Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Snacks for the Drive Home

For many lucky commuters who get to drive more than a half hour at a time to and from work, you've probably experienced some hunger on the road. Since I drive (on average) an hour each way, I have learned to plan my food accordingly.

When packing my food bag for the day, aside from breakfast, lunch, and afternoon healthy snack (yogurt type thing), I usually have a "transportable fruit". This is the quick healthy snack that you can eat with one hand while driving at high speeds. Granted, you are not supposed to eat and drive (and talk on a cell phone, or take a picture of eating and driving like I did here), but for those days when it's past 6pm, you're not eating dinner till after 8p, and when that one eyed raccoon missing his back half on the side of the road is lookin mighty fine then transportable fruit is the answer!

Transportable fruit are things you can eat with one hand, without really looking at it. Perfect examples are apples, plums, or dried fruit - it needs to be a clean and fairly dry experience. Pears, peaches, strawberries, and other drippy fruits are only for the experienced... or great if you have a paper towel to dry your elbow off and someone to hold the wheel while you do it.

Here are a few cautions for those of you in the transportable fruit club...
1) make sure you peel the damn stickers off the fruit before you get in the car. It's fun eating stickers in the dark, fumbling for the interior lights, trying to figure out how much of the sticker you actually ate. Plus, when you toss them to the floor mat, they usually stay there for several years, or stick to passengers' shoes.
2) eyeball the fruit for possible bruises. Nothing is worse than biting into a bruise or a mealy spot at 65 mph and not having enough hands to safely deal with it. Then your trust is broken and you have to eat the remaining part of the fruit with the light on.
3) grapes seem like an awesome idea until you get the nasty grape, or the fuzzy grape, again while driving fast in the dark. It's best to de-bone the grapes and bring just a bag of loose ones that pass the visual test.

What is your favorite transportable fruit?

1 comment:

Alisa S said...

Dawn - I, too, am a snacker on the drive home and I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. Another suggestion - bring a paper towel AND a plastic bag to hold your apple core and/or bruised, sour grapes! Trader Joe's nut snacks also work well, but don't get the ones with chocolate bits. You'll regret it once daylight hits. Aside from the calories, the chocolate handprints on your upholstery will make you think twice!