Smiley Saturday time again. If you want to join in then click on the Smiley Saturday link above and head over to Lightenings to enter your Smiley Saturday link.
I’m smiling this week because after months of struggling to find ways to fill hubby’s lunch box I’ve finally stumbled across something that is
A. Easy to prepare
B. Healthy
C. Inexpensive
See Hubby works 12 hour shifts with 2-3 hours of travelling time. He gets pretty hungry. Plus he has to walk past the food hall at the train station and often gets tempted by Hungry Jacks – especially on the way home.
He takes in a frozen meal for lunch, sometimes even two meals if he has not had a chance to eat breakfast. But the snacks were eluding me. We’d tried muffins, yogurt, various bars and nothing really worked.
Some snacks cost to much per individual serve or were not very filling. Other snacks were too messy to eat or difficult to transport to and from work without getting squished in his bag.
Then I stumbled across Scroggin and tried my hand at making it. I’ve since mixed the ingredients up a bit and we now have a very successful snack.
Here are the ingredients for todays batch and cost breakdown.
| Rice Crackers 250g | $2.60 |
| Pepitas 250g | $2.70 |
| Sunflower Seeds 250g | $2.20 |
| Papaya Diced 375g | $3.10 |
| Dried Apple 200g | $3.63 |
| Dried Peel 200g | $2.43 |
| Dried Sultanas 1kg | $4.74 |
| Salted Peantus 750g | $6.46 |
| Choc Drops 250g | $1.52 |
| Seeded Raisins 375 | $3.79 |
| Crystalised Ginger 250g | $3.55 |
| Total | $36.72 |
| Price per bag (made 31 bags) | $1.18 |
I’m pretty darn happy with this result. Hubby takes in one bag a day, it keeps his belly full so he’s not tempted to spend $7 or more on a snack at Hungry Jacks. 
Each bag contains 1 cup of Scroggin – I used my 1 cup measure to make sure I was exact. Took me half an hour to open each bag and tip it into a big bowl, mix it together and then spoon out into ziplock bags.
All the sugar and stuff from the dried fruit does not make it the healthiest snack in the world but it sure beats Hungry Jacks 
. Best bit of all IMHO is that I’m not spending hours in the kitchen.
Another reason to smile – Breakfast.
I’ve been enjoying delicious tomato on toast for breakfast the last couple of days thanks to the fabulous people at Aussie Farmers Direct and their lovely tomatoes. No butter on my toast either because the wonderful people at Coles Online gave me some free Onion and Chive Philly Cheese spread and it is divine. Mmmmm actually I think I’m in the mood for a little snack right now….
12 responses so far ↓
Christie @ fig&cherry // August 30, 2008 at 10:15 am |
Such a great idea! You know the best thing about it? The 1 snack lasts for a long time because he’s munching on all the separate little things. It lasts much longer than just stuffing a muffin into your mouth in two bites! Really clever.
To make it healthier I’d sub the salted peanuts with unsalted cashews, brazil nuts or pistachios.
Joanne // August 30, 2008 at 11:00 am |
That is a great idea, my kids snack on the school snacks after school, leaving nothing left for school, so frustrating and often means multiple trips to the supermarket.
leechbabe // August 30, 2008 at 12:46 pm |
Christie – The little bitness* of it was what appealed to me. So much more work to eat it all.
Will keep in mind your suggestion about the nuts.
*sorry about the word creation, couldn’t find the right term.
Joanne – The lunch snacks kept flying out the house before this. Hubby would take a whole box of breakfast bars instead of just 1 or 2 bars and he’d eat them in a couple of bites.
Princess // August 30, 2008 at 12:52 pm |
That’s awesome, Marita. Looking at hubby’s tummy, and mine (although I almost didn’t want to admit it), that recipe is exactly what we need, too. Tomato on toast? I will surely be tempted to add a slice of ham.
Thank you so much for those very healthy recipes. Those are worth more than a thousand smiles.
Melanie // August 30, 2008 at 2:20 pm |
We love Scroggin too. Sometimes ours is even quite festive, though not as cheap!
journeyer01 // August 30, 2008 at 4:04 pm |
I’ve never heard of Scroggin. I’ll have to give it a try – I’m always trying to find something to fill hubby’s tummy as well
leechbabe // August 31, 2008 at 8:02 am |
Princess – I hope the scroggin is successful at your place also
Melanie – Festive Scroggin, that is a fabulous idea. I’m hosting Christmas this year and thinking I could make up festive scroggin for one of the snacks.
Journeyer – Is scroggin in Australia and I think called trail mix in the USA. You might have heard of it but with a different name.
Barbara // August 31, 2008 at 8:51 am |
Those snacks for your DH sound great. He is seriously a super hero, working those kind of shifts. You’re BOTH super heroes, in my little book!
Pure Evyl // August 31, 2008 at 9:16 am |
It sounds good. I usually just make up a big batch of gorp. Good ol’ raisins and peanuts. I’ll have to give this a try.
lightening // August 31, 2008 at 1:12 pm |
That’s great about the snack!!!
Now I feel like tomato on toast too!
Thanks as always for your wonderful contribution to Smiley Saturday.
sean // September 1, 2008 at 2:15 am |
woah! 12 hr shifts and 2-3 hrs commute. Hope you have dinner waiting for him when he gets home.
*gasp – sexist pig*
just joking
leechbabe // September 1, 2008 at 9:54 am |
Evyl – Welcome and thank you for visiting. Gorp sounds good for weeks when the budget wont stretch to scroggin.
Lightening – Tomato on toast is good, give in to the craving.
Sean – Thanks for visiting my blog. He does have dinner waiting usually. Can be an odd experience preparing dinner for someone at what is my breakfast time. Joys of nightshifts.