We made it back to rainy Southern California this afternoon after driving for about 5 hours.
We only stopped two quick times because Jaybob had to get home and throw down with the corporate world. I read my .50 garage sale book and finished the second one. One of my hidden and extremely desirable talents is that I’m a pretty fast reader. Yep, really going places with that one.
Photo shoot at the gas station
I like to stop at larger stations like Love’s (Jay’s favorite gas station), Flying J or the Chevrons with the food mart because there’s a lot more food choices. and just weird stuff for sale. like glass blown unicorns next to Born in the USA leather jackets. (both on my Christmas list)
As we left, Jaymo and I were talking about healthy foods that you can buy at gas stations. Some of the things we thought of:
*fruit – Love’s had bananas for 2/$1 and apples for .79
*dried fruit and nuts – there was tons of small albeit pricey containers of pistachios, candied walnuts, almonds, trail mix, even dried edamame.
*energy bars, granola bars, protein bars – hey, better than a candy bar
*turkey jerky – I love jerky, its relatively low-cal and high in protein and super high in delicious
*PopChips, Smart Choice popcorn, and other sorts of “healthier” chips
*Iced tea, flavored waters, low-cal Gatorade, etc
And of course my favorite, coffee:
Any healthy staples you pick up at gas stations?
I normally grab a package of gummy candy too just to, you know, even out all that healthiness. Today I bought 2 bananas and had an energy bar in my bag and a single serving of peanut butter that I picked up at a hotel for my road breakfast:
Single serving peanut butter is genius. For someone who could use a kid’s plastic toy shovel to scoop it out of the jar, the little packets are pretty handy. Do grocery stores sell these or do you have to buy them online?
I had been gone for almost 2 weeks so when I got home, I noticed a little something new in my office: a 22” monitor that Jaybob mounted on the wall for me.
The little light on the left is the Scentsy I was talking about a couple days ago.
But don’t think he’s so altruistic: he bought a new monitor for himself with a Christmas gift card and gave me his old one. So now I have duel monitors with two different screens which is nifty but has a few drawbacks. Man, do I feel official or what. I should go buy a briefcase to carry my candy in.
Go get yourself in on the compression socks giveaway and get a pair for 20% off.
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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Not usually healthy but granola bar or nutra grain bar, popcorn (in a bag like smart pop), rare but odwalla or naked juice, coffee!! I like the Justin almond packets.
Those single serving peanut butters would be more genius if they weren’t loaded with sugar!
I’ve never seen turkey jerky before. What an awesome husband you have to surprise you with the monitor!! And can you eat bananas that look like that? I’m weird, my bananas have to be perfectly pristine.
I don’t trust gas station food…
I just did the gas station food after forgetting food for between the gym and work this morning. I walked out with chocolate milk, 2 bananas, a single serve hummus with pretzels, and coffee of course. Takes so much self control to not walk out with 5000 calories in snacks!
totally agree. the candy aisle is about 10x bigger than the healthy section and its like a seductress tempting me.
Jif makes snack sizes (it’s either a 4 or 6 pack), but I usually stick with Justin’s Almond butter for individual packets.
I try to pack as much food as I can, but my one treat on a long drive is Mountain Dew, Code Red. I’m not a coffee drinker, so that’s how I get my caffeine!!!
I also buy Jerky and Pretzels on roadtrips.
I think compression socks on that site are out of stock in size small =(
ill email the guy and ask for you right now!
he said there are plenty of small and they arent out of stock.
when we travel to the homeland (about 11 hours) we stop and get gatorade. But we do pack snacks and those smuckers peanutbutter and jelly frozen sandwiches. We also pack fruit.
The world of convenience store food is getting bigger and bigger, it’s crazy!
I’m going to San Diego in a couple weeks and will be close to the pacific beach boardwalk–do you know how long of a run I will be able to run on that, or any location recommendations for running there?
Ive never been to PB but id say run along the harbor downtown San Diego. its right along the water and you can run north to the airport and then down south to the end of the harbor where the convention center and hotels are. if you ran around the parks there, you could squeeze 10 miles in. love running there!
Sunflower seeds are my road trip snack. Yummy, healthy and take awhile to eat.
Love scentsy. Better homes and Gardens Has there own version of the scented wax bricks at Walmart for only $2. they work great and hold ne over when I need to order more scentsy.
Do you have Whole Foods where you live? They have individual packets (read: 100 calories) in a bunch of different flavors: Almond Butter, Maple Almond Butter, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, etc. Yeah, they’re probably loaded with sugar, but I don’t care. Loves me my sugar!!
Nice new desk set up. I love scentsy stuff, smells so great.
Boiled eggs!! Gross looking in the package, but I bear my testimony that they are delicious.
Not something you find at most gas stations, but I love when there is a Subway connected! I’m not even a huge fan of Subway, but it’s a life saver when you’re on a long ass highway and have been eating random snacks for hours.
A small bun and sometimes coffee (that’s healthy, right????)
love the comment re candy and briefcase – you are so funny!
I love dual monitors. We have them at work and now it’s like using a laptop is so limiting. If I work from home, I hook up my computer to our giant tv and feel really important.
Jif has single serve PB. PERFECT for traveling for races.
What are you reading?
The Kidless Kronicles
Love the new desk set up! http://www.dashingdiva.net
My boyfriend uses 2 monitors and I have a really hard time ever figuring out where the mouse is. sometimes it’s on one screen…then the next or somewhere in between!
My daughter loves pb so we have a pantry full of the little jiff-to-gos. Not all stores carry them but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them at Target. They’re awesome.
hahaha, this so “hits home”! my hubs enjoys stopping at Love’s wayyyyy too much ~ in my opinion. every road trip it’s either love’s or flying j’s. i had never stepped foot into one until i married him. i can still remember the intercom announcement for a “shower now available for jimbob”. glad to say that my marriage has allowed me to “live more”
you haven’t lived til you hear that!
The whole “natural” peanut butter movement has been great fun and all. But JIF has really withstood the test of time. So you soy butter spreading, chia seed eating, gluten free by choice people need to realize that in the end Jif and its delicious hydrogenated oils are going to be the last PB standing. Mark my words.
*Side note, you can buy the individual thingys and Costco, so you will be stocked till the end of time.
I have an addiction to spicy tomato juice, so I LOVE picking up V8 at a gas stations during my road trips.
And my favorite unhealthy treat? Coconut M&Ms…those things are like crack.
Oddly enough, any time we stop, I also prefer large truck stops like Loves and Flying J. For something healthy I go for fruit or some sort of healthy bar like Odwalla, KIND, or LaraBar. Clif bars are also tasty. I usually stick with beef jerkey than turkey. And I l.o.v.e. starbucks doubleshots – the original small ones that are 140 cals, not the big ones. And to echo everyone else: Jif makes to-go pb’s.
Your husband & mine think alike…mine works in IT and is forever finding new things he “must have” and I always end up with his left overs! Drives me crazy…and its progressed into other aspects of his live — “You could probably use new bindings on your snowboard, maybe I should get new ones and you can have my old ones, they’d match your board perfectly…” Um, no!
Silly boys! Although we should take a hint from your gas station eating – the darn cheetos and skittles always suck us in!
You seriously make me laugh out loud! I’m not even a runner and I like reading your blog (I will be some day though, so maybe we’ll say it’s motivation)… I’ve been reading for a while and you seriously crack me up… after sitting here laughing, I felt like I should leave a comment to let you know.
thanks!
That banana looks naaasty! Sarah, go to the grocery store! haha love ya!