Hey all!
I’m going to start making my own gels to save money, decrease waste and have a great excuse to pretend I’m Bill Nye while I experiment and nail the recipe 
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What reusable flasks/packing do you all use for gel?
I’m looking for something on the smaller side that can easily fit in a jersey pocket and maybe contain 2-3 small gels worth (~2-3oz). Also, it needs to work well with thicker gels (a la Maurten thickness).
Thanks, y’all!
I just bought some of the mini refillable shampoo bottles for travelling. It was the same price for a pack of 5 as it was for one of the brand-name flasks, and there’s a pretty wide selection of shapes/sizes. I imagine they would be well suited to a thicker consistency as well!
I asked myself the same question and will try this one out.
A little bit bigger than your asked size and I struggled to find it on the US decathlon site. Additionally I can’t share any experience yet. So probably I’m no help at all for you, Jonathan… 
I’ve used a HydraPak for the last 2 years. Works well, no real complaints. I’ve got the 250ml/8oz size but they do sell a 150ml/5oz size. The fluid flows around a solid core in the mouthpiece so thicker substances might be a bit of a chore. It’s also a suck-style nozzle.
Hammer Nutrition one is handy, it is hard enough that its got a bit of substance to it, but easy to squeeze out. Also the grip is helpful when you have sweaty hands or gloves on
I first bought three hard ones similar to these because they were very cheap and then got a soft one similar to this.
The hard ones are unusable IMHO: I never get all of the gel out, especially if it is more like Gu than a “real” gel, and it is a pain to clean. The soft one is much better in both respects.
Tailwind do the best one I’ve used - it’s 200ml which is a bit bigger than you are looking for but could be used for a couple of gels? It also has a really good lid that doesn’t leak and can be sealed.
@Jonathan - it would be great if you could share your recipe when you finish it. I currently use Maurten gels and would also love to reduce waste etc.
Amazon have reusable pouches for kids food and I find them perfect
Exactly, I’ve been making up jelly (jello for our Americans) using more water than suggesting that d
I use these ones:
I believe they are the same design as ones originally sold by High5
I’ve had two of these, the first of which was branded to Camelbak. This could be me just getting used to opening the thing while cycling, but I bit through the valve. Gotta bite more gently when opening it, I guess. This style does seem to work all right, but I’m not sure I’m sold on the valve design.
Someone else asked for a gel recipe. Dave Everett at Cyclingtips did a short piece on home brew nutrition. He used honey and molasses for the energy gel. I think that’s close to a 1:1 ratio of glucose to fructose, so if you’re picky about that sort of thing, it may be worth doing more searching, but maybe it’s a start.
If you watch his Youtube vid, he’s Northern English. Some people have commented about his accent. It is what it is. You get used to it. We all sound funny to someone, etc.
I really like the Gu flasks:
They are big (5oz easy), easy to squeeze, can handle a thick substance and fairly easy to clean.
I shop around in the kids food section at the supermarket and get apple juice bottles. Normally around 150-200ml. But there are different mouth pieces and bottle textures depending on the brands.
I think Mark the bottles with and black pen which highlights 1 gel, 2 gel, 3 gel… etc.
Yeah the valve is a bit of a faff, but I guess no more complicated etc than working an actual gel. Most annoying when there’s only a bit left in the flask.
Just use regular table sugar/sucrose.
:
Surprised the gel companies haven’t got on board with biodegradable/compostable packaging.
I too have used the Hammer Flask. I’ve included a pic in my hand for size/scale. It holds 5oz and has 1 ounce graduation marks on the side.
+1 to this - holds about 2 SiS gels
I have been mixing my own custom drinks for a while and thought I’d give gels a try too so I got these:
They are cheap and effective, but I decided making gels is just too messy and I get plenty of carbs from my drink so I only used them a few times. Also, I have no doubt I would lose the twist off tops within a few rides.
This is great! Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
I’m a bit hesitant to try the flexible ones as I fear it could be easier to drop in a chaotic moment.
I may very well have to water things down to get them to work with most of these nozzles, so that’ll be something to test.
Also, I’m not interested in this since part of my motivation is to reduce waste, but I’m sure it would be easy to find some sort of small volume plastic packaging that you could seal with a hair straightener. Might be a bit messy though, hehe.
I will likely start testing different recipes in about two weeks, and I’ll certainly keep y’all posted on what I learn!
