19 Nut Free Snacks to Take on the Go
It might feel challenging to come with nut free snacks that safe, tasty, and easy to take on the go. And it’s not just allergy sufferers who have to worry about finding good nut free snacks. Many (although not enough) elementary schools have nut free policies to help protect students. And, let’s face it, if you don’t have a nut allergy yourself, it can be even harder to find some safe, nut free snacks.
There are tons of granola bars, protein bars, packaged cookies, and muffins available. But if you read the ingredients you will find that most of these contain nuts. Even if nuts aren’t in the particular bar you’ve picked out, you also need to watch out for cross-contamination. One peanut butter variety often renders the entire brand unsafe.
If you are shopping for nut free snacks for the first time here’s what to look out for. You want to avoid any products that list specific nuts as an ingredient: peanuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, filberts, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc . . . You also want to avoid any nut butters. Peanut butter is the most common. But almond butter and cashew butter have come on strong in recent years. And hazelnut spread, like Nutella, is also a no go.
A Note about Cross Contamination
The other thing you want to avoid is cross contamination. (Not all allergy sufferers worry about this, but unless you are specifically told that cross contaminated foods are okay you should avoid all cross contamination). If you see a statement like: “Made in a facility that all uses peanuts and tree nuts” or any of the specific nuts, you should also steer clear.
This is common in baked goods. You might think “Oh, I’ll just grab these chocolate chip muffins because there are no nuts in them.” But if they also make banana walnut muffins in the same facility there is a risk that some of the walnuts wound up in the chocolate chip muffins.
Luckily, it’s really not that hard to fund nut free snacks when you know where to look. And you can get all of these snacks in a regular grocery store. Trust me–I don’t have access to fancy stores. Our grocery store is as basic as it gets. But I can grab most of these things in Walmart.
19 Nut Free Snacks
- Goldfish
- Herr’s pretzel rods
- Lays potato chips
- Enjoy Life Cocoa Loco Bars
- Made Good Chocolate Chip Granola bars
- Bugles
- Popcorn
- Rice Kripsie Treats
- Graham Crackers
- Teddy Grahams – Chocolate or Cinnamon
- Mother’s Original Iced Animal Crackers
- Beef jerky
- Applesauce cups
- Oreos – plain
- Ritz crackers
- Fruit cups
- Chex cereal
- Bananas
- Rice cakes
A Word of Caution about Nut Free Snacks
If you are avoiding nuts because of an allergy, you already know what I’m going to say next.
I wish I could write this list and know that these nut free snacks would be good forever. But, I can’t do that. Manufacturing processes change. Ingredients become difficult to get. Supply chain challenges cause modifications.
The truth is you need to read the label EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Just because you’ve bought something once or even one hundred times before does not mean it is going to be safe this time. So, please just be sure to check those ingredients before you purchase.
Happy eating!
P.S. If you’re looking for something homemade, try my brownies, lemon poppy seed muffins, or check out my other great snack recipes.
