Care Packages Save Lives!

Hey nyam&save fam! I've found yet another amazing tool for you to use this Christmas. This may be more important for those who won't make it home for the holidays, but even if you are, it's not a crime to sneak in a little goodness before heading home. I know we've talked about how much it sucks missing our favorite meals back home (how much we miss our Jamaican jerk chicken and our curry chicken) but we've yet to mention our guilty pleasures, our snacks! I have missed my favorite snacks from home, especially with the holidays approaching.

I've recently noticed how frustrated I become when it's late at night and I can't have the one thing I'm craving, a Big Foot. Or in the middle of the day, between two heavy meals, I just want a butterkist biscuit, but instead, all I have around me is Hot Fries. This often results in me either settling or not being bothered to eat at all - basically, I chose death over hot fries. I was experiencing some seriously delayed culture shock. I did a little digging and found some holes in the wall that only offered mediocre Caribbean snacks. These filled my cravings but, ultimately, still left me dissatisfied. There had to be another option!

One random day, without even trying to look for it, my Instagram explorer page granted me my biggest wish. First, I found a Jamaican which was being featured on Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship, whose name I've learned is Chantal Thomas. I was proud but also amazed that she specialized in making different desserts featuring ackee, Jamaica's national fruit. Then, wait there's more. I found a page with all kinds of information on Island food. They even showed me Caribbean restaurants near me. Lo and behold, they directed me to a care package. A Caribbean Care Package!

All my favorite snacks put together in one box, and all I had to do was click purchase! I almost didn't believe it. There they were, my favorite snacks, candy, cheese and even coffee! Everything that I loved and missed about being home was right at my fingertips. It gets better. They ship it monthly, so when I run out and think all hope is lost, another box shows up at my doorstep.

I got my first Caribbean Care Package during my Junior year of college, three years too late if you ask me. Before, I envied all those cute care packages my friends received in semesters before, but once my care package arrived, their packages looked less than mediocre and I made sure they knew it! Soon all my friends, even those without Caribbean backgrounds, those who had never tried these snacks before, fell in love and our campus became a Caribbean Care Package regular.

This care package came in handy for so many reasons. We were familiar with these snacks and knew they were safe and tasty. Remembering the case of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse often scares me, as she dies of only having a baguette. But these were snacks I had eaten all my life. I was nowhere near scared of them. They were scared of me. No more was I putting my cravings off or tricking them with "less than" alternatives, I was doing right by them. I had my favorite snacks at my disposal and I never had to dread my semesters and long to go home just to have a cheese zees. My cheese zees were now safely tucked away in my snack box. This made being away from home a lot better and I'm sure it will do the same for you. I only suggest things that have worked, and worked well, for me. So, take this jewel, go forth and snack!

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