In the past I’ve tried to limit us to one or two activities every week, but we’ve added some things this year. I’m beginning to suspect that I’ve over-scheduled myself for the fall. We currently have:

• Homeschool co-op and Odyssey of the Mind on Monday.

• Poppy’s regular ballet class and an additional “Nutcracker” rehearsal class on Wednesday.

• Piano lessons on Thursday.

• Two soccer games on Saturday.

• And coming soon: More “Nutcracker” rehearsals every other Sunday.

Now, I know that a lot of parents do all that and more on top of ferrying the kids to and from school and holding down a full-time job. I’m 99 percent certain that the kids wouldn’t have any outside activities if that were the case for me. I’m an introvert and a homebody, and all this running around gives me The Stress, which I inevitably compound by neglecting to eat breakfast before we leave the house. And then I have to either tough it out until I get home or buy something on the go, and it is a scientifically proven fact that I make very poor nutritional choices when I’m hungry like a wolf and outside of my natural habitat.

You would think that as a fully grown and responsible adult, I could figure out a work-around for this. Such as: Eat breakfast or Pack a snack. You would be wrong, though, because I continued to leave the house, get hungry and descend upon the nearest Ho-Ho for months — OK fine: Years, if you count all of that time before now, when I’ve done the very same thing since forever — until finally Zone Perfect stepped in.

They sent me some of their new Perfectly Simple bars to try. Each flavor is gluten-free and contains fewer than 10 ingredients, which makes it a relatively “safe” thing to keep in my purse for snacking emergencies.

The bars come in three flavors: Peanut Crunch, Cranberry Almond and Toasted Coconut. I’m the vice treasurer elect of the Coconut Fan Club, so I thought I was going to love the Toasted Coconut bar. I found it cloyingly sweet, though; I pawned half of it off on Rockford while we waited in line to see Tigger and Pooh at Disney World. He said it was “not bad.” The Cranberry Almond bar didn’t make my tastebuds sing, but it wasn’t offensive either. It was serviceable in the food-as-fuel category, which is sometimes necessary. Like when I’m at the ballet studio and my stomach growls so loudly it distracts the dancers.

And then there’s the Peanut Crunch bar. A.K.A. my new BFF. The Peanut Crunch bar tastes like peanut butter. Really good, dense peanut butter. If you’re the type of person who occasionally indulges in a spoonful from the jar, you’ll like this bar. And I am that type of person.

So while my schedule is going to stay a little bit chaotic for at least the next few months, I no longer have to deal with the repercussions of my own dopey decisions on the breakfast front as long as I remember to keep the Perfectly Simple pocket in my purse stocked with Peanut Crunch bars.

Nichole received a few complimentary Zone Perfect Perfectly Simple bars for review purposed. All opinions expressed are solely her own.