Filed under: Lunch, Snacks, Trends, America
Amtrak has a new feature in store for its riders, and luckily, it’s better than random bag checks.
If you get hungry on your Amtrak or Acela ride, forget those sub-par turkey sandwiches and tiny pretzels - you can now purchase a “GoPicnic” meal from the cafe car. The meals are perfect for long train rides, as they don’t require refrigeration or heating and have a long shelf life. What makes them special? They’re all-natural and organic, and don’t contain partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, or MSG.
As most airline and train meals aren’t exactly a picture of nutrition, these sound promising. There are a ton of meal choices, and some even come in vegetarian, kosher, and halal options. But a closer look reveals that, like most prepackaged meals, most are too good to be true. Remember: just because a meal is trans fat-free, doesn’t automatically make it healthy. Some of the meals are ostensibly good for you, but their ingredients contain copious amounts of sugar, salt, and calories. For instance, the “Anytime Break” meal comes with pretzels, white cheddar corn puffs, mixed nuts and chocolate chunk cookies. And the “Deli Break” meal isn’t much better - mini salami slices, peppercorn cheese spread, crackers, chips, and those cookies again.
The company does provide other meals that contain more lean fish, dried fruit, and healthy protein sources like hummus and skim-milk cheeses, but you won’t find these choices on Amtrak.
The meals are okay if you’re caught without food on a long trip, but if you know you’re going to be train traveling, bring your own snacks. You’ll save calories and money.
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Banana bread is one of my Desert Island Foods, that list of foods that I would want to have with me if I was stranded on a desert island (apparently in my world, desert islands have supermarkets and manufacturing facilities). I’m not a big baker so I rarely have it, but I truly love it.
