What's your favorite budget "little treat"?

Popcorn with garlic powder, Parmesan, and black pepper.

35¢ of ingredients for a gourmet-feeling snack.

Not sure if this counts as "little" because it has to go into the oven for 45mins... But it's assembled in under 5 minutes and you can get rid of your old bananas that already turned brown:

Banana bread

4 Bananas, 80ml (vegetable) oil, 80g sugar, 250g flour, 2tsp baking powder, 1tsp vanilla sugar, some chocolate (drops).

Smash the bananas, mix in all the other ingredients to a smooth dough. Find some chocolate from christmas that's still laying around in the house, crush it and mix it in.

Bake it at 170°C. Takes 40-50min in a loaf pan. Don't forget to grase the pan before or use baking parchment.

Doesn't need any fancy ingredients like milk or eggs. And you can pretty much wing it. You can also experiment, put some cinnamon or oat flakes in... And don't bake it too well, I think it's best when it's still a bit gooey and moist inside.

just a straight up orange. I fucking love oranges

Hint of Lime Tostitos and guacamole. I could eat an entire bag, which is why I rarely buy them.

Banana milk! 1 ripe banana, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 1 tbsp maple syrup, a few drops of vanilla extract, blend and pour through a sieve over ice. So refreshing and very cheap.

Vegan chocolate chip cookie. I'm not vegan, but cutting dairy completely was a major daily health improvement. Tried it once for a few weeks and never went back.

Brown soda bread made with buttermilk, still warm from the oven with butter and good cheddar. So comforting. It's like tasting my childhood again.

Marshmallow Creme

Cheap popsicles. Relatively low calories (<100 depending on the brand), take a while to eat, and are extremely cheap.

If you make your own you can drive the price and Calories even lower and drive the flavor way up.

Side note: I just learned "popsicle" is the brand name and not a term for the food. Kind of like saying Kleenex instead of tissue. I had no idea, I've just always called them popsicles.

DIET COKE

Raw mushrooms dipped in Hidden Valley are pretty good.. I love how they pop lightly when your teeth pass through them. You also can't go wrong with a peanut butter and banana sandwich..

I have a copycat recipe for Taco Bells quesadilla sauce that is dirt cheap to make. I've probably made 30 liters of it in my lifetime. Smear that on a mini flour tortilla with some Great Value grilled chicken strips (no doubt made with tortured chickens to keep the price low) and a bit of shredded cheese (cheddar and monteray jack) and you've got one hell of a tasty quesadilla to fry up.

Here's the recipe for the sauce. Let me know if you get around to making it. Would love to know what you think.

1 cup mayo (I use Helman's 1/2 fat)

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp pickled jalapeno juice (from Old El Paso pickled jalapeños)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

A dash of salt

And how ever many diced pickled jalapeños you see fit

I've been making Alton Brown's seedy date bars. Not too much prep, and quick to snag and enjoy! Maybe 170 calories per bar

This is a weird one, but hear me out. Undiluted cold brew coffee mixed with chocolate meal replacement powder and milk. The powder and milk make it really foamy when mixed and it tastes so good; it would probably also be amazing blended with ice.

I don't tend to eat until later in the day so this has the added benefit of making me feel less guilty for forgetting to eat.

Also, frozen pudding cups are yummy.

Chopped, frozen strawberries in milk. Sometimes with maple syrup. Cream if I'm feeling rich.

Instant oats + brown sugar or maple syrup + seeds and/or nuts

Vanilla yogurt with crisp rye bread / tack crumbled into it, with bilberries (forest blueberry). The sour crunchy tack, vanilla and the sweet berries compliment each other nicely.

Edit: oh and the bilberries must come straight from the freezer, thats crucial.

Adding a splash of heavy cream to my cereal.

kinder bueno icecream perhaps?

Real popcorn popped in a pot with olive oil and sea salt. Dead easy and cheap.

Toast with butter and brown sugar. Super cheap, super good, and basically ingredients almost every household has.

Chicory salad with tomato, egg and home made mayo. Apart from salt and pepper those are the only ingredients.

It's either chocolate milk shake or chocolate cake which is relatively cheap near my place 60 for ms and 15-30 rs for cake. But if I feel I need more I get a waffle with white + normal chocolate.

We don't keep bread in the house anymore but occasionally I want cinnamon toast. Nuke a little butter, mix in sugar & cinnamon, enjoy on saltines. It's a little messy because the sugar and butter won't completely emulsify but it scratches that itch when I'm baked.

I always buy bananas and wait for them to get brown, and make banana milk with them. I'll try to freeze them and also add oats, that sounds really good

Cream of wheat made with whole milk and a dab of salted butter.

Not very sweet but very rich, warm, and filling

I just go to Dollarama and get a snack . Only place I can still get get snacks for about $1 each these days.

The free popcorn at Les Schwab

It's either something gummy like swedish fish or sour patch kids, or I take the time to properly make some cookies.