Not 100% sure this counts as a post: park snack mix

It’s not fully clear to me that this is worth putting out onto the internets, but as I mixed a small batch up this morning, I thought about how happy it makes me, and how easy it is, and how many bins in the bulk section are taken up with trail mix variations. So maybe it is useful after all, if nothing else as a reminder: make your own trail mix, people. In my experience, even the best purchased trail mix is sullied by some unwanted ingredient. Usually sunflower seeds, which I don’t object to per se, but which, in my opinion, add nothing to a trail mix except a weird earthy oiliness that is entirely unwelcome. Or, the ratios are all off, or it’s so overstuffed with ingredients, you end up with variation that causes great uproar when divided amongst the rabble.

And let’s be honest: the best trail mix has chocolate bits in it, whether in the form of chips or chunks or candy-coated ellipsoids (thank you, Scientific American for the answer to that question), but if you have small children this is the shortest path to grubby paws touching every single piece, seeking out the chocolate and leaving behind everything else. I made the crucial error of buying bags of chocolate-laced trail mix for my seven-year old’s birthday, and it was absolutely gross watching every single little hand rake through the bowl, emerging victorious with a half-melted chocolate chip clutched in clammy fingers.

Now that you are super hungry, may I suggest the following as a delightful snack mix to bring with you to your next park outing. It is, as far as I’m concerned, the best of the non-chocolate trail mixes, with a lovely variety in texture and flavor, and enough sweetness to satisfy. It is not really a recipe, I admit, because it just involves adding three ingredients together, but it is wonderful, and it makes me very happy indeed.

Do you make your own trail mix? What do you like to add in there?