Different kinds of munchies

When I was a kid I used to take road trips to and from Wisconsin or Kentucky, depending on the family we were visiting. For me these trips were a green light to eat any and all the things.

Puffy pink marshmallow "snowballs".
Doritos.
Favorite soda of the month.
Canned vienna sausages….

Don't judge me. I was young and thought canned meat was normal.

Awww yeahhhh…. Pull that tab and let the fun begin.

Food has always been such an integral part of travel for me, healthy or not (though I think we can all safely ascertain it was not). I have vivid memories of picnicking at rest areas with my grandparents and cousins, and there was probably a can of the vienna sausages, Coke*, and inevitably moon pies or some kind of chips. #preservativesforall

So you can imagine then when the Bearded Wonder and I decided to drive out to Missouri from outside DC for my cousin's wedding, one of the first thoughts was "Ooohh! We have to figure out what food to bring!" Hey, it's a 16-hour drive; that was a logical jump to make. 

I think. 

At least it was if you're me.

Anyway. I'm long past the days of canned meat (bows deeply) and cheese puffs (most of the time). Plus I haven't drank a soda in mooonnnths and haven't looked back since, so now I had a conundrum. What to bring?

We're on kind of a tight budget, and we've been avoiding sugar [mostly], and most of my beloved preservatives. It's been pretty good, until we found Krispy Kreme today. 

Neither of us stood a chance.

Anyway. I present to you….

Pardon the janky picture + title. I'm trying to be cool and think I'm failing. 

I found this ginormo bag of dried apple chips at Wegman's for a few bucks. My favorite part? The ingredients list. It just says "apples". Wooo! I like crunchy and sweet stuff, so this was perfect for random midday nibbles

. 

The pale yellow jar is filled with my famous [to me and beardy] egg salad. The red top container is filled with watermelon, and the bag of bite-size deliciousness?

Oh.My.Lanta. They're a household favorite. They're called Peanut Butter Oatmeal Energy Bites. We use all-natural, no-sugar peanut butter, unsweetened flaked coconut, and we left out the chocolate chips this time. They're perfection. They kind of remind me of chick-o-sticks. 

Ironically enough, also a road trip favorite of my youth… I'm sensing a theme...

Have you guys had them? They're this weirdly perfect concoction of peanut butter and coconut. Don't knock it until you try it- that orange color tastes better than it looks! 

The peanut butter oatmeal bites have saved me many times when I was craving something sweet but didn't want to eat something terrible. 

There's also a loaf of homemade wheat bread (I know what you're thinking- I am kind of a domestic goddess. Just kidding. Plus the Bearded Wonder made the pb balls this time! Go him!), which is sweetened with honey. Sooo good. 

Overall I'm pretty happy with our choices. There's also a jar of peanut butter in case we get weird midnight cravings sick of egg salad, and obviously the bag of SmartFood popcorn. It was my one unnatural indulgence. I have no regrets. Plus it's a far cry from finger licking staining Cheetos or Doritos**.

xo
A Redhead

*When you're in the South, all sodas are known as Coke. "Do you want a Coke?" "Sure!" "Ok, what kind??" "Uhh….??"

** All delicious crunchy junk foods end in -os. It's science.