Food Envy

Today I stopped by the local REI store (been a member since 1982) to buy a few things and found myself standing in front of two rows of food. First was the camping food, you know the bags of dried food you heat and eat, from breakfast to dinner. Second was the snacks, yeah, from bars to chewy things.

First, I can't eat almost all of the camping food for the ingredients. Some I'd love to try but when you take out all the foods I can't eat, there's nothing really left to eat. You see, most camping food relies on one set of main ingredients, spices. Lots of spices.

The only spices I can eat is salt, and maybe a small pinch of pepper. And when you take out the dairy, the wheat, the meat, and the vegetables, there's no much left except the bag itself. Even pudding or other simple foods are out.

Gee, what's next? Well, the snacks, you know all those bars of some brand and type. I have to scan the ingredients there two because I have to first eliminate those with wheat - really grains, nuts, seeds and most fruits, which includes dates the most used fruit in non-wheat bars.

In short, the whole aisle of all those snacks, which some nutritionists argue aren't really good for you for all the fat, calories, etc you don't need in one food, is like standing in front of Nieman Marcus with $10. It doesn't get you very far.

So, in the end I've been relegated to Clif Shot Roks, which were discontinued last fall and is supposedly scheduled to return soon, and PowerBar Energy Blasts. I found a few other brands today but they don't seem that different and cost more.

Such is life somedays. It doesn't pay to shop when you can't buy and really can't eat the food you really want to eat. But I did get the rest of my stuff.