June 04th, 2019

Have you ever tried these?  Oh My Goodness!  They are addictive.  Crunchy, light, only slightly salty and incredibly yum.  Probably everyone on the planet knew about these a long time ago but I only just discovered them last week.

One of the reasons is that in this house, we almost never see a TV commercial.  Tim is in charge of the clicker and if a commercial dares to come onto the screen, he just flips to another channel. Back and forth, back and forth.  Sometimes it's a wee bit confusing to me to be watching two shows at the same time (especially if it's two shows of the same kind like....two cop shows for instance.  Sometimes I'm left sitting there saying, why is This guy on  That show? Turns out he's not.  It's a different show for the commercial break).

Or the situation is that in all honesty, we record most of the shows we like so that we aren't tied to the TV schedule.  We can watch the shows we want, if we want, when we want. A little control and a little freedom there.  Always a good thing.  And then it's just a matter of fast-forwarding through the dreaded commercials.  The point being, we don't see commercials so we never know about any "New", "Improved" "Exciting" products being touted.  We just have to kind of stumble across them while shopping.

But the truth is,  when I grocery shop, I am on a mission.  I stick to the list.  I do not bother to go down aisles that do not apply to me.  I'm in and I'm out.  No lollygagging.  And it's because, for the most part, I don't especially enjoy grocery shopping.  I'm not certain why.  Too people-y maybe.  Too many choices.  And definitely too expensive.  

But every once in a long while, I'm chill. On those days,  I can roam the store at my leisure, come up with new ideas, explore the idea of different products, experiment a little bit.  On those days, I actually go take my time and go up and down every single aisle and look at all shelves (not just the ones where I already know that the item I want is) on Both sides of the aisle.  I stop now and again and pick something up, read the packaging and usually put it back. But even on even more rare occasions, I add it to the basket.  

This was one of those times.  I almost Never go up (or down) the chip aisle.  It's candy on one side (I certainly do not need candy) and chips, pretzels and popcorn on the other side.  While there is almost always a box of microwave popcorn in the pantry, I honestly do not often buy any of the rest of it.  At least until Summertime.

Since we moved to Florida I have noticed that in the summertime I crave Salt.  It's crazy.  Never in my entire life have I ever craved salt.  Sweet yes.  That's an absolute with me and will be eternal, forever and ever, amen, amen.  But salt?  Never.  In my life I have declined restaruant meals for being "too salty", I have avoided canned veg and soups for the same reason, and picked the salt off a soft pretzel because it was too much salt.  Yes, I know, I'm very odd.  But since we moved here, there are times, when nothing will satisfy me but something salty.

I suspect that it has to do with being outside in heat and humidity and the subsequent sweating.  I think I sweat more here in a single week than I have in the entirety of my prior life, combined!  Ok that's a slight exaggeration, but hey, it's a sweaty place. Especially if you are excercising, (I do), doing yard work (I do) or just hoofing it everywhere you go (also me).  One of the many elements in your body that you secrete in sweat, are salts.  It's just part of your body.  Then I suppose, in addition to needing to drink extra water, I also need to replace the salts.  At least that makes sense to me. Seems logical.

So shortly after we moved here, when I started this weird salt craving, I tried and rejected a lot of possibilities. Mostly chips and primarily because they are deep fried.  Fried food in general doesn't sit well with me.  My body casts out the Fried Demon!  heh.  So I looked elsewhere.  Last year I stumbled upon a peanut butter filled pretzel - the store brand at that! - that was a lovely option.  Didn't have the greasy fried effect and the peanut butter was a little sweet.  And nothing pleases me more than getting sweet and salt in the same bite. Total Yummm.   And I probably would have been satisfied with just sticking with that. Until.....

I found the Popables.  Silly name.  Not sure what about them made me throw it in the carriage with all my lovely fresh veggies and fruits but I did.  And I am delighted that I tried them too.  As I said at the top of this page, they are just salty enough, very crunchy but light and the absolute best part....

150 calories a serving.  For something that is "bad" for me..that's not so bad.  Ice cream and cookies and M&M's which are three of my favourite things, are far worse.  Relatively low fat, that's nice.   Low sugar.  Low cholesterol. Even has a teensy bit of fiber.  But look up top.  Serving size.  30 pieces!! THIRTY PIECES  IS ONE SERVING!

I have never seen anything yummy that had 30 pieces as a serving size.  Ever.  Usually it's one.  Or even half a package.  Poptarts.  There are two poptarts in each package but a serving size is one. Stupidest thing I ever saw.  Who eats one poptart?  What do you do with the second one?  But I digress.

I cannot eat very much in one sitting.  Half a sandwich is about the most I can tolerate, for instance.  But if I wait an hour or so, then I'm hungry again and I can eat the other half.  I do better grazing throughout the day than sitting down to eat a  full meal.  So a thirty piece serving turns out to be actually MORE than I can eat!  Woohoo!   That NEVER happens.

These Popable things may become a standard part of our pantry through the summers.  I need to see if they have any other flavours.  This time I just grabbed the first one I saw which happened to be sea salt.   I need to explore my options fully.

Once the weather cools off again in the fall, I won't crave salt anymore and I won't need to buy them again.  But how nice to now have TWO salt happy options. The peanut butter filled pretzels and now these Popable things.

You know how they say to never shop hungry?  I suppose I should never shop sweaty either.  If I wasn't craving salt so badly that day, I never would have tried these things and another addiction would have been avoided.