On the trail again

I like trail mix. Let’s just put that right up front. I like trail mix. I like good old-fashioned trail mix, the kind I used to take with me when I was an avid hiker and backpacker. I don’t need dried guava or Peruvian flame-dried raisins or anything like that in there. Peanuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, maybe an almond or cashew or two. I could live on the stuff.

But it can be ridiculously hard to find. Well, let me rephrase that. Trail mix isn’t hard to find. Every supermarket has trail mix. What they don’t seem to have is Good Old Fashioned Cheap Trail Mix.

Peanuts, raisins, sunflower seeds. Maybe some carob (if you must, I’d prefer not), maybe a few banana chips (why, oh why did those become ubiquitous in trail mixes?!).

But oooooooooh nooooooo. They throw in a desiccated pineapple chunk or two and some sugary thing that’s supposed to papaya and suddenly it’s a “gourmet tropical blend”. Or they add little blobs of hardened soy yogurt or something (blech). And oh, by the way, that’ll be $2.49 for a five ounce bag.

Harrumph, I say to myself. I’ll make my own damned trail mix, I say to myself. I’ll just get a tube of sunflower seeds, a bag of raisins and a can of peanuts.

Then I eat the sunflower seeds on the way home, decide to make oatmeal cookies with the raisins and feed the peanuts to the husband and Boo Bug, both of whom will eat darn near anything.

Drat. Foiled again.

Well, guess what I just found? I just found {fanfare} BulkFoods.com. They’ve just gotten on my rather short list of Favorite Online Places to Shop.

I found them because I was on the make for cocoa powder. Well, they sell cocoa powder in 5 pound, 25 pound or even 50 pound sacks. Oh yeah, baby. Free shipping and a $4.95 packaging fee for your entire order? Hot dog.

But! While I was there, I started looking at what-all else they had in bulk – after all, the $4.95 was for the entire order, so might as well see if there’s anything else I could use while I’m there. Chili powder, curry, granulated garlic, yeast…hel-lo what’s this? ‘Student Food’?

Friends, it is trail mix. It is nothing weird, Ye Olde Basic trail mix. Raisins, Peanuts, Sunflower Seeds, Cashews, Pumpkin Seeds and Almonds.

I got a smallish bag, 5 pounds for $13.

My God, is it good. It is…just…so good. The raisins are beautifully plump, the nuts are crunchy, they didn’t leave out the salt (they have other mixes that do, but to me – trail mix is salty).

I could live on this stuff. I’m serious. I could totally and utterly live on this stuff. I’m having to use a measuring cup when I’m getting myself a ‘snack’ of it, because a single serving is ¼ cup and left to my own devices I’d be just sitting down with the whole 5 pound bag in my lap snarling at anyone who dared approach.

Their dried fruits are also very good. The dried apricots don’t taste like pure sulfur. They taste like {gasp} apricots.

And when I throw in the fact that the entire order cost $4.95 to ship to me…the prices are pretty darned good.

We are pleased. And telling ourselves that we are not “pigging out on trail mix”.

We are consuming our “energy food”, in order to get us through our busy day.

That’s our royal story, and we are sticking to it.