If you’re a parent on a budget in the United States — and really, who doesn’t fit into this category?! — chances are you frequent Costco to stock up on food, household items and so, so much more. We already know you love a good Costco meal hack, but what about kid-friendly snacks?
With the school year rapidly approaching, we asked the Scary Mommy Facebook audience for some of their kids’ favorite snacks (and snacks they love to buy their kids) that will zhuzh up any lunch box. Here’s what they had to say.
Uncrustables, Pirate’s Booty, Kirkland chocolate caramel granola bars, Kirkland applesauce pouches, BelVita bars, Goldfish crackers, Bear Fruit rolls, Parmesan Whisps, Laughing Cow cheese. We like Costco snacks. Always try to throw in fruit and/or a vegetable too… — Juli Carey
Organic apple sauce in a single-serving pouch. We freeze them and use one a day as an ice pack for my son’s lunch and an extra fruit in his lunch box. I would rather him throw away a $0.25 apple sauce pouch (accidentally) rather [than] a $1 ice block that takes up room in the lunch box also. — Eric-Nee Neuendorf
Heavenly Hunks for my Celiac pre-teen; they are soooo good. — Dennay Bedard
Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars! — Tiffany Lee
The seaweed individual packages. My kids call them the healthy chips. — Ashli Collinsworth Shockley
Archer meat sticks. My 12yo LOVES them. No sugar, high in protein, helps fill in on days that are otherwise carb-heavy. Nori (dried seaweed) packs. Favorite and she takes two to share. — Brittany Casanave Doerpfeld
Chicken Breast Bites by Fresh Additions brand; he eats them in the pack or in a wrap. — Marisa Rodriguez
MadeGood granola balls, Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars, Kirkland pouches, hummus & Stonefire Mini Naan, Hippeas, Aussie Bites. — Nicole Gilbert
Individual hummus cups, mini naans, thin pretzels, and baby carrots. Plus a mini Gala apple on the side. She’s vegetarian so this is her go-to lunch. — Sunita Thaker
Those little red cheeses. Chocolate snacks like Nutella Go, Panda Bites, or Pocky. Single-serving hummus. — Jenne Giles
My daughter has Celiac disease, and luckily, our Costco has a lot she can have: Simple Mills almond crackers; Bobos PB&Js; That’s It bars; MadeGood granola bites; Clean protein bars; CocoRolls; tortilla chips; Heavenly Hunks. — Kori Wendt
Pain au chocolat, various granola bars, single-serve guacamole and humus, yogurt cups, single-serve olive cups, apple sauce pouches, peanut butter pretzels, dried seaweed, Naked Juice. — Joyce Lauderdale Collins
Undone bars, Wilde protein chips, Chomps beef sticks, Goldfish crackers. — Julie Shultz Bartlett
Fruit, salads, salami, eggs (hard-boiled them at home), B-ready, fig bars, nuts, yogurt tubes, hummus or guacamole single servings, Goldfish, rotisserie chicken for chicken salad, Wild Planet tuna fish, bread, peanut butter, chips, plantain chips, yogurt smoothies. — Nina Kennicott Comazzi
Belvitta crunchy, Hippeas, Off the Eaten Path chickpea veggie crisps, soft & chewy granola bars, Orgain kids protein shake. — Zsuzsi Vecsei
The little blue bags of chocolate chip cookies! — Jill Howard-Donlan
Babybel cheese, dehydrated mango strips (the no sugar added ones), Chops meat sticks, organic cashews, organic cucumbers, fresh berries. — Deidra Craig Pipho
My kids love Bear Paws and the new Welch’s Juicefuls. — Pamela Vandermey
Noka pouches, seaweed, Chewy chocolate chip granola bars, Fairlife chocolate protein drink. — Sabine Wessler Mooney
Single-serve Siete chips!! Best chips ever! — Dana Pacey
Shelf-stable chocolate milk, applesauce pouches, yogurt pouches, granola bars, Z bars, cocktail cucumbers, potstickers, chocolate-covered raisins. He goes through a bag of the cocktail cucumbers in like four days. And I love packing him a chocolate milk every day. He gets a little treat and I can pack in some more protein during his very busy days. — Verhanika Willhelm
A Triple Zero yogurt and a Muscle Milk every day. — Gina Stanford
Fairlife protein shakes, single servings of mozzarella balls, squeeze applesauce, yogurt pouches. — Erin Conrad Cooper
That’s it Fruit Bars, Iogo mini drinkable yogurts, marble cheese strings, turkey pepperettes, Panda cookies. — Anna Kornits
Squeak’rs Cheese Curds! — Anna Hall
Chomps; Hippeas; Protein Balls; Kodiak granola bars; Simple Mills crackers; Kirkland protein granola bars; Cape Cod Chips; Dried, unsweetened, unsulfured mango; mixed nuts; Loacker Italian cookies; Archer Minis. — Melissa Forte Epstein
Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
