Simple Vegan Snacks | Easy Back To School Meal Prep for the week - Blog Vegan

I've been asked for snacks and what better time to serve some up than back to school season. 

All three of these options today are easy to make vegan snacks that can be double or triple batched and even frozen for a delicious snack at your finger tips in seconds.

Vegan Granola Bars

Back to school and it's not until you become a parent and have kids that you realize the quiet cacophony that goes into the inconspicuous planning of back to school.

I could explain it but it's not the same.

I remember back in grade school.

My mom would make me lunch every single day and it was the one thing she never had to plan for because it was the same exact thing every time.

Peanut butter, the crunchy kind and jelly on white bread sliced diagonally.

That triangle slice was for you know Gripping? No snacks though.

I actually have a funny story that I'll mention in the next segment.

Homemade Granola Bar Tips

This recipe is three basic ingredients at its core and everything else are simply add ins.

A natural nut or seed butter, liquid sweetener of your choice and whole rolled oats.

I basically put oats in everything except for dinner but don't tempt me.

For the seed or nut butter, you're looking for that real natural runny stuff.

You know, where like the oil separation happens and I typically just use a fork to consolidate everything.

This isn't only to add healthy fats and protein into the mix but to provide that lesser known service of binding the ingredients together while it's accompanied by your liquid sweetener.

From there, you add oats and any other addition you want to put in which is reasonably the best part.

Granola bars are like the chameleon of snacks and they will hire you to create them with little to no creative background necessary.

Despite that, for those looking for direction on, you know, what kind of candy bars you should make, granola bars.

Choose a theme.

Maybe you want it high protein packed.

So, you could go with like a bunch of mixed nuts or maybe even some seeds.

You can do an antioxidant heavy one.

For me, that would look like a blend of, you know, probably mixed berries or just make it easy and copy your favorite kind bar out there.

How to make crunchy granola bars

That however, does bring up a good point.

These bars are the soft and chewy type.

Nevertheless, you can make them crispy like Nature Valley bars that you bite and the whole thing just shatters like glass and goes everywhere and all you have left is like one more bite where your fingertips were gripping the bar.

Those bars are like first date material.

Bake the bars at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Once it cools, head on over to a freshly clean carpet and take a bite of that bar.

Whoever just cleaned it is going to love you.

Vegan Chocolate Cups

My Middle School Crush - Funny story, in about sixth or seventh grade, for about 2 months, I started stashing my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches underneath my bed.

Well, it was like the first day of school and it was this girl.

I know what you're thinking.

What color were her eyes, right? Yeah, I don't know.

This girl and I, we used to stare at each other in class and she was my girlfriend for like eight weeks.

Although I still hadn't said hi yet but I could tell I would never see her in the cafeteria so it was clear she didn't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just for context I might have been the only kid eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of like a couple hundred so I started taking mine home and because I felt guilty started putting them under my bed one day I sit in a complete different part of the cafeteria never sat there before but I find the girl and yeah she's eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it's cut down the middle and she had a snack.

I was so upset I broke it off with her.

She just doesn't know.

Variation Ideas

Yeah. So inspired by my middle school crush and TikTok are these chocolate delights.

Back then I felt like only the cool kids had snacks.

Or the ones that could afford it.

But these bite size treats not only are pocket friendly.

They're a blend between candy and healthy snack.

I'm starting things off with a banana but you could really have fun with this and pretty much just mix things up.

You could use a cherry, you know a strawberry or maybe even some blueberries or combination of all of it then there's the addition of nuts or seeds, dried fruit, spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe on the banana I feel like a rapper I'm just kind of you know spitting these ideas off the top.

The chocolate chips I'm using are from Walmart and they are top nine free although on the bag it references top eight free and it comes in semi sweet, dark chocolate and white chocolate.

And the idea here is don't make it complicated, just have fun.

As you can see, the options are endless and really can go as far as your mind will travel.

Vegan Energy Bites 

Why you should try these snacks ?

Today's snacks have been geared towards back to school but there's absolutely no reason you couldn't use them for back to work or hiking or traveling you know anything of that sorts.

Snacks often get overlooked.

They're seen as between the scenes kind of material.

The classic I need to make it to my next meal.

What can I have in between? And this may not be for everyone but snacks play a crucial part in fueling the machine.

You know that two, three o'clock feeling.

You could spend your precious money on costly, small, bite-sized bottles that can help get you in the spirit or spend significantly less money and make small, long-lasting energy bites.

Some people call them energy balls but there's still a middle school kid in me that won't let me say that with a straight face.

While this recipe can be made in 5 minutes, once you take a bite, they just could not be ready fast enough.

Whatever you do, just don't rush the process.

These bites are basically granola bars just smashed into a ball and similar to them, the nut butter and sweetener are playing a part in binding the ingredients together but where you may want to rush it is in the refrigeration process.

So, I recommend at least letting them sit for just about an hour before you touch em.

In this recipe, I use normal-sized chocolate chips but if you and find like the mini chips, I like them better because the chocolate can become more of a noticeable part of the ingredients rather than playing the part of like a cohesive team to make a good flavor.

You saw me make somewhere between nine and 10 of these bites and the cookie scoop I was using is two and a half to three tablespoons.

I do that when I'm making them for myself.

When I'm making them for the kids, I actually use a smaller cookie scoop.

Somewhere between I want to say like one and a half to two tablespoons and that obviously will make the ingredients go even further.

How long do these snacks last?

Each one of the recipes today, you can store in the refrigerator or in the freezer.

As for the granola bars and the bites, I would definitely use a piece of parchment paper or wax paper just in between them if you're planning to stack them together.

This is going to prevent them from sticking to each other and pretty much just becoming like one large glob of something.

They will keep for about a week or two in the refrigerator in the freezer.

You can have them for a few months.

All the recipes are linked in the description except for the chocolate cups which maybe written out until I get that recipe up on the website.

I make videos once a week.

If you need inspiration before that, don't forget to head over to the website, Make It Dairy Free.

com listed here on the screen.

Also, don't forget to check out my last video if you missed it.

I truly appreciate you.

Until next time.

Believe in good.