Favorite Convenience Store/MiniMart Foods

[Dianyla]

The Chocolate Milk thread just now made me think of this. What are your favorite convenience store foods that you like to eat on long rides?

Mine has to be those Hostess Fruit Pies. The Apple ones have 480 calories (67 carbs, 3 protein, 22 fat) and I would have to say that the one I had at mile 130 of the Seattle to Portland saved my bacon bigtime! It was horribly junky :o but hey, it was tasty, it didn't upset my stomach, and it worked!

[Nanci]

I don't know, I can never make a decision; I just wander the aisles in a daze and end up with flavored milk, Gatorade and Amp. One time I got some of those milk and cereal bars, those were pretty good.

Nanci

[Veronica]

Red Bull and Snickers! After a ride - orange soda and a hot dog.

V.

[MomOnBike]

I learned here about Fig Newtons. Good stuff, Maynard.

I'm also fond of orange juice and salted nuts.

I just may start buying chocolate milk, but it seems a bit heavy on the stomach for the middle of the day.

[Eden]

Bliss is finding a soda machine housing an ice cold coca-cola at the top of a 4,000 ft climb...

while not exactly a conveince store food here (in Europe yes!) my favorite long haul food - prosciutto or serranno ham sandwiches - a great combo of protein carbs and relatively low in fat. They keep well with minimal/no refridgeration and don't upset my stomach. Top it off with some raisins and chocolate for the perfect bike touring lunch.

[Deanna]

I try to pick out something that at least looks like a healthy snack, but I almost always end up with a beef stick or jerky. I think I like the saltiness.

[Veronica]

I try to pick out something that at least looks like a healthy snack, but I almost always end up with a beef stick or jerky. I think I like the saltiness.


Snickers have nuts. That makes them healthy. Hot dogs have... mystery meat. That makes them... really gross when I think about it. :D

V.

[CyclaSutra]

My nutritionist (LOL) turned me onto Twinkies. They're one of the healthiest convenience store snacks, if what you need is energy:

Calories each 150
Calories from Fat 41 (27%)
Calories from Carbohydrate 108 (71%)
Calories from Protein 4 (3%)

Her strategy is, anything can be a health food. If you were starving on a desert island, a Snickers could save your life.

That being said, I'd never RELY on convenince store food rather than my solid PB&J and Cytomax, but sometimes sugar is your friend. And I HAVE done the convenience-store-supported 110 hilly miles. Twinkies halfway, here I come!

[bcipam]

I always just want an ice cold Coca Cola. Not Pepsi, Not RC. COKE! And maybe some pretzels or peanut butter crackers. I like the sugar from the drink and the food to be salty.

[Nanci]

Chocolate milk and Twinkies- I have died and gone to heaven! I aim to test out Twinkies tomorrow! And here I thought there would never be an excuse to eat them ever again in my life...

Nanci

[Eden]

My nutritionist (LOL) turned me onto Twinkies. They're one of the healthiest convenience store snacks, if what you need is energy:

Calories each 150
Calories from Fat 41 (27%)
Calories from Carbohydrate 108 (71%)
Calories from Protein 4 (3%)

Her strategy is, anything can be a health food. If you were starving on a desert island, a Snickers could save your life.

That being said, I'd never RELY on convenince store food rather than my solid PB&J and Cytomax, but sometimes sugar is your friend. And I HAVE done the convenience-store-supported 110 hilly miles. Twinkies halfway, here I come!

OK I'll accept that eating a twinkie would be better than starving to death, but when given the choice of a whole convenience store full of of other tasty and potentially less heart attack inducing snacks - why choose the one that is a tube of hydrogenated oil???
That stuff is really really bad for you.

[Barb]

Fig newtons all the way. They have saved me from bonk many times!

[maillotpois]

V8!!! Salt and who knows what but it is very satisfying!

The twinkie idea sounds fantastic.

Where I ride (very rural bohemian western Marin), I generally run into small bakeries and not convenience stores. I used to get sticky buns and scones, but I have started trying whatever the soup of the day is (specifically at Bovine Bakery). I find soup is a fantastic pick me up, especially when the weather has been so cold. Last week in my 120 miler, the soup was red pepper corn chowder. Yum!!

[roughingit]

I like those cheap tubes of salted nuts, especially honey roasted, as well as yogurt and bananas. The only highly questionable thing I get from convenience stores are the jojos and bbq-I-think-its-beef burritos on really long cold rides.

[Veronica]

Yesterday I tried a Starbucks frappacino - right before my nasty climb. Surprisingly it sat well.

V.

[jobob]

heh, which nasty climb was that ? :cool:

Lee & I bailed out on Sierra Rd today, almost 1 mile into the climb, at the empty lot at the left turn that comes after the very steep right bend and the gated house with the loud barking dogs (I imagine they serenaded you yesterday). That's where you & Thom passed me while I was stripping down :D the day of the Tour of CA. Something about that one section really gets me. Could have something to do with the fact that it's about a 16-18% grade around that bend. :rolleyes: This is where my legs feel like they want to give out and brain starts screaming to myself "3 more miles of this, are you nutz??"

Anyhow, Lee pulls up and asks me how I'm doing (oh fine honey, my eyes usually roll back into my head like this :p) and he says he's not having much fun either and do you want to bail and try it again sometime (yes!) so we turned around and headed back down (whee!) and hung a left onto Piedmont and headed towards nearby Alum Rock Park. The climb up to that is way shallower, thank goodness.

But before we got there we spied the infamous 7-Eleven at Noble & Piedmont and I thought to myself "mmmmm...Ho Ho's" and wonder of wonders they were having a 2-for-one sale on them. So we each had a package of Ho Ho's to feast on while relaxing at a picnic bench listening to the relaxing babbling noises from Peneticia Creek and admiring the purple-blue flowering vinca vines along the creek. Ahhhh.

[Veronica]

Yes - it was before Sierra. I think it's what got me up it. Wasn't the creek lovely! It was nice riding alongside yesterday. Hmmm... Ho Hos. :D

V.

[Aint Doody]

I like Payday candy bars. I think I read somewhere that the combo of nuts and nougat (what the h#11 is that anyway) is the best selection from the candy aisle. I just know it tastes good to me.

[jobob]

I've been known to eat a PayDay, or three.

( I've faced up to the fact that I bike to justify eating junk food ...)

[slinkedog]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Paydays. Had one yesterday on my ride, thanks to Carimail!! :) (Thanks for pointing them out, Jo and SK. They're the BEST!)

[Technotart]

Ok - I have to ask - how much does this twinkie recommending nutritionist weigh, what's her bmi and her cholesterol? :p

I absolutely agree with Eden and the whole hydrogenated oil thing. If you are going to eat garbage, at least make it real instead of artificial garbage, your body handles those artificial fats a whole lot differently than the real thing. So while that twinkie may be lower in fat than some foods, the net negative effect of that fat is far greater than say a handful of chocolate with a much higher fat content.

[jobob]

I figure a Ho-Ho once in a while isn't going to kill me. :D

[fixedgeargirl]

Yesterday I tried a Starbucks frappacino - right before my nasty climb. Surprisingly it sat well.

V.

Chocolate milk with a kick :D !

[Brandi]

I figure a Ho-Ho once in a while isn't going to kill me. :Deverything in moderation i say. I have kfc once a year. I really like to go to a coffee shop and get local baked goods when i am riding. I haven't had a hostess anything for years. I have a feeling they wouldn't taste the same. i had my god child over here a couple weeks ago. We had craft mac and cheese for dinner ( I eat trader joes natural mac and cheese now) i used to live on this stuff but I think they have changed the flavor of the cheese and the noodles didn't seem the same anymore. I am afraid a ho ho won't tast the same as it did when i was a kid.:(

[slinkedog]

I don't know, Brandi... Hohos still taste pretty darn good to me. Although I have to say that Suzy-Q's are better. :)

[makbike]

My favorite by far would have to be an ice cold Diet Coke and a package of Little Debbie Swiss Roll. I'm addicted to both and boy do they taste great on a long hot ride.

[Nanci]

I haven't been able to eat KFC since that video of the chicken processing plant was on the Internet a few years ago, showing how they tortured them before killing. Nice. I just look at a KFC and it makes me ill.

Now Krystal Chicken Bites, that's a different story!

Nanci

I could go for a Hostess Cupcake right now...

[uk elephant]

I haven't been on any cycling trips long enough to warrant a convenience store stop, but on long car journeys in the US I was a big fan of sour patch kids. That stuff is like candy crack. Once you open the bag you can't stop and it gets you completely wired:D . Not sure what's in them and I'm not so sure I want to know.

[yellow]

I usually end up with...Gatorade or the equivalent. My system is so wacky these days I'm leery of eating anything other than what I bring in my pocket.

Chocolate milk before, during, or after a ride would put me in bed for a couple of days. :( I really miss milk, and yogurt, and ice cream....*sigh* :( :( :(

[Eden]

I usually end up with...Gatorade or the equivalent. My system is so wacky these days I'm leery of eating anything other than what I bring in my pocket.

Chocolate milk before, during, or after a ride would put me in bed for a couple of days. :( I really miss milk, and yogurt, and ice cream....*sigh* :( :( :(

If you can tolerate soy there is a brand of soy ice cream - Soy Delicious - up here that will make you forget ice cream was ever made with milk. Some of the flavors are a bit weird and I avoid the Cookies and Cream, but the Chocolate Velvet and the Vanilla are very good and a fairly un-guilty pleasure. It really is good - I've had other soy/rice based ice creams and they usually have a funky after taste, but this brand doesn't.

[yellow]

If you can tolerate soy there is a brand of soy ice cream - Soy Delicious
Yeah, we've had it. And it is good, for soy (we usually end up with vanilla). It's gotten a lot better in the last couple of years. But it's not BEN AND JERRY'S CHUNKY MONKEY! We also eat the soy "yogurt" which takes some getting used to.

I do like sorbet and am usually happy with that. And you can usually get individual Dreyer's Whole Fruit bars at some of the finer convenience stores in the summer.

[Hammer]

I'm not lactose intolerant, but I saw a pint of Soy Dream stuff, green tea flavor in our local Hy Vee. I was intrigued, so I bought it. I like that stuff.

Doesn't having nuts mess with your digestive system? I ate a Salted Nut Roll before a volleyball practice in high school... ouch!!! But, I suppose that cycling isn't quite the same as running around a gymnasium. I've been paranoid ever since. :D

I like granola bars... I'll bring the cheap sunbelt ones along, not as high in nutritional content, I don't think... but I like the chocolate chip ones when I'm out riding. But I don't usually go far enough yet. I just started riding last summer.

I like the Strawberry flavor Power Bar, Harvest... but I don't see them around very often. I work for a local Public Broadcasting station, during a shoot we had to be up and out of the hotel early enough and didn't stop for breakfast except at a gas station. The Harvest bars have enough substance that it stuck with me for the day until we got to go to lunch again. I had it with some milk. Yum. And somedays I'm hungry all of the time.

I wish that I could find those bars... they're even hard to find online.

[bikerz]

Yeah, we've had it. And it is good, for soy (we usually end up with vanilla). It's gotten a lot better in the last couple of years. But it's not BEN AND JERRY'S CHUNKY MONKEY! We also eat the soy "yogurt" which takes some getting used to.

I do like sorbet and am usually happy with that. And you can usually get individual Dreyer's Whole Fruit bars at some of the finer convenience stores in the summer.

Hey Yellow (or anyone else!) - have you tried Tofuti-Cuties? I'm not a big ice cream fan, but these things are great little tofu-based ice cream sandwiches. They are small - about 2"x3" - but that's one thing I like about them - just enough to put a check in the box when you want something sweet, but not too much. Choc and vanilla get high marks from friends of mine, but I like coffee flavor best. You can probably find them in the same kinds of places that have big selections of soy products.

[yellow]

Hey Yellow (or anyone else!) - have you tried Tofuti-Cuties?
Well, yes, but when I saw the fat content on them, I decided that they are not allowed in the house (that is, eating 3 of them would make up my entire days' worth of fat! Yikes)! They also make these bars-on-a-stick called "monkey bars" or some such thing. Yummmmmmy, but same problem with the fat content.

HOWEVER, I'd probably splurge for one on a ride out a convenience store, but alas! Most convenience stores don't carry a lot of soy products! :p "Ummmm, do you have any frosted tempeh bites?"