The Best Cheap Snacks from Our Taste Tests (All Under $5!)

The best snacks don’t break the bank. In fact, you shouldn’t have to spend more than five bucks on a seriously good snack. Luckily, through our numerous taste tests, we’ve discovered the best of the best cheap snacks. If it weren’t for these budget friendly snacks, our wallets would hate us. 

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Best Pretzels

Snyder’s of Hanover Snaps ($3.99)

Walmart

Target

The best pretzels we found in our taste test also qualify as a cheap snack. Snyder’s of Hanover Snaps look like little paned windows; they’re super snappy and fresh tasting and we kind of love that they stray from the traditional twisty pretzel format. These make perfect low-cal scoops for thick dips like hummus, too. 

Credit: Ryan Martin / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best BBQ Chips

Lay’s Southern Heat BBQ Chips ($2.50)

Walmart

Believe it or not, budget friendly snacks can be popular name brands. A bag of Lay’s Southern Heat BBQ Chips—our #1 best BBQ Chips three years in a row—is only $2.50 at Walmart. They’re honeyed and hot and super savory; we’ve likened the flavor to brisket burnt ends in the past. There’s no reason to settle for a mediocre bowl of BBQ chips when these exist. (And I’ll keep saying it: Walmart is the place to shop if you’re really trying to budget.) 

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Snacking Cheese

Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese Snacks ($4.99)

Target

Cheese is getting pricey, but if you keep an eye out for sales, you can still find one of our favorite snacking cheeses on sale for less than $5. This is medium cheddar but the flavor is pretty mild—perfect for kids’ lunchboxes. They’re creamy, fresh, and irresistible, and we love the firm texture. This is good cheese—and if you find it for less than five bucks, you should certainly stock up.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Granola Bar

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Almond Granola Bars (3.59)

Target

The best granola bars are sweet and salty—and we’re pleased to report that you can find them for around $3.50 a box. Given how many almonds are in the mix, we’re genuinely not sure how they’re still affordable, but we’re not going to screw this up by asking too many questions. These Nature Valley bars have a sweet almond butter coating on the bottom. Not exactly health food, but one of the best cheap snacks for sure.

Credit: Ryan Martin / Target

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Tortilla Chips

On The Border Cafe Style Tortilla Chips ($4.12) 

Walmart

We’ve tried so, so many tortilla chips in our many tortilla chip taste tests, and On the Border always hits just right. Their “cafe style” chips are thin and crispy, but sturdy enough to handle chunky salsa or queso. They have the perfect amount of salt and that tasty fresh-from-the-fryer flavor, even though they’re actually fresh from the snack aisle. A cheap snack that’s also a multipurpose snack? Sign us up.

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

10/10

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Best New Chips

​​Trader Joe’s Cashel Blue Cheese Irish Potato Chips ($2.99)

Trader Joe’s

If you haven’t tried these buttery blue cheese potato chips from Trader Joe’s, you’re missing out on a big cultural moment. These are a rising star in the snack world. A cult phenomenon in the making. They’re so rich and you get bit of blue cheese funk with every crunchy bite. If you’re buying these for a party, you will need at least two bags. These are genuinely irresistible and tragically only available seasonally, so keep an eye out when winter rolls around. (And if you can only find the Garlic Butter Irish Potato Chips instead, those are incredible, too.) 

Read our full review of Trader Joe’s Irish Blue Cheese Chips

Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s

Rating:

10/10

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Best Beef Stick

Chomps Original Beef Stick ($2.00)

Amazon

An individual Chomps beef stick has actually gotten cheaper since we first put together our ranking of the best meat sticks back in 2022. For two bucks you get grass fed and finished beef that tastes rich, clean, and flavorful. And you can add Chomps to your list of healthy cheap snacks since these have 10g of protein, zero sugar, and only 100 calories a stick. Chew on that! 

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Bagged Popcorn

Sprouts Organic Popcorn Lightly Buttered ($2.99)

Instacart

Bagged popcorn is never quite as good as movie theater popcorn (or even microwave popcorn), but you can beat the convenience—or the price. A bag of Sprouts Lightly Buttered Popcorn will only set you back around three bucks, and it really is much better than a lot of brands. No dinky kernels here. These are fat and flavorful and have just enough salt and butter to satisfy you without giving you a stomach ache. 

Credit: Ryan Martin / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Peanut Butter Cookie

Sprouts Peanut Butter Cookie Rolls ($4.99)

Affiliate

We fell in love with these long, delicate, flaky peanut butter cookie rolls from Sprouts. They have a buttery, cloudlike rolled cookie wafer on the outside and a lightly sweet peanut butter creme filling. They’re unique and elegant—if we lived in a time period where garden tea parties still existed, this is what you would serve. But I’ll settle for bringing them to holiday gatherings (and maybe a Bridgerton watch party).

Read our full ranking of the best peanut butter cookies

Credit: Liv Averett / Sprouts

Rating:

7.5/10

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Best Fancy Cookies

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Dipped French Butter Cookies ($2.99)

Trader Joe’s

Pro tip: Store these babies in the fridge for maximum satisfaction and minimum sticky chocolate on your fingers. I mean, it’s not necessary to enjoy these rich (but not too sweet) dark chocolate dipped butter cookies, which are somehow both sturdy and delicate in structure—immaculate work, TJ’s—but it does enhance the experience. Sometimes, the best cheap snacks taste really expensive, and that’s exactly what you’re getting here.

Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best Italian Ice

Luigi’s Cherry & Lemon Swirl + Blue Raspberry & Lemon Swirl ($3.13)

Walmart

Luigi’s Italian ice cups are deeply nostalgic; they taste like something you fished out of a convenience store freezer that you biked with your BFF to in the middle of summer. It’s not the most authentically fruity flavor profile, but for once, the bright artificial flavors work in their favor. They kinda taste like Airheads (in a good way). And since we’re talking about cheap snacks here, $3.13 for six cups is kind of an insane deal.

Read our full ranking of the best Italian ice 

Credit: Merc / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

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