Trail mix and milk in my purse

The side pocket of my purse holds a ziplock bag of trail mix and a small shelf-stable milk122 kcal carton. They have been there since March. I eat them in the car, in the parking spot, before I walk inside. The trail mix is whatever was on sale. The milk is chocolate when I can find it and plain when I cannot.

Before I kept food in the pocket, I would get home, stand at the fridge, and feel like there was nothing there even when it was full. I arrived at dinner already very hungry after hours without food. Starting a meal from that state was hard, and I often stalled instead of cooking.

I treat the trail mix as a snack before dinner. After those two minutes, starting a real meal is easier.

Two minutes of eating in the car changed how I walked into the kitchen. I refill the pocket on Sundays. It is a small habit, and it has made dinner easier more often than anything else I have tried. Some days I am not hungry on the drive and I skip it. Most days I am, because most days I have not eaten since one o'clock, and one o'clock to seven is a long stretch when you are trying to gain.

The pocket is a ziplock bag and a milk carton. The evenings I forget to refill it are the evenings I notice why I started. I still cook and eat dinner at home. That goes better when I already have something in my stomach instead of starting dinner after a long afternoon with no food.