It’s well worth having a quick browse beyond the route between the door and the till to find some healthier alternatives. But realistically, what are the alternatives to sandwiches, chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks?
Healthier snacks like Graze boxes have crept into the petrol station, although they’ve reserved the tastiest stuff for their online offering. Protein bars can often be found, but it can be tough to find one that doesn’t have the taste and texture of Chinese newspapers and apple cores. If you can get your hands on a CLIF bar, they’re actually delicious and satisfying, and should keep you going for a while and the same goes for Nakd bars, although the healthy image of these bars versus chocolate bars is questionable and you might find yourself justifying the calorie spend on a Kit Kat instead for that reason.
If you’re really craving a chocolate hit, fork out for something a bit more expensive – a good quality dark chocolate if you appreciate the taste, or a high-ender like Lindt if you must have milk – and don’t scoff the whole thing in go, have one square and really savour it. Chocolate coated raisins are also a good shout, although these are higher in sugar and should be consumed in moderation too.
If you want something in the sandwich family, try to avoid the pastry and bread – get wraps instead of sandwiches, and if you’re looking to the chiller for more snacks, remember, the less processed the meat, the better. That said, if you must, look to the reformed chicken rather then the smoked sausages.
Some forecourts have hard boiled eggs without sausage or breadcrumbs wrapped around them (I know, weird, right?) and those Dairylea snack boxes are also fairly good – if nothing else, petrol station chiller food boxes are a masterclass in portion control. If you manage to find sushi, you have hit the jackpot – if you’ve never tried it and you think it sounds disgusting or poncey, be brave and give it a go.
Away from the fridge, jerky is a great snack that’s growing in popularity – a delicious concentration of everything that’s great about beef, with the added benefit that it’s difficult to eat, so it lasts a while.