rangewalker
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Post by rangewalker on Sept 7, 2020 19:28:01 GMT -8
I favor Rx bars--decent tasting, no mystery ingredients, good amount of protein, not tons of sugar, and not too dry. Me too. They should come with health warning though. Below freezing they can break dental appliances. I have had a partial for 12 years now, and three times they have gone to the orthodontists oven for repair from one bar or another. Two of the trail incidents at subfreezing temps and bars. No joke. The last incident was a week ago with an RX bar as I was fueling up for all day hike in freezing rain and snow. Mad, I still ate, or sucked, the bar after dicing. I agree that overly processed foods are a concern. And in my kitchen at home they are forbidden. But I am well into my sixth decade and concern myself with getting sufficient nutrition out of raw foods like uncooked cereals, grains, dried fruits, and nuts on the trail.
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Sept 8, 2020 8:27:29 GMT -8
Fig Newtons seem to do the job for me. I just wish I could figure out how to keep them from squishing. Why? Squishing just releases more flavors! Nothing better than a ball o' Newtons!
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Sept 8, 2020 8:31:26 GMT -8
I always have an assortment to choose from.... from Cliff bars to locally-made organic bars.
On my trail runs, I prefer easily digestible fuel (i.e. - sugar), such as chews, Sports Beans, Gu, etc. Of those, my favorite are the Stinger Energy Chews.
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Post by drilldaddyo on Sept 10, 2020 9:52:13 GMT -8
I've enjoyed Big Sur bars in the past. Unfortunately, I have to order them online and have them sent, but they seem to "hold" well in the freezer until I'm ready to take them on a trip. . The White Zest are my favorite with a calorie count of 630 per bar. Here's a link to the website: www.bigsurbar.com/collections/frontpageRandy
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digger
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Post by digger on Nov 20, 2020 12:40:26 GMT -8
Being a complete newb to backpacking I've been thinking a lot about food on a hike. I'm surprised that I don't read or hear (in YouTube vidoe's) backpackers talk about pemmican. Pemmican is the original survival food...dating back a couple of hundred years. Lewis and Clarke likely lived on pemmican during their famous expedition. During 2020 I've learned a lot about nutrition. One of the most profound things I learned is that the low-fat diet advice I grew up with is one of the worst things that's happened to western civilization. It's the reason chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease are at record level....and it's the reason childhood obesity is so high. Anyway that's a can of worms I'll not get into here, but in any case, protein and fat are the two macro-nutrients that a healthy human should want most of. And you may be surprised to learn how many vitamins you actually get from animal protein and fat. But back to pemmican. It's an incredibly nutrient and calorie dense food. It has an amazing shelf life and is very satiating on the trail. A couple of candy bar sized pieces of pemmican and 8 or 10 ounces of water will fill you up and keep hunger at bay for hours. Sadly if you want good pemmican you'll probably have to make it yourself. I've found some on Amazon but it's well over $80/pound. Fortunately, also on Amazon you can find dried and shredded beef and beef tallow..add some dried fruit/berries and some nuts and you've got the best pack food there is.
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Post by backpackal on May 25, 2021 4:15:41 GMT -8
I first read about these in the Bible. Individually packed, perfect blend of salt and sweet. I'm sure the extra chemicals help too. These are the best
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zeke
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Post by zeke on May 25, 2021 4:37:41 GMT -8
^ Too much trash. If you're going that way, get a regular bar. The wrapper might be the same amount of trash, but it is all in one so less likelihood of dropping a piece of paper and not noticing it.
Also, if going the candy bar route, Snickers beats them all.
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daveg
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Post by daveg on May 27, 2021 19:36:13 GMT -8
Like some others, I prefer to take bags of nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate. I can eat however much of whatever I crave at the time. I've eaten so many bars over my years of hiking that I can hardly stomach any of them. But several years ago, another hiker gave me some Gatorade Whey Protein Bars. I found them to be palatable and am not repulsed by them yet. More like candy (think Nestles Crunch -- chocolate with Rice Krispies) than a granola bar so one wouldn't want to make a regular diet of them. But they are a convenient 350 calories when needed. About the same fat and sugar as a Snickers but a lot more protein -- so slightly healthier. I now take Gatorade bars instead of Snickers.
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Post by backpackal on May 28, 2021 4:47:34 GMT -8
Also, if going the candy bar route, Snickers beats them all. LOL, every processed bar is "candy". Just because they put hiker/climber on the label doesn't make it healthy. You are also completely wrong about snickers, the chocolate melts too easily, PAYDAY for the WINNNNN!!!
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on May 29, 2021 6:31:33 GMT -8
I have been liking the bars pictured below. Costco has them Costco sized and priced. One side has a solid peanut butter "cream" on it. Very tasty. Except when I took them out on a hot weather overnight last week that melts. Still tasty but i had to lick the wrappers to get all of it. Then I worried that I have a lot of peanut smell on me and maybe a bear would find that interesting and want to lick my face during the night. So bars have issues in the heat. Once I broke teeth on Powerbars in the winter so they have issues in the cold. Bars have issues as far as I am concerned.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on May 29, 2021 6:39:12 GMT -8
My Costco has had these recently. They are like candy. The are dried and sort of gummy not freeze dried and crunchy. They are available on Amazon but very expensive. I have been adding them together with M&M's, raisins and almonds. As long as my supply lasts this will be my go to trail snack.
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Post by gcvrsa on Jul 27, 2021 2:05:03 GMT -8
I will occasionally tolerate a Clif bar, but only in certain flavors, usually the nut butter or fruit filled ones. Clif’s Z-bars for kids are much easier to tolerate, and are even enjoyable. Lately, I have found that I would rather buy the ones that are not sold as “energy bars”, but as snack bars. I like the Nature Valley Soft Baked Oatmeal Squares, the Nature’s Bakery Oatmeal Crumble bars and fig bars in various flavors. I think the important thing is variety, so you don’t get exhausted of the same thing over and over.
I do generally tend to stick with bars for trail snacks, just because they are convenient, and I just made up a bunch of daily baggies, each with an Epic meat bar, a Nature’s Bakery fig bar or Clif nut butter bar, a packet of chocolate almond butter from Target’s house brand, a packet of Wonderful no-shell pistachios, and a YumEarth lollipop. As much as I love chocolate, I do not want to deal with that mess on the trail. The chocolate almond butter packets are sweet enough to taste sweetened, and I suck the goo right out of the packet.
I am also a big fan of the Emerald Nuts 100 calorie dried fruit and nut packs, which are convenient for portioning out, and often end up in my pot for dinner. A couple of those, a packet of dry gravy, a packet of chicken chunks, some dried stuffing mix, some freeze-dried corn, a bit of tvp, some herbs, and a chunk of butter plus some boiling water makes a 5 minute meal big enough to satisfy two sane adults or one hungry hiker.
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Post by tipiwalter on Jul 31, 2021 6:08:20 GMT -8
In 41 years of backpacking I've been thru dozens of different "granola" bars. I started out back in 1980 with these---(blurry---only pic I could find on internet)---
An old fave with me and my buddies. Can't find them today.
We sure ate thru alot of these vegetarian pemmican bars---contains powdered milk so not good for dairy intolerant.
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Post by tipiwalter on Jul 31, 2021 6:21:59 GMT -8
Here's many others from my trip pics---
Tried this one out for awhile. Another new type.
Ate alot of Larabars over the years until I burned out in a bad way.
Other type bars in the food sack. Kind bars are too hard on my teeth.
Others.
Ate hundreds of Pro Bars over the years until I burned out.
I am currently fixated on these---esp Go Macro.
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Post by tipiwalter on Jul 31, 2021 6:24:10 GMT -8
I also went on an egg-white protein bar kick---like RX and Epic---until I went into my vegan phase---(not my pics---pulled off interwad)---
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