My girl and I like to wander around Target on a regular basis, seeing what new goodies they have on clearance, and what new shiny things they have on their shelves. One of the things I discovered years ago was the Archer Farms line of trail mixes. Archer Farms is Target’s house brand of food, and most of it is premium quality, unlike a lot of the house brands out there. Their trail mixes are especially good.
I figured out a long time ago that I can buy trail mix already mixed for about the same price as if I made it myself, sometimes even less. I am lazy, so having someone else do the work for me is a bonus. The problem has always been that everyone has the same crap mix of M&Ms (or cheap knock-offs), raisins, peanuts, and maybe a couple of other things. I am fickle and crave more variety than that. Also, peanuts always seem to absorb the flavors of whatever they are packaged with and end up tasting stale or funny to me. Wal-Mart, Costco, and other places make decent mixes, but nothing worth writing home about.
Along came Archer Farms to the rescue. They make probably 20 different mixes of fruits, nuts, and various other ingredients in their mixes. I have yet to try one that is not tasty, and they seem to always use high quality ingredients. They are already packaged in a resealable plastic bag, so I’ll throw one or two in my pack for a day trip and munch as I walk along. If you haven’t already, give them a try. My personal favorites are Chocolate Monkey (chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate chips, coconut, dried banana, and cashews) and Chocolate Cranberry Crunch (chocolate covered cranberries, almonds, walnuts, raisins, pineapple, and soybeans). Yes, I do like chocolate quite a bit. The granola varieties are also quite good, and make for a good breakfast on the trail. Target has the mixes on sale every couple of months, so if you like them, wait for a sale and stock up.