Food on the go. Whats best.

[numplumz]

Something I'm rubbish at, as I'm a bit like a rabbit in the headlights when given food choices. I've often ridden with people who come out of a shop with good choices while I have chosen junk.
I'm not talking your preferred food that you'd take from the word go, I'm talking food from your average 7-11 or garage.
So the scenario is: you've bivyed overnight, and your shop in the quick-e-mart is the only place you'll see that day. What do you go for to cover breakfast, riding food and that nights recovery and food. Lets say you have no cooking equipment for an extra challenge.

I'm thinking I should practice this in local shops to get better at it :(

[Ian]

If I pitched up at a 7-11, I'd probably come out with the following in various quantities (and why):
Welsh Cakes or Eccles cakes (you don't need a reason to buy these)
Bananas (potassium good for tired muscles)
Malt loaf (easy to eat even you don't have an appetite)
Mathesson's chicken fridge-raider things (meat just to balance the palette and provide some protein)
Pepperami (if I can't get the chicken)
Dark chocolate (small caffeine content + feel good food)
Yop (vitamins etc and to keep the digestion running properly)
Coca-cola (caffeine + sugar)
Flapjack of some sort (oats (fibre), sugar etc)
Pack of crisps (for some salt content)

Some of those reasons might seem a bit dubious, and compared to a proper balanced meal/ diet, I'd probably agree, but for a couple of days it can't be that bad.

[Bearbonesnorm]

On a recent trip I left the Spar clutching a box of cereal and a litre of milk (I think flatfishy thought I'd gone mental).

[Nick]

Ginsters Buffet Bar for breakfast, mmmmmm

[Anthony]

Nutrigrain Elevens's
Dried Fruit, preferably apricots
Bananas
Harribo
Cola
Pretzels or nuts
Croissants
Dairymilk
Bread and lemon curd

It's an interesting question actually.

[Taylor]

On a recent trip I left the Spar clutching a box of cereal and a litre of milk (I think flatfishy thought I'd gone mental).

You are mental, it was a SOMERFIELD.

[gairym]

[gairym]

but seriously.....i'm crap at eating the right things when out on trips (hence the night cramps and early morning cold).

it's something i'm trying to remedy.

[chris n]

You guys need to take up audaxing. Being able to feed yourself effectively in a late night petrol station becomes second nature and you'll soon learn to put up with anything. Personal favorites are dark chocolate, peanut M&Ms, Frijj/Yop, pork pies, bananas, apples and wraps instead of sandwiches.

As Kent Peterson is fond of saying: 'not a nutritonal role model'. :D

[Nick]

My favoritie quote from the book of the Bivvy, although itself a quote from somewhere else is that the most important thing about food is that these should be some.

I'll have a proper go

I'll stick with at least a couple of ginsters things, the wraps aren't too bad really.
Snickers or Topics are a nice boost
Mars Milk for recovery
Chewing Gum to freshen up
Bananas to help firm things up (I'm always a bit erm loose on a Morning after a bivvy)
Peanut butter, jam and bread would be nice but a bit heavy unless it can be shared out on the pavement there and then, would make a pretty good breakfast though
Custard Creams (in homage to the aforemention book of the bivvy)
Orange juice to keep the scurvy away

[Taylor]

(I'm always a bit erm loose on a Morning after a bivvy)

Not just me then.

[Ray Young]

Pie or pasty with pint of milk to consume straight away (Unless you know what your buying then in my experience beware of pies and pasties, called bridies, in Scotland, some of them are not very nice at all, sorry if i have upset any Scottish folk). Bannanas and oat bars are a must for me, then apples, nuts, dried fruit of any kind, sweets ( jelly babies or liqourice allsorts in my case), add boiling water snack pots, flavoured packet rice and pasta (add bacon, ham, pepperami etc whilst cooking), biscuits, slab cake,fruit cake, oatso porridge, instant custard, caffeine drinks, bread buns with triangle cheese. I know a lot of this stuff is sweet but your often stuck with these types of shops as they mainly stock tinned stuff.

PS, i'm often loose too. I think it's the combination of high fluid intake and hard exercise.

[thomthumb]

good question. given your situation i would try and plan the evening meals so i didn't end up with m&ms and a snickers for tea!!

breakfast - danish /cheese straw/ flapjack / cake bar whatever i fancied really; if your carrying on riding there's no reason why it can't be the same as riding food.

riding food- jelly babies/ m&ms (sugar easy to portion and i like them)
twix (don't bother carrying things like this so i will probably eat it outside the shop)
flapjacks - basically a raid on the cake & sweets aisle.
savoury biscuits, tucs/ ritz (high calorie + savoury)
pepperami (salt + protein)


Dinner - pasta salad (if possible)
pepparami
sarnie/ sausage roll/ pasty
bannanas.

lucozade (if short on sugar - see my last trip for hours longing for lucozade)
diet coke (settles my stomach + caffiene + hydration)

[slarge]

Plain chocolate (but why does nowhere stock it - it's much nicer than milk choc)
followed by a Yorkie
then scotch egg
then BLT sandwich
and a bottle of Lucozade to wash it down

Quite nice these balanced diets!

[Dyffers]

As Chrisn says, take up audaxing and you quickly learn the way of the Spar through necessity.

Peanut M&Ms (1000 calories in a 185g bag, easy to have in back pocket and dip into whilst riding)
Pain au choc (breakfast food without the faff of cooking. Pseudo-energy bars at other times)
Original Lucozade (the only drink to contain more sugar than full fat Coke!)
Peperami (easy protein for when I'm feeling sick from all the carbs)
Tunnocks caramel wafers (pack of 4 for 99p from most places, easy-unwrap on the go, morale boost in a packet!)
Anything greasy from the bakery, NOT ginsters as-dry-as-they-come pasties. See-through paper bag? It's your window to weight gain!

Friends at work are amused I know the calorific content many things, in a 'how many calories can I eat as quickly as possible' kind of way.

For the absolute daddy of them all for calorific content insta-food get yourself to the chinese takeaway: Sweet & Sour battered chicken balls with a bag of prawn crackers to mop up the rest of the sauce. No utensils required and about 2000 calories, eaten in 10 minutes.

This can't be good for us, can it?

[numplumz]

All good stuff, resses peanut butter cups are one I always look for, and I'll often go for the tux crackers and a quick open small tin of mackerel or other fish in sauce for an attempt at balanced diet.
Chinese is a very good point and usually pretty quick too, and you can eat some ribs cold later

Is this good for us, well I've just had a medical and resting heart rate is 38, lungs are huge but I have high collesteral, swings and roundabouts.

[Blackhound]

Nothing to add to above lists. Ian put it well though regarding replacement. I always go for a milkshake which I will have outside the shop or maybe take to have later/in the morning. You need the protein to rebuild the muscles, especially when the candles on your birthday cake are getting to numerous! A tin of pre-made coffee if it is not far to the bivvy stop for breakfast. After that it is just the usual mixture of jelly babies, fig rolls, jaffa cakes, malt loaf, nuts, that give you the salt when warm and energy.

Try and buy a mixture so that there is always something you want. I find peanut butter wearing after a few days and then don't eat. Not good.

[stevew]

You can't beat the experience of being maybe a day away from your next real meal, and looking through the bag full of food you're carrying, and deciding that despite having been out of energy for the last several hours, you still can't face any of it.

It just takes a while to learn what works for you through nothing other than your own trial and error experiences. I would suggest avoiding refined sugars, but I'm always surprised by some people's capacity to live off gels and energy drink all day. However what works for maybe 24 hours, probably doesn’t work for 72 or more. On long rides you don’t need to worry about the glycemic index of foods, everything comes down to this: Protein = 4 calories per gram, carbohydrate = 4 calories per gram, fat = 9 calories per gram, alcohol = 7 calories per gram.

Everyone buys different stuff at the store. I wouldn't worry about what you think you're supposed to eat, what anyone else eats, what any kind of ‘endurance cycling’ book, coach, 'energy product’ company tells you your supposed to eat. Just take calories you know you can eat, and a wide variety.