Dairy Free Snacks

Last week, as I was checking my son's homework, I couldn't figure out why we were missing a reading log.  I knew we had done homework every night this week, but we were still missing one.  Several minutes into my search, I realized it was only Wednesday.  I must have been in a big hurry for Friday to get here.  Honestly, I was.  It's a super busy season and this mamma rushed into Spring Break like it's the Christmas morning.  Well, it kind of is.  Seven days of minimal plans and time with my kids and I am ready. Today we have declared it movie day, complete with popcorn and sour patch kids and later brownies and ice cream (after dinner!). 

But, while I am sitting here watching Hook, I thought I would write a quick blog post.  I've been finding more and more really amazing snacks out there that are both dairy free and soy free and often times gluten free which has been awesome.  I also want to preface this by saying we live in a really awesome time with so many companies who are making the switch to cleaner ingredients, which means they are often making the switch away from soy based ingredients.  But, also a lot of these companies are getting really creative with what they can do to make it dairy free. These are more often than not, smaller companies and they are awesome!  My tummy is so thankful for these people!

All of the snacks in today's post are approved by four of us. Which is a big deal.  Go back a few years and there wasn't a whole lot to pick from and what was there was pretty much nasty.  So, when I can buy something that the whole family will and can eat together, I call that a win!

It's also been a while since I've done a dairy free post, even though I am constantly finding and posting over on instagram (they are all saved to my highlights), I thought I would share some recent finds that are great snack foods perfect for lunches or a quick treat.  Most of these we keep in our house regularly and also in our son's classroom when he can't have what someone else brings. . . like cupcakes. 

Siete is a fun brand that has figured out how to make the best chips dairy free, soy free, and grain/gluten free.  And seriously, they are amazing!  They also have some really great queso and I've heard their tortillas are to die for (we aren't gluten free, so I can't bring my self to spend the money on them. . . but if you are it's probably worth it!).  These are currently Weston's favorite thing and I kind of left a bag out the other day (it was a smaller bag), but he almost ate the whole thing!  You can find these at Whole Foods and Sprouts. 

Another brand that is doing such a great job is Miyokos. (we are obsessed with their butter) and then I bought their vegan roadhouse cheese spread and it pretty good!  It's kind of like some easy cheese or one of those cheese balls that people buy around the holidays.  Weston loves to eat it with some crackers or pretzels as an afternoon snack. 

Paleo Puffs "No Cheese" Cheesiness snacks are awesome!  I've been curious since I've seen instagramers post this find at Expo West and I almost squealed with joy when I found them at Whole Foods last week.  Weston has been munching on them ever since and we will definitely be buying these again and again! 

Cauliflower Crackers are one of my favorite finds!  These are pretty similar to Cheese-its.  They are smaller and crunchier, but taste really good!  Plus if they are made out of vegetables, my kid is getting his veggies, right?  Weston and I really liked these and I found them on sale, so that was a win.  I found these at Sprouts and they were less than $3, even on sale these are still pretty inexpensive compared to a lot of other snacks out there! 

Not pictured: Simple Mills makes some really delicious cookies and crackers that are soy, dairy, and gluten free and don't taste like saw dust.  They are really good and we all eat them and nobody notices that they are gluten free.  In fact, I served them at Weston's birthday party and nothing was left over!  I don't think they even noticed! 

And last but not least here are some of our favorite fruit snacks and granola bars.

Granola Bars: 

We love Made Good.  They are free of the top 8 or so food allergens, which is a huge plus. Also, they sneak in some veggies that Weston has no idea about.  So, sure, have a chocolate granola bar. . . eat those veggies as mom laughs quietly to herself. 

We have also found that Annies organic granola bars and Kind Kids bars are dairy free and soy free. 

Weston loves kids RX bars, which a great because not only do they not have dairy or soy or grains, but they also have no sugar and keep them full longer.  We like to keep these on hand when we are traveling just in case there's not an option for Weston and it holds him over while we eat and can get him something for him. 

Food Stirs also makes a great granola bar mix (super easy!) and they are also dairy and soy free.

Fruit Snacks:

Annies Bunnies are our go-to.  They use fruit juice and don't use colors with numbers to make them and I'm pretty sure the sugar content is a little lower (but don't hold me to that. . . I haven't double checked).

Yum-Earth makes some amazing sweet snacks.  Their fruit snacks are super clean and they are constantly coming out with alternatives for the holidays.  Just this Easter, I found sour jelly beans (in a carrot like bag as well as the giant easter egg).  We are also huge fans of their cinnamon bears.  They don't use high fruitcose corn syrup and food dyes (i'm not a fan of food dyes). 

Bear Real Fruit Yo Yo's are the kids favorite snacks.  These are fairly new on the market and I hope they stay.  The only ingredients are the fruit they use.  That it.  They come on a trading card that has country facts and you can collect them.  My kids are obsessed! You can also save each UPC code and send them in for cool things, but they never make it home.  Oops.


And that's it!  Now time for me to wrap this up so I can go finish the endless cycle of laundry and maybe catch the end of Hook.  I hope that helps with your dairy free snack questions!