My family loves trail mix but it can be super pricey. And while it is certainly a better snack than most packaged foods I know I can make it healthier and cheaper than anything I can buy already made. For my older kids, I like to add dark chocolate espresso beans to the mix.

Here’s my reasoning, it’s nice to have a little treat in the mix but I don’t want it to overwhelm the mix and I want it to be easy to pick out. I usually see things like M&Ms in trail mix, but I think they kind of “take over” the mix. Espresso beans are larger and easy to pick out, also you’ll use less of them.

I like to include nutrient dense foods like goji berries, cranberries, nuts (macadamia, pecans, peanuts, almonds – whatever I happen to have or is on sale) and sunflower seeds and pepitas (pumpkin seeds).

Since those items can be pricey, I keep the costs down by using some homemade granola as the base and adding in home dehydrated apples and bananas when I have them.

Here’s the deal, trail mix isn’t really that filling. It’s a snack food and, just like chips or crackers, you start eating it and before you know it you’ve eaten the whole package. I really can’t afford to feed my family high dollar snacks so using homemade granola and home dehydrated fruits really cuts the cost.

For the homemade granola sometimes I use our slow cooker granola and sometimes I use the topping of our fruit crisp and bake it until it’s dry and crumbly. Both work well. 

What are some of your favorite ingredients for trail mix?

Thanks for sharing with your friends!