I’ve always been a grazer. I snack on whatever is in the cupboard, especially when stressed, and for the past year my bad habits have thrived.
Whether it’s sweet or salty, crunchy or smooth, whatever can be pulverized by teeth or melted on the tongue is fair game even if it’s been lying around at the bottom of an open package and seems to be intact.
Think stray chocolate chips or the near-crumbs of a package of peanut butter-filled pretzel bites are off limits? Nope. When desperate, I’ve been known to tear open an intact package of chocolate chip morsels to get my chocolate fix.
Sugar calms me. I discovered this during the harrowing parts of our five-thousand-mile trip in our 32-foot boat. When the boat was tossed around like a cork in a washing machine, I’d hang on tight and make my way from the steering station to the galley and find anything sweet. Sometimes it was a spoonful of honey. Usually a candy bar. (I kept an emergency stash).
Once, driving home from an airport in torrential rain, I was so nervous I stopped at a convenience store and bought a giant Hershey bar and ate the whole thing. Then I continued on my way, feeling a little calmer as the sugar kicked in.
Pandemic snacking has been a bit different. I’m mostly in the house, so I can run to the refrigerator with a spoon, yank open the freezer compartment, and wrestle off the lid of the ice cream container. Unsanitary? Absolutely, but it’s just me and Capt. Mark and his ice cream is generally a different flavor, although I’m not picky.
To be fair, I also keep apples and whatever fruit is in season in a handy bowl and one of my frequent snacks is popcorn, not bad if you nix the butter. (But who does that?)
By the end of the pandemic—I’m hopeful it will end—I may need a new wardrobe. So far, my clothes fit, but I always buy them loose and I admit the waistbands are feeling a bit tighter.
Does anyone else have food enticing you into bad eating habits? Oh, I forgot. There’s also an election.
Happy snacking.
A lovely break during this strange day in the ol’ US of A. And what a brilliant idea!!! Sugar!!!
Sugarsugarsugarsugar…
Think I’ll go have some.
Hang in there!
Cheers, F
Trader Joes Non-Pareils. 73% Belgian dark chocolate. Slightly smaller than a quarter, so it takes anywhere from 2 to a dozen depending on the rush needed. I guess the name is French (?) and means there is no equal, but next to See’s there nothing I’ve found to match them.
Did you know they closed the See’s stores! Seems they felt they aren’t essential. I better never meet the moron who made that decision, I’ll drown em in cheap chocolate.
For me it is popcorn. There is a bag of it in the cupboard to munch on when we are getting our Netflix fix. Oh yes, and Halloween candy. We ate the first bag a couple of weeks before Halloween so I had to buy more. And I baked a Raw Apple cake with the apples we bought while on our leaf peeping trip thru Maine. It was so good I baked two.
Early in the pandemic, I had a SERIOUS thing for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The mini ones. My husband bought me a party bag size. He said I needed to feel better and that it was okay. Probably within a month and a half that bag was gone. I naturally freaked out, thinking I ate the whole bag. I know I definitely gained weight. I found out last month that my youngest was getting candy and not asking or telling anyone. It’s good to know that I haven’t lost my mind.
I hit the cookies in the cookie jar pretty often. They’re supposed to be for Mark. If he’s noticed, he hasn’t said anything.