Bake It -- Don't Buy It: Homemade Snacks

I have two recipes to share today: homemade chex mix and homemade granola bars. I have been making the chex mix for a while now, while the granola bars I just tried this week. We seem to eat a lot of snacks around here, so I love being able to easily make some homemade. Aside from the cost factor, the homemade versions are usually much healthier, and I know all the ingredients that go into them.

My husband likes everything spicy, so I use this recipe for chex mix. However, I normally just use the chex cereal, instead of adding the pretzels and other add-ins. My husband says the chex are his favorite part, and that just makes it simpler anyway.

I have developed my own method of mixing in the seasoning. I dribble the butter mixture a teaspoonful at a time over the bowl of chex and then mix thoroughly before adding more. It's a little bit tedious, but then I avoid the phenomenon of the sauce just soaking into a few pieces and leaving the rest dry.


I also bake the mixture instead of microwaving it. I bake it at 300 for about a half hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so.



Final Analysis: This is quick and easy to make and saves a decent amount of money over prepared chex mix. However, you could raise the cost of the homemade version if you used a recipe with more ingredients.

Approximate costs:

Store bought: $2.89 for 8.75oz. I'm going to guess that's maybe 4 cups, so that would make it $.72/cup.

Homemade: $2.70 for 12 cups ($.08/cup) (using Wegmans brand chex cereal)


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I developed this recipe for granola bars myself, using one I found in Taste of Home a while ago as a guide. It is probably not the healthiest granola bar recipe out there, but I was trying as much as possible to replicate the Quaker chewy granola bars that we usually buy, in order to get a good price comparison.

I mixed about 6 cups of old fashioned oats with chocolate chips.


Then I heated 2/3 cup corn syrup with 1/4 cup brown sugar. I boiled it for about a minute, then stirred in about 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Then I poured it over the oat mixture and thoroughly stirred.

Then I patted into a greased 9 inch square pan and let it harden for several hours.


Then I simply lifted the whole piece out of the pan with a fork and cut it into bars on a cutting board. I was trying to replicate the size and shape of the Quaker bars, but as you can see I forgot how small they are!


Final Analysis: This is another easy recipe, and infinite variations could be created. I plan to try it with fruit, nuts, and seeds as well. However, the money saved is not huge if you usually get your granola bars on rock-bottom deals. Nevertheless, this might be worth making for the taste
and health factors alone.


Approximate costs:


Store bought - $2.50 for 10 small bars ($.25/bar); occasionally as low as $1.50 for 10 (with sale and coupon) ($.15/bar)


Homemade - $1.52 for 12 much bigger bars ($.13/bar)