  You can reuse the bag a few times. Add the seasoning after you pop it.  Yum and easy!

 

So there you have it – my 4 favorite easy homemade zero waste snacks.  Do you make some of these too? Or do you have some favorites of your own?  Let me know in the comments! I love hearing from you.

 

Thanks for reading!

Liz