I've had bad runs of tubes for short stretches. Worth trying to figure out why if it's recurrent.

Short of that -
- Good tubes help. I love the Bontragers which are typically $7 but have solid stems and are much more rip-resistant than Nashbar ones in my experience. Those nashbar ones often rib when you're tire levering off the tire, but the Bontys never do.
- A patch kit is super-helpful for these stretches (sounds like you've got one already - good for you!) Nothing more annoying than putting on a tube and having it go flat seconds later due to an unseen thorn/etc. With a patch, that tube is still good to go. (Don't use the glueless patches, though.)