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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Reader Question - What snacks are best?

I know we aren't currently working on the car kits, but we got a great question from a reader a couple weeks ago, and Abs and I want you all to weigh in with your opinions!  The question is,


What kinds of snacks work best for the car kits?


So, readers, tell us: what kinds of snacks do you pack in the car kits?  I think the biggest thing to consider is that chocolate melts, and other things might night hold up well over time (although, you should rotate your food every couple of months if you haven't eaten it by then).


(Thanks, Mary W, for the question! If anyone else has questions, please feel free to contact us at safelygatheredin (at) gmail.com)



10 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, we`re getting rid of the car, so I haven`t been thinking about that. However, portable snacks that are easily eaten are good in carry bags, too.
- Raisins
- Crackers, including those cracker & cheese packets if you do commercial food
- Fruit leather
- Vegetable and fruit chips
- Hard candies (Werther`s Originals, for example!)

Currently we keep a box of Pocky in the car. Somehow my husband has built an air of mystery and wow around these silly pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate. One will occupy each of our kids for a while. :) Having something handy that`s guaranteed to get good behaviour - that`s priceless.
Almost nothing tastes good if left in a car for too long.

Frank, Heidi and Family said...

We like crunchy granola bars and they don't seem to go bad quite as fast as the soft ones. We also like: popcorn, veggie chips (from Costco), freeze-dried fruit, yogurt raisins, and any kind of nuts.seeds.

Mrs. Pear said...

For peanut free that lasts a while I like nutrigrain bars - we get a big box from Costco.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

We evac'd Rita, along with approx 3 million others (if news reports are correct).

Test your snacks! If you can eat it with just one hand, WITHOUT looking at it, and if it meets other criteria, it's a good car snack.

Because if there's only one driver, it's dangerous to fumble with packaging, and not keep their eyes on the road while concentrating on stop-and-go traffic filled with other panicked evacuees trying to eat (not all evacuee's behind the wheel will be sane, some might not even be sober, but all will be frustrated and tired).

As much as DH loves his Vienna sausage, they won't be evac-car food ever again! I ended up having to stop eating, so I could pull out each sausage for him, then put it on a cracker (which caused crumbs to fall).

Next we tried Deviled Ham, that too caused me to stop eating so I could spread his on the crackers for him.

Dry snack mixes/chips in small mylar or plastic packs worked great. So did jerky.

(something I wrote could be interpreted different than what I meant, and it was embarrassing LOL)

vlad said...

I discussed storage foods that need no refrigeration or cooking for evacuation, or fallout shelter, with my family doctor. He suggested peanuts and sunflower seeeds. We put them in Gatorade bottles. They are very nutritous, tasty and easy to handle at home or in the car.


planters cocktail peanuts
http://tinyurl.com/44l6d4u
sunflower seeds
http://tinyurl.com/3nrdylq
compare
beef filet mignon
http://tinyurl.com/6g9wsup
oatmeal
http://tinyurl.com/6fnalsb

Anonymous said...

With 4 kiddos we tend to rotate thru our car snacks quite often, but a few of our go-to's are:

Crunchy granola bars
individual packets of chips (you get get a variety pack of 50 bags at Sams club it costs us about $11 in Nebraska)
beef jerky
animal/graham crackers
raisins
cheese/peanut butter cracker packs
fruit snacks (in the winter not summer they melt!)
If you have a large bag of something (like pretzles or rice cakes)you can always split it up between ziptop type snack bags
But, like I said we go thru our snack foods often so the chance that the food goes stale is slim for us!

Karen K. said...

Chocolate Clif Z-Bars. Love them! Just the right size and only 130 calories. Organic, made with oats instead of wheat and no high fructose corn syrup. Yummy.

Sadie said...

This is what I have in my car kit currently:

Fruit Snacks
Fruit Roll ups (homemade)
Cheese Crackers
Almonds
Trail Mix

Deb said...

I bought the sealed calorie bars from an emergency supply place. They are good for five years and in an emergency I dont want snacks that make us thirsty or might have gone bad in heat or cold. These may not be the best taste but can sustain for days.