Lightweight Snack Food

[Karl]

Bit of an unusual one. Most of us spend time, effort and money shaving grams from bikes and kilo's from our bodies to very good effect. On the food front we have dehydrated meals to save weight but what about snacks on the bike, what is light with high energy content that we like to chew on?

I normally take flapjacks and cereal bars along with some chocolate, soreen and eccles cakes which are normally high in energy but these are all rather 'heavy'. Does anyone choose food based on weight/cal?

[whitestone]

If you want to increase the calorific density then choose something high in fat. There's a point beyond which it becomes difficult for your body to absorb so there's a bit of a trade off. Nuts (providing you aren't allergic to them) are probably the easiest trail food to get you high fat content. On similar lines, marzipan is quite good as well though not perhaps so good for your teeth!

[padonbike]

Did you say ........ marzipan?

[whitestone]

Did you say ........ marzipan?

I meant to say Mmmmmmarzipan

[benp1]

Dark chocolate covered Marzipan is even better (Ritter sport, individual bars, those long ones that are semi circular in profile... all good!)

[journeyman]

Isn't marzipan a fave of Alpine veterans? I try to mix up the snacks to keep it palatable - I went right off the red nakd bars on last years ht550. Still like the blue cashew and date ones though! My protein do some raw bars with dates which are well lush. good weight for calories and snack sized bar. And then when I need a kick in the pants I have stored away a couple of cliff shot mocha caffeinated gels for those last couple of hours in the day....good weight in the stem cell, but hefty on the pocket

[whitestone]

I'd use marzipan in the Alps - being oil based it didn't freeze so you could have a block of it in your jacket pocket and just grab a bite as and when you wanted.

[touch]

Ritter sport, individual bars, those long ones that are semi circular in profile... all good!

You can get semi-circular profile bars from lidl. Not ritter branded (Favorina, I think?). 99p for 100g bar.

[Alpinum]

Oh... didn't I have my macadamia nuts with rosemary and pepper with me on our Jura trip?
Doesn't get much denser (weight and cal) than that.
I tend to mix bars and other sweet stuff with salti things like crackers & nuts through out the day(s)

Self made cereals/Porridge/grained nuts/whole milk powder for brekkers
Snacks as above - actually I go with slow and fast Snacks.
Slow are stuff like cured meat, crackers, mayo. Food I have to make a proper break to eat.
Then fast food I don't really have to stop to eat. This is not about speed, but about staying warm when riding in messy weather.

[Alpinum]

Isn't marzipan a fave of Alpine veterans? I try to mix up the snacks to keep it palatable - I went right off the red nakd bars on last years ht550. Still like the blue cashew and date ones though! My protein do some raw bars with dates which are well lush. good weight for calories and snack sized bar. And then when I need a kick in the pants I have stored away a couple of cliff shot mocha caffeinated gels for those last couple of hours in the day....good weight in the stem cell, but hefty on the pocket

What's Alpine Veteran?

I was born in the Swiss Alps and have lived and biked here ever since.
We eat, just as you say, anything palatable. The Alps are well confined, you're never far away from the next shop. Well... not days, but hours. So food wise it's easy. Just take what you like. We often carry beer up some mountainsides for supper
Bread, cured meat, cheese. BBQ. You name it. Bars for quicker energy, but mainly "real" food.

[whitestone]

I think he means, and I read it as, alpine climbing rather than simply living there.

[Alpinum]

I think he means, and I read it as, alpine climbing rather than simply living there.

Cheers

I did a sub standard load of mountaineering until biking kind of took over. Never came across the marzipan-gang.
It's just one of many ways to get energy. I like it and find it's quite okay, but maybe it's more an older gen thing...

[benp1]

Ritter sport, individual bars, those long ones that are semi circular in profile... all good!

You can get semi-circular profile bars from lidl. Not ritter branded (Favorina, I think?). 99p for 100g bar.

I get through quite a number of them, always have one in the cupboard

They were 3 different options, rather than a long description of the perfect one

Ritter sport are ace but slightly more pricey
Individual bars can be had from Aldi
Long ones from Aldi or Lidl, others are available

Hmmm, I really fancy some marzipan now

[AlasdairMc]

My go-to trail food has until recently been Stoats Porridge bars. 240ish calories for 50g, and they go down pretty well.

My new favourite trail bar is the High 5 coconut flapjack, just because I got about 30 of them for a fiver from Canyon.

[cloudnine]

Tregroes chocolate toffee waffles ftw

[PaulE]

Raisins, cashew nuts, peperami sticks, bakewell flapjacks from aldi, mini pork and pickle pies, nakd bars.... There's a few ideas! All pretty calorie dense & relatively palatable while exercising.

Also make my own chia seed, raisin & peanut butter flapjacks from http://www.muddyrace.co.uk/nutrition/ho ... e-experts/ and then dip them in chocolate...

[FLV]

Smoked cheese and chorizo wraps.

Best made at home. Good for 48nhours in your pockets.

As long as it not too summer....

[piotr]

Beef jerky and dates. Last year cycled Negev Desert. 7 days and only those as a snacks. Since then it's my only snack on the trails. Perfect for me.

[slightly]

Snyders ftw - 600g a packet if I remember rightly!

[ddraver]

Having delicious tasting snacks to gorge on is surely worth the weight no?

(This could be why I'm not a good climber...)

[Scattamah]

I go for Pearsons Salted Nutrolls. Will have to check the weight/calorie count when I get home. Fit 5 in a feed bag and they don't melt.

Greetz

S.

[Zippy]

I go for Pearsons Salted Nutrolls. Will have to check the weight/calorie count when I get home.

I think this is what I tried when you gave me one Scott?

According to the website: http://pearsonscandy.com/candy/salted-nut-roll

Std, 240 calories for 51g

[Richard G]

Definitely salty stuff and nuts for me when push comes to shove. After a while my body can't face anything else sweet so I gravitate to savoury.

I must try that marzipan thing though.

[thenorthwind]

Snyders ftw

Yes! Honey mustard and onion are the best too.

It's never occurred to me to use them as energy food, I've always tried not to look at the label when eating them at home/work

[Scattamah]

That's the one, Zippy. Peanuts, caramel, nougat and enough salt to drop an elephant. All the things a cyclist needs. I can only get the little ones over here - the king size ones are even better.

The real king of snack foods is another one I struggle to get here - chilli cheese Fritos. 300g bag delivers 1600 calories with loads of salt. I owe that one to Billy Rice - some good trailside advice there.

Greetz

S.