A few months back I wrote about the challenge of finding things I can stick in the car or camera bag to carry for when I ‘m out in the middle of nowhere and need a quick bite to eat. At that time, I was evaluating some of the “no refrigeration needed” breakfast drinks like Ensure, and to be honest, I found them more or less undrinkable.
The challenge — I want things I can keep in the car without refrigeration, so they’re there when I want them without having to plan ahead. I want something I can carry in my camera bag in the field, so it has to be portable. I am diabetic, so I’m trying to find things that are higher in protein and fat and not just wedges of carbohydrate or sugars. And — I find most of the power/energy type bars are about as interesting to eat as sawdust. Oh, and I have both a peanut and tree nut allergy, so anything using nuts is out, which nukes off most trail mixes and a huge swath of the power/energy bars.
What I’ve generally done for scheduled trips is to plan ahead and when I stay in a hotel, get a room with a refrigerator. That allows me to stock up with string cheeses and meats, and build out a lunch for the day with pita or bagels, some cheese and meats (turkey or salami typically), fruit and a drink. That worked well on the trip to Morro Bay for the all day trips. Pile up the day’s lunch into a ziplock bag, and carry a couple of bottles of water. Keep the water chilled and it helps keep the food chilled until you want it. I’ve also found this nice set of small ice bricks
But still, I’ve wanted that “it’s there if I want it and I wasn’t planning for it” emergency food source for the car, and given the restrictions I have, it’s been tough to find one I both CAN eat and am willing to.
Recently, I found one. My favorite energy bars have been the Clif Bars; their biggest problem for me is they’re high-carb, but as energy bars go, they are edible and aren’t just repackaged “healthy” candy bars (honestly, if I could eat peanuts, I’d just buy a supply of Snicker’s… you could do a lot worse). Clif has a second line of bars that are higher protein content called the Builder’s bars.
The problem with the Builder’s bars is that like many of the “high protein” bars, they make that shift in nutrition by using almonds or almond paste to bring up the protein content. That lets them out for me.
Except for one. The Clif Builder’s Bar Chocolate Chip
A Clif Builder’s bar will run you around 270 calories, 8G fat (5G saturated), 31G Carb and 20G or protein. Compared to the regular Clif chocolate chip with 230 calories at 4.5G fat (1.5G Saturated), 43G carb and 10G protein, it’s a better nutritional package for someone like me.
So I’m now sticking them in the car a case at the time, next to the stash of emergency water. They’re typically good for six months or so before they hit their use-by date, based on a couple of boxes I’ve bought, and they’re easily available. The biggest worry I have is that since the entire line is build around using almonds for the protein source they’ll reformulate the bar at some point. Until that happens, though, I’ve found my road trip car snack, and it’s definitely one I won’t regret grabbing when I need it.
(by the way, if you don’t need the high protein variety, the entire line of Clif bars are good, ranging from edible to tasty, at least the non-nutted ones — and Clif, unlike a lot of bar manufacturers, has a good line of non-nutted varieties. Well worth trying if you haven’t. And the Clif Builder’s Bar S’mores