homemade energy snacks for the ride

[vertical_doug]

Lately, I am sick of the stupid power bars, cliff bars, gels and what not being sold for bike food. A banana is great, although it doesn't travel well.

Since a friend came back from Brazil and brought me some ecocomal, I have been making little sugar cane bars with salt.

The Lim Cakes have been given a fair amount of press lately by various rags (velonews, bicycling, outside) and has anyone tried these out on a ride?
I am curious but think the bacon may be a bit heavy.

Recipe for Best Energy Bar Ever | Nutrition | OutsideOnline.com

Thoughts?

[Too Tall]

Lately, I am sick of the stupid power bars, cliff bars, gels and what not being sold for bike food. A banana is great, although it doesn't travel well.

Since a friend came back from Brazil and brought me some ecocomal, I have been making little sugar cane bars with salt.

The Lim Cakes have been given a fair amount of press lately by various rags (velonews, bicycling, outside) and has anyone tried these out on a ride?
I am curious but think the bacon may be a bit heavy.

Recipe for Best Energy Bar Ever | Nutrition | OutsideOnline.com

Thoughts?

Lim cakes aka Francois have been in play for 20 yrs. and yes they are terrific for long riding. Love them long time. Bacon? There is BACON in them??? Kidding. Try prosciutto or bits of ham. The bacon only adds flavor and you don't use alot. These are mostly sticky rice, eggs, salt and pepper with a smidgen of bacon...which is brilliant when you are knackered.

The Francois don't keep well and definitely do not freeze well. If you are more practical, you can make pancakes well in advance and freeze them. Thaw them out night before and make roll ups with all sorts of goods: pbutter, cheese, honey, ham. Easy right?

Last, if you like jerkey than get onto the internet and find a reliable source of organic beef or turkey jerkey that is not peppered or heavily seasoned. Trust me on this, after three hrs. of riding tear off a hunk and enjoy.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. "Real" food for endurance sports is something I believe in despite the fact my bottles are usually filled with Frankenfood.

[airedale]

Heisenberg has some good stuff on his blog/site. He can cook!

THE LOCALS ARE PAINTING MY NAME ON THE ROADS | Honey, oats, nuts…what can go wrong?

[Too Tall]

Heisenberg has some good stuff on his blog/site. He can cook!

THE LOCALS ARE PAINTING MY NAME ON THE ROADS | Honey, oats, nuts…what can go wrong?

He can't miss, that looks great.

[WadePatton]

I've had some good stuff by the Mother/Wife of the Racing Russells, but haven't been able to extract any info about the making thereof.

SO I saw The Feed Zone Cookbook by Thomas/Lim, and bought it (but have only taken time to glance at it--looks great!). ALL the while meaning to come here and start a thread and maybe collect/merge the old ones here.

BUT then Spring has sprung and there's not enough time to do all between now and the Doggie Days to follow. I could use some 25-hour days and 10-day weeks.

Thanks for firing the shot.

I've been buying "gummy" type stuff from the shitfood/candy aisle at the LGS-to find my "twizzler". The latest and best of that experiment is "lifesavers gummies".

BUT OF COURSE I'd like to roll up something similar w/o artificial colors and flavors added. Ms. Russell was making fruit roll-ups last year-basically by pureeing fruit, making thin sheet, and dehydrating. I don't know if any additional pectin or such was added. I have to make a dryer.



...carry on.

[MarkC]

Been experimenting with CocoNutz. Endurance Mtn guy in Utah came up with the format. So far I like em.

For sugar- good old orange slices from the candy aisle. Or fig newtons on a long ride.

[Shoogs]

DSharp’s Amazing Homemade Energy Bars | Grit & Glimmer

This winter I've worked on changing up my engineered bottle food to whole foods and am currently using this recipe as a base. Lately I've used peanut butter to help with the consistency, I've added sea salt, craisins etc... Basically what ever is in the cupboard. Almonds...slivers yes, whole no. Cashews are nice. This week I'll use honey and chia... Above all with this recipe consistency before the oven is the key.

[vertical_doug]

Here's to never gagging down a warm bottle of Hammer Perpetuem again.

[Noteddy]

I too, am tired of the packages and what come in them. Sure they are convenient, and I'll keep some around when I'm even more lazy than usual.

Been trying this lately:

1 cup almonds
1/4 cup cashews
1/2 cup walnuts
1 3/4 cups pitted dates
1/4 cup dried pitted cherries (OR apricots, pears etc Whatever trips your trigger)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)

Food processor until it sticks together. Press into an 8x8 pan and refrigerate. Cut up and freeze. They are a bit sticky, but go down easily for me. Probably add some puffed rice and cook them off for summer use. Will keep experimenting.

[summilux]

Last, if you like jerkey than get onto the internet and find a reliable source of organic beef or turkey jerkey that is not peppered or heavily seasoned. Trust me on this, after three hrs. of riding tear off a hunk and enjoy.

Jerky is easy to make at home. Take whatever meat you like, slice real thin and season to taste. I like soy sauce and pepper. For beef, I use flank steak sliced with the grain and about 1 teaspoon of soy/pepper per pound of beef. Marinate for an hour or so and then put on a baking sheet in a single layer. Set your oven to its lowest temp and keep the door slightly ajar with a wooden spoon or similar object. Put in the pans. It'll be jerky the next day.

No preservatives and it keeps very well. I took a few pounds of this on a 2-week backcountry hike and it didn't spoil.

[classtimesailer]

A peanut butter and honey or jelly sand-which has the same protein/carb ratio as most bars and you can go 100% organic. For energy(buzz), I've been experimenting with chocolate covered espresso beans. Ice T in one water bottle is a treat.

Jeff

[amos scattergood]

this has been on my mind as well. I just made sourdough rolls with fruit and nuts and also some with ham and cheddar. packed in a ziplock with a paper towel, worked well!
Seed/nut/fruit rolls by \\\amos///, on Flickr

[lemonlaug]

I been filling my bottles thusly:

Fill 1/3 with warm water.
Dissolve heaping spoonful o honey.
Pinch o salt. Slightly smaller pinch of "No Salt" brand salt sub (for potassium).
Top with cold water.

Sugar, electrolytes, what more do you want?

[s_curran]

This seemed to be the best thread on this, thought I would check to see if anyone had anything new to add.

I am looking to make myself some bars that I could make a big batch of and would last. I have been eating these lately (https://thefeed.com/products/bar/giddy-bar/) and will continue to, because they are amazing, but it has got me thinking about replacing some of the other crap. Thoughts?

[jdp211]

Huge fan of the Lim cakes. Delicious, tons of energy, and they don't sit heavy at all. The other recipes are pretty tasty as well, particularly the chocolate/blueberry/coconut milk.

[Shinomaster]

I know my bro was making some of those curious rice cakes for a while with Parmesan inspired by Team Garmin's food ( he was vegetarian though). Said they were awesome. Team Garmin-Slipstream Race Food - Healthy Energy Foods for Cyclists | Gear Review | Gear Junkie

[Peter Polack]

I bought the Feed Zone Portables cookbook and have been trying the rice cake recipes. The book also contains a substantial section on nutrition for athletes which by itself makes the book valuable.

These things are way better than bars and gels; it's just that there's a learning curve to getting the rice to stick and finding recipes that work for you.

My first problem was getting the rice to stick together even though I used the recommended calrose rice (found in the oriental food section of your supermarket). Any rice suitable for sushi (should say so on the bag) should work, I guess. I just picked up a bag of Nishiki brand medium grain rice with a sushi recipe on the package since I couldn't find more calrose; I hope it'll work.

Tip: Don't make a full batch until you have the "sticky" thing down and you find a recipe you enjoy. That way you won't stare a a ton of rice cakes you don't want to eat or didn't stick together. Make 1/2 a recipe and use an 8x8" brownie pan instead.

After the first batch didn't stick well, (although it tasted good) I tried adding 1/4c. of water. I also added 1Tbsp. of sugar for both flavor and hopefully to add stickiness to the rice. I'm getting closer but still not satisfied. I may try adding a second tablespoon of sugar.

The bacon, egg, and cheese rice cakes are like eating a meal! They are really filling and satisfy, but won't bloat you. The combination of sweet (sugar), salt and fat (bacon), and protein from the eggs is everything I'd crave or need on a long ride. I might consider adding more salt as well. Now I've got this idea for rice cakes with prosciutto and chopped cherries...

My second batch, blueberry and chocolate rice cakes didn't stick well but they were packable enough; I wish the chocolate was at room temperature or softened slightly by the hot rice. Reasonably filling with longlasting energy. The recipe called for coconut milk which didn't do anything for me.

I just made a batch of rice cakes with ground beef spiced with molasses and soy sauce (from the book). Again, the salt/sweet combo in conjunction with the slow digesting meat made for the perfect food. Problem is my rice didn't stick again but I think I was using regular rice from my canister. This was too tasty to toss out so I'm eating it as a plated meal instead.

Another tip: The rice cakes can be frozen. After your ride, pull a rice cake out of the freezer and stick it in the refrigerator to be ready for the next ride; they won't thaw quickly just sitting in your jersey pocket.

Again, buy the correct rice and make 1/2 batches until you get the rice to stick together well and I can't see how you'll be disappointed.

[TMB]

I may be branded a heretic for this, but ....

I make sandwiches. Use a dense multigrain bun and slather with butter, cheese (either Gouda or Emmental, whatever is in stock on the top drawer of the fridge) and a spicy meat such as Capicolla, Pancetta or some variety of Turkey (again, what's in the fridge).

I cut the buns in quarters, wrap them in foil and toss them in my pocket.

Possibly not as "compact" as a powerbar, but much tastier. If I want other adds or tastes, easy to stick in the buns.

[ZenNMotion]

Dried fruit, good nut butter in a camping tube, apple slices, and if I'm going long then a couple of home made California rolls for a lunch treat. Since I'm off sugar, just water or tea in the bottles, I don't miss the powdered mix crap at all and so far I haven't needed to touch the emergency Skittles in the seat bag in case I'm wrong. I do miss Fig Newtons though, it is possible to swallow them without chewing... Everything tastes good on the bike, so I save cooking for stuff that actually tastes good off the bike.

[Giff Holmquist]

For something a bit different, I tried this recipe a few years ago for an MS150 ride. Levain Bakery's NYC Biking Bakers | Bicycling Magazine

Fairly easy to make and was pretty tasty.