Is it healthy? Not likely. At home, I would not buy these tiny hand pies from Hostess.
On a trip, though? I might consider it. I have a long history of buying crap food at gas stations on the way to a trainhead. Not for a casual 1-mile stroll, though….I am a MAHA girl at home, so I would have eternal guilt, but if I were still doing long-haul days, sure.
Why I was posing with a Safeway brand chocolate pudding pie on the PCT back in the day is questionable, but I know all of us on the trip had one (photos exist of us posing with them). I am sure we were mocking some health nut on the internet back then.
There is something really satisfying about hand pies. The fried crust, the sugar glaze. Nothing is redeeming in them, outside of the tiny bit of fruit. But if you are doing long days with a lot of elevation, it’s probably not going to hurt you to have a couple of them. And it might just keep your morale up (that trip on the PCT was pretty typical in that time period, where we did 15 to 20 miles a day, and it snowed overnight).
They come in Cherry.
And Apple.
Find them in grocery stores and some C-stores, in the Hostess display. They cost around $3 to $5 a box and come in 12 per box. Each treat is 1 ounce, making them small, and each packs 100 calories per pie.
And again, I don’t call these healthy or good for you. Sometimes junk food does win out.
~Sarah