Lately my snacking has turned towards trail mix (or gorp, scroggin, studentenfutter). I love the stuff...except for the raisins. Sure, for the longest time I've tolerated 'em*, but if I had my druthers I'd leave 'em out. But, as far as trail mixes go, they are seemingly everywhere, in every variety. It's gotten to the point where I will pick them out entirely (see photo above).
I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. And that's why I made my own trail mix last night. No longer am I a slave to Big Raisins and that industry's stranglehold on the pre-packaged trail mix consumer.
Uncle Micah's Old Fashioned Good Time Non-Hippie Trail Mix includes peanuts, cashews, almonds, banana chips, dried mixed berries, chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips. Almost very healthy, but not quite.
This will be perfect for the late workday doldrums snackage. I can envision a future where everyone wears matching jumpsuits, all doors automatically open with a "whooosh" sound, and, instead of every meal being in pill form, they will consist only of my trail mix. It's that good.
And, economically, it's comparable to the pre-mixed stuff that I've previously been buying. I've crunched the numbers and my trail mix costs $.22/ounce. The Wal-Mart feedbag that I used to snack on goes for $.17/ounce, but that price increases if you take into account all the uneaten raisins that it contains. It probably evens out in the end.
For the next batch I need to get a huge bucket or something to mix it in. Right now I had to use the banana chips container (above) and five pieces of Gladware. Also, I think I will add coconut flakes to the next batch (I could only find the shredded kind at the store).
Any other interesting suggestions for what I should include?
*They are easier to take in Raisin Bran because they're covered in sugar. The same goes for oatmeal raisin cookies.
15 comments:
I thought your raisin photo was of cinnamon-sugar covered almonds. You should add those.
I never knew such a wonderful thing existed! I'll have to find some of those.
I accidentally got smoked almonds instead of the regular kind. It adds an interesting dimension to the salty and sweet of the other ingredients, but I don't know if I'd use them again.
Try getting a food dehydrator - it would pay for itself in 75 pounds or so...
Already got one, but it's in storage. I make 'em good beef jerky.
Already got one, but it's in storage. I make 'em good beef jerky.
yea, once you start making your own trail mix you'll never go back to pre-mixed. good job. heres the morris secret ingredient...next time youre in c-bus, go by trader joes and pick up like 20 bags of chilli mangoes. dice up some of those bad boys and throw em in, amazing.
only do this when you are truly ready to take your trail mix to the next level.
oh also, if youre gonna throw chocochips in, get the ghiardelli 60% cacao chips. i'll never use anything else.
FYI the Trader Joe's on W Broad will be open shortly.
I double hate raisins. In culinary school we had to make granola and my partner that night got angry with me because I left them out "by accident".
They are so gross.
CW - Good tips. I'll try those in my next batch.
spydrz - Good to hear. It can't open soon enough.
mags - I used to like them as a kid (as all kids do). Not sure when I soured on them.
You know, I always wondered how culinary students and chefs handle ingredients/dishes that they absolutely despise. I don't think I could ever cook with mustard.
In the future, I hope my trail mix will be delivered to me as a pre-measured slurry injected via a gastric tube.
Not to give too much away, but that's one of the things I have planned for
Uncle Micah's Old Fashioned Good Time Non-Hippie Trail Mix 2.0, along with the addition of One-A-Day vitamins.
grapes are awesome. why do we find it necessary to dry the awesomeness of grapes out of them?
Frozen grapes are super duper awesome.
I think we're all pretty much representative of the population at large. If we're all in agreement, how come raisins are still produced?
because I like them? But I like craisins better; that's what I ahve in my home-made trail mix. I also have dried fruits like pineapples, mangoes etc.
While I like dried pineapples, the ones I've tasted are a bit too sugary. I've got enough sugar in my mix already.
I am REALLY enjoying the dried mixed berries that I included, though.
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