DIY trail snacks

[stinky1138]

Sultanas or raisins, peanuts, and M&Ms. A mix of nuts is usually better but i like peanuts best anyway. Get the bulk buy bags to about half, toss in a bag of M&Ms, and 2 or 3 mini boxes of the fruit.
When you're used to buying Clif bars at under $1 a bar, $2+ seems expensive.

 

[Freediver]

Sultanas or raisins, peanuts, and M&Ms. A mix of nuts is usually better but i like peanuts best anyway. Get the bulk buy bags to about half, toss in a bag of M&Ms, and 2 or 3 mini boxes of the fruit.
When you're used to buying Clif bars at under $1 a bar, $2+ seems expensive.

YUK. The dried fruit makes the nuts go soggy.

 

[stirk]

YUK. The dried fruit makes the nuts go soggy.

Not in my experience. The loose mix stuff from Coles is great, you scoop a mix into a bag weigh it and print the cost bar code on it. Goji power is great and there are heaps of varieties, many have dried fruit and nuts which seem to stay crunchy. You live in the tropics?

 

[Freediver]

I guess I just like my nuts dry.
I'm happy to grab nuts from one bag and dried fruit from another and eat them together. Roasted almonds slipped into a date where the stone was are one of my favourite little treats.

 

[Mrlinderman]

I fking envy you guys, having crohns and only half a bowel left means I can eat very little while on the trail (unless I want a bad day very close to amenities), my riding nutrients consists of primarily liquid based energy, in the form of controlled supplements and some very small snacks. protein mainly for me, jerky (not spicy) and other dried meat, ironically the only food i can stomach while riding is a bbq sausage in bread haha, at least i can enjoy those shuttle days LOL

Coconut water for a natural electrolyte boost to keep me hydrated (not sweetened), its really good and if you haven't tried it I'd recommend taking a small bottle on your next ride.

 

[Flow-Rider]

I guess I just like my nuts dry.
I'm happy to grab nuts from one bag and dried fruit from another and eat them together. Roasted almonds slipped into a date where the stone was are one of my favourite little treats.

The dried fruit mix I get at my local supermarket is the same but I always thought it was because the nuts weren't roasted.

 

[stirk]

The dried fruit mix I get at my local supermarket is the same but I always thought it was because the nuts weren't roasted.

Gunna have to go nibble my nuts, see how moist they are from hanging out with the fruits.

 

[Flow-Rider]

Gunna have to go nibble my nuts, see how moist they are from hanging out with the fruits.

That's just wrong, as long as there isn't any hard dried banana in the mix for me anyway because I'm fine with eating soft nuts.

 

[Kim Walls]

+1 for the humble banana. And if I need something a bit more energy dense then as others have been suggesting homemade sugary oaty nutty amalgamations of all sorts are great. It is fun to create slightly different bars each time depending on what is on hand. Snack foods like this always makes me dream of silent snack breaks in the forest. mmmmmmmm chewy

 

[stinky1138]

YUK. The dried fruit makes the nuts go soggy.

Sucks to be you then, I don't have this problem.
The M&Ms are key to the whole thing. Could be any little choc bit really, but it's what ties the trail mix together. Not really sure why but without the chocolate it just doesn't work.
A naner on a hot day makes me feel like puking.

 

[RyanOh]

After trying most of the DIY snacks mentioned in previous posts and gels etc I found this article ( http://durianrider.org/2012/01/30/cocaine-bars-make-you-fat-cocaine-bars-vs-organic-medjool-dates ) and found it quite interesting and worth a read, granted all the gels and diy snacks work fine but if your looking for a cheap and easy option then you cant go past the humble date.
My riding is all XC ranging from 40 - 75ks, Even on the bigger 70 odd k rides I do I've found the dates alone more than adequate and i haven't even touched the back up gels ive bought along with me.

 

[will2]

HA! Just threw down a batch of homemade inspired clif Bars. http://livliveslife.com/2012/10/01/homemade-clif-bars-chocolate/
Puffed rice, Flaxseed, Oats, Cacao, a few choc chips too keep them nice, golden syrup, honey and Sunflower butter.
The recipe says to grind up the rice and oats but I couldn't be bothered this time and they came out alright.
I'll put a photo in here in a bit.

Came out a bit more chocolate hedgehog than Clif bar. But give the oats and rice a whiz in the blender for a moment and they are very good. I use less butter than the recipe as the first batch came out very oily and substitute some honey for golden syrup. If you follow the recipe to a T they melt very easily, so it is worth playing around with the consistency when you give it a go.
Cost was like $20 from Coles and makes a few. The rice is a little hard to find but i suppose you could use rice bubbles if you wanted. They give me a very welcome boost out on the trail. Good when matched with a Banana.

 

[Kim Walls]

After trying most of the DIY snacks mentioned in previous posts and gels etc I found this article ( http://durianrider.org/2012/01/30/cocaine-bars-make-you-fat-cocaine-bars-vs-organic-medjool-dates ) and found it quite interesting and worth a read, granted all the gels and diy snacks work fine but if your looking for a cheap and easy option then you cant go past the humble date.
My riding is all XC ranging from 40 - 75ks, Even on the bigger 70 odd k rides I do I've found the dates alone more than adequate and i haven't even touched the back up gels ive bought along with me.

I tend to forget about medjool dates because they are so motherflippen tasty yet somewhat expensive, at least if you can't stop eating them! I guess they are pretty comparable to commercial energy bars/gels, but I don't use those. That vanillary caramel taste is hard to believe that it wasn't designed by a chef.

Those homemade clif bars look pretty tasty! Will have to give something similar a go soon. Choc and a banana great combo. Thanks for Sharing.

 

[GazzaPops]

I made the GCN energy bars on Saturday night for my Sunday ride. They are bloody easy to make and taste like awesome!!

http://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/videos/sec-how-to/how-to-make-energy-bars-gcns-food-for-cycling/

Just remember 120 ml = 1/2 cup not 3/4 cups as they have in the text. I used vegetable oil instead of sunflower oil as that is what I had available.

The nutrition numbers look like this per 100 g;

Energy 2001 kJ
Total Fat 24.1 g
***Saturated Fat 4.2 g
Sodium 280.2 mg
Carbohydrate 56.7 g
***Sugars 38.6 g
Protein 7.3 g

I made 16 bars out of this recipe which is 52 g per bar;

Energy 1035 kJ
Total Fat 12.4 g
***Saturated Fat 2.2 g
Sodium 144.9 mg
Carbohydrate 29.3 g
***Sugars 20.0 g
Protein 3.8 g