The Snacks of Quarantine
During my first tour of China quarantine in December 2020, I followed the suggestions of other travelers to pack food. But I really didn’t eat much besides the hotel food, since it was pretty filling.
This time, I originally wasn’t going to pack much in the way of food to eat during quarantine (food to cook and eat after quarantine, like roasted green peppers and Mexican sauces, yes). But then sometime in January, it became apparent that 14-day hotel quarantine + 7 days "home health monitoring” would effectively turn into 21-day hotel quarantine. 14 days is kind of doable, but 21 days rounds up to a month, and mentally I was drained just thinking about. So in the last few days before coming back to China, I broke out an extra duffel bag and stocked up on snacks. Here’s a rundown of my favorite and least favorite snacks of my quarantine days.
The Winners
1. Trader Joe’s Jerk-Style Plaintain Chips. I opened these first, because I thought I would like these the least. I was afraid they would be kind of sweet or have a banana flavor. But they were completely savory, and had a wonderful spicy seasoning on them. I absolutely loved these! These helped get me through the first dark days of quarantine.
2. Trader Joe’s Reduced Guilt Kettle Cooked Potato Chips. These I pretty much knew I would like, so I saved these for a “special occasion.” That turned out to be after I moved from the 14-day Homeinn Selected to the 7-day Tianlin Hotel. (My sister had recommended these to me, and when I told her I finally opened the bag after 14 days, she responded, you only broke into them now?!)
I already love all kettle cooked chips: the crunch and the extra potato-y flavor put them far above regular Lay’s-type thin chips, for me. And these don’t sacrifice any crunch or flavor, and only subtract unwanted greasiness. Just love!
3. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Mint Creams. I am one of those mint-chocolate lovers. And these had a perfect balance of chocolate and mint flavor. Not too spearmint-y like York peppermint patties. Just right.
One or two of these a day, with my afternoon coffee, brought a little joy in what was often a depressing situation (especially the first 14 days).
4. Trader Joe’s Gummy Tummies. Also a recommendation from my sister, these were really fun - loved the squishy liquidy tummies, contrasting with the soft gummy. They did become kind of sticky sometimes, when the tummy’s jelly burst out.
5. Goldfish Flavor Blasted Xtra Cheddar. Nice flavor, and it’s even better with Tabasco! The tanginess of Tabasco really amps up the cheese flavor, I think.
6. Golden Island Pork Jerky. These were good to have a savory snack, and even a savory addition to protein-less breakfasts. They also lasted quite a few days without refrigeration (my 14-day hotel didn’t have a fridge), although in the later days the flavor was affected.
7. Black Forest Organic Gummy Bears. These were also a nice, sweet treat. The roasted almonds next to them, taken from my United flight, also had just the right amount of salt, and were perfectly toasted.
8. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Coffee Buzz Bar. This was a nice treat, to get a caffeine kick without coffee.
The Okays
1. Pretzels from the SAN-SFO flight. Standard pretzels.
2. Albanese gummy bears. These were from my SFO-ICN-PVG flight. These were a bit too soft for my taste, and the colors were a little off-putting.
3. Nature’s Path Organic Grain Free Caramel Pecan Granola. I wanted something that wasn’t a lot of carbs, so I grabbed a bag of this grain-free granola. It’s purposefully low in sugar, so it’s not the best for a sugary pick-me up, but I think it would be better as a topping for yogurt or a smoothie.
The Least Favorites
1. Trader Joe’s Organic Elote Corn Chip Dippers. I had such high expectation of these, because I like corn chips, and I love Mexican flavors. But these were a) kind of sweet (if I recall correctly, sugar is one of the ingredients), and b) had a strange dairy milk flavor to them, which I didn’t like.
2. Cheez-It Snack Mix. I liked the Cheez-It crackers, but the other components had a strange artificial milky cheese flavor (kind of similar to the corn chips above).
Adding Tabasco helped greatly (I’ve learned that Tabasco and cheddar is just an amazing combination!)
3. Trader Joe’s Coffee Lover’s Espresso Beans. Like the coffee chocolate bar above, I wanted some caffeine source that wasn’t coffee. The espresso beans are just dry and kind of chalky. I feel like I make this mistake and have this learning every time I think eating espresso beans are a good idea.
4. These coffee pods. I was super appreciative of my office for sending me instant coffee, but there’s something strange with the flavor of this brand.
