Add me to the “people who fold” list, but if that’s not your thing, there are always the minis.
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Just to suck all the fun out of it, another option is to just find something that is cheap and calorie dense and train yourself to eat it… There are a lot of calorie dense products I like the taste of (bars, gels, waffles, real food, candy, etc.), but I’ve tried to get away from those things to save $ and simplify my training and racing (especially for fast aid station stops). Really, all we need from a performance standpoint is sugar, water, and salt. The rest is all about flavor and packaging. You have to be able to eat it, so I’m not discounting the flavor/texture/etc. aspect, just saying it might be worth trying some simpler alternatives to see if you can make them work. You start doing the math on some of these nutrition products and the costs get crazy in a hurry. I’m mostly just a straight maple syrup guy these days for fueling, but haven’t found a suitable alternative to skratch for hydration and supplemental fueling. DIY drink mix experiments have not gone well and I’m pretty lazy about my fuel/hydration prep. So Skratch still gets a bunch of my $ every month, but I’m looking for other options.
The Strawberry Belgian Waffles seem to work fine - I’m just using them for indoor workouts. The flavor / texture is a nice change from the Nature’s Bakery bars.
I checked, and the fat content of the waffles is only slightly higher than the Nature’s Bakery bars: 8g vs. 5g
There are home made recipes online that I wouldn’t mind trying at some point. The ingredients are different for non-commercial recipes, and I’ve only ever had store bought mint cake.
I’d only eat this occasionally, though, dental-wise.
This was homework and easy to pack and eat. Buckwheat waffles, added some light corn syrup to the mix for extra carbs. A little dry but a nice change from store bought nutrition for an endurance ride.
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Have you considered raisins? That’s what I use. Just a couple of packs and gulp them down.
I haven’t tried raisins, though I have thought of doing so. I haven’t for two reasons:
1 packaging: what’s the right packaging that’s easy to carry for single serving sizes
2 flavor: I like raisins, but I can see getting bored eating enough raisins for a 4 to 5 hour ride
I might give them a try as a mix it up for indoor rides
these comes in pre-packed boxes… it’s not what I use, I usually just zip lock a bunch and stuff into the jersey pocket
with food, you can mix it up… some trail mix perhaps…
See what you think of ERG Bars https://erg-bar.com. Made in Michigan. Label and ingredients all listed on the web site. They’re dense and high cal. and a tasty alternative.
Bit more spendy than plain old raisins, but something like dried pineapple or pears can be a bit easier In my experience, since the pieces are typically larger. Dried bananas are ace and travel way better than fresh, though they do look kind of horrifying.
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Way back in the day before Whole Foods was whole paycheck - they used to have dried bananas in the bulks bins. Bananas are cheap enough that I’m going to dry and dry some in my air fryer as the lowest setting and see if they dry out. Great suggestion.
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I love some dried Mangos, but they are darn expensive…
I carry a bottle with mouth wash in for long days, as I have sugar water in my camelbak!
Cereal bars are my go to. I usually calculate 1 every 45 minutes for training and 1 every half hour for race efforts.
They’re pretty much identical at any grocery store, and cheap.
140 calories
25-30g carbs
I’d be mainly the same - I stock up on the likes of Nature Valley when on offer or Aldi/ Lidl equivalent. Or Nutrigrains or equivalents.
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