My absolute favorite type of candy is chewy SweetTarts. Whatever form they take, either as sugar discs or sugar pellets, I will rapidly consume more of them than is wise. Which isn’t a huge number, seeing as those things will absolutely destroy the inside of your mouth and make my sensitive teeth prone to hurting in a way nothing else but copious amounts of Mountain Dew can. As a result of the danger these things pose to my health and well-being, I have a tendency to avoid them in favor of other candy on the rare occasion I choose to indulge my sweet tooth. I don’t really care for sweet things most days and I’ve thankfully broken free of the habits of my youth, when candy played a more central role in my life, but every so often the craving just hits me and I decide to treat myself.

Because I’m a bargain shopper who does their best to buy at the best price point I can, my choices are usually limited by whatever is on sale when the craving hits me or whatever I can get in bulk for cheap that has a long shelf life. I only buy stuff I actually like, as well, which means that my options are pretty limited. Except, of course, that Peanut M&Ms exist and are the perfect intersection of all of my preferences, both in terms of palate and wallet. They’re hard-candy adjacent, they aren’t too sweet, they’re fairly cheap, they last an incredibly long time, and their nature as loose, roundish orbs means that it is easy to grab exactly the right amount when I’m hankering for something sweet.

I know a lot of people swear by the flavor intersection of sweet and salty, but I’ve never really gotten why people like it that much. Maybe it’s because my ability to taste salty things is fairly reduced, compared to most people I’ve checked against anyway, but it doesn’t seem as delightful to me as most people say it is. It doesn’t even taste like much other than that one time I accidentally made cookies with too much salt in them. I mean, most people who like peanute M&Ms cite the mixture of salty and sweet as one of the driving forces behind their preference. I just like that they get boring pretty quickly, so I’m not tempted to eat a bunch of them.

I’ll admit that I have a weird relationship with food, especially at this point in my life as I try to develop habits that are more healthy and sustainable in the long term, and the reason I enjoy Peanut M&Ms is probably the best example. Not many people I know enjoy thing because their very nature tends to limit your interaction with them. Most people I know who like candy like it because it presses the “sugar” button in their brains or because the specific combination of flavors and textures creates an enjoyable experience. Sure, I like Peanut M&Ms for those reasons too, but the primary reason I buy them is because I eat maybe a dozen at a time. They do a great job of quickly satisfying the craving for candy or chocolate, they’re not something I’m going to take a large handful of (because they’ll melt or spill everywhere), and they’re pleasant to eat.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I was planning to keep things simple this week. I’m still pretty tired and burned out after last week, so just be grateful that I’m not talking about the cut and length of socks, and what sort of materials I prefer when it comes to the only article of clothing I’m constantly feeling throughout my entire day. I know I’m glad I decided to talk about M&Ms instead. The socks thing would have been so boring. At least this was mildly interesting.