Cheapest UL food challenge

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

I thought this contest might be interesting to learn some tricks from others of UL food.

First we need to decide on what is UL calories? 130+? 140+?

Second, we need rule/s on how we decide on the winner.

I have an idea. We take CALORIC DENSITY (per 100 gram) TO COST (per 100 gram) RATIO.

any better ideas? what other rules would you like?

I am going first and I think I may have a winner in my hands. I found this at Dollar shop today.

Cadbury MORO gold -60gm
cal/100gram =497.62
cost/100gram =20.55 rupees =0.48 USD (yahoo)

RATIO = 1036.71

I already see some potential problems.

price/deals? Dollar shop was obviously cheaper then what I would have found elsewhere -not that I have found this elsewhere. So do we allow such deals?

home made? do we allow homemade in this contest? It could make the contest very .. competitive.

decimal places? one? two? or do with round it off to nearest whole number?

[John S.]

UL food should be calories/ounce IMO. Cost varies too much to make a good challenge?

[Ryan Krause]

I would agree, should be calories/ounce – this avoids the whole cost variability and homemade stuff isn't an issue.

[Derek Goffin]

Huzefa,
British imperial measures are on the wane, but it looks like we can't go metric on this forum. Is that American imperial ounces? how many grammes are there in one of those?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Looks like I won't be in on this one – lets just say I blindly avoid looking at price when I crave food ;-) Hence those $3 a piece chocolates that fuel me up hills ain't making the cut. LOl!

[Mark Verber]

Here in the US it's hard to beat ramen noodles when it comes to calories/weight/price. One package is ~84grams, 380Kcal, and around US$0.20 an most grocery stores. If you have a friends with PX rights or buy in serious bulk, the price is significant cheaper. 100gm of ramen is 452kcal/100 grams. Cost is US$0.23 / 100 grams which gives us a ratio of 1965.

[G Dup]

Dang, beat me to it… Ramen is the way to go – but you are going to pay for it in taste. I like my calories tasty.

Try and beat this with a stick. Some potent homebrew. Ferment alcohol in your toilet (use a lil toilet bowl cleaner in that mother') from FREE food and fruit scraps compost whatever. Borrow some trademark grapes from your nearby vineyard if you want to keep it classy. Collect it from your neighbors trash I don't know. Toss in some moldy bread and as many sugar packets as you can fandangle without getting yourself locked up again. Let 'er sit for a week and you've got some potent (if not inefficient) calories.

[Frank Perkins]

I have seen several "Top 10 foods that will kill you" and Ramen noodles is always in the top 10. I seen quite a few people mention ramen noodles on the forum. Is that not a concern for anyone?

Or are you guys eating it without the salt and MSG packet?

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

100 grams = 3.53 ounces

I think Cal/oz challenge will be even better.

G Dup, have you tried it? how does it taste? lol

I am not sure it will be UL .. thats why my first point was to take only UL food.

anyway to change the thread name? shall we continue here or would you guys like a new thread?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Frank, if you toss the MSG "flavor" packet the ramen can be ok. It is fatty (due to frying). While it isn't great nutritionally, if you add in protein (be it meat/beans/tofu)and veggies it is pretty good :-)

[Mark Verber]

> "Top 10 foods that will kill you"

there are actually more "healthy" instant noodles in the stores around here which I normally use… mixed with a bit of olive oil and foil sealed meat. I didn't suggest them for this challenge because they aren't as fatty as ramen.. hence they have a lower Kcal/ounce/cost ratio.

> want food tasty

Some people actually like the taste of ramen. I wouldn't want to eat it every day, but ramen is viewed as something of a comfort food in my family. With a few extra spices we find the taste pretty good.

[Lloyd Lee-Lim]

>Ramen is the way to go – but you are going to pay for it
>in taste.

Hmmm, that probably comes from eating too much of the cheaper powdery brands. Sapporo Ichiban is not as widespread as Top Ramen and Maruchan in US supermarkets, but is commonly regarded as much better.

If flavor is the issue, the many different ethnic brands have tons of wildly different flavors. For example, Indian brands often have curry flavors. I personally like Korean spicy seafood noodles, which are really spicy. I couldn't bring them on a backpacking trip last year because a friend wouldn't have been able to handle the spiciness.

I personally could eat ramen every day for days on end (and have done so in younger days).

>I have seen several "Top 10 foods that will kill you" and
>Ramen noodles is always in the top 10. I seen quite a few
>people mention ramen noodles on the forum. Is that not a
>concern for anyone?

Instant noodles are high in sodium and fat. You can reduce or eliminate the sodium by not using part or all of the flavoring packet. Noodles do not normally contain fat, but instant noodles are deep fried to dehydrate them. As Mark mentioned, some newer instant noodles are air dried instead.

However, the original post was about maximizing caloric density so the cheap deep fried instant ramen is good for that goal.

People also mention eating Pringles on this forum. Obviously, both are bad for you. It doesn't matter for a short trip, but you might not want to eat them for months on a long thru-hiking trip.

[Ryan Gardner]

I while ago I thought I had a sweet idea – just bring one container of Peanut Butter per day. All the calories in the world – no fuss of figuring out what to bring – easy to pack.

I tried eating it straight every once in a while for a couple hours (simulating the caloric-drip method of hiking) and I realized that I would have to consume unbelievable amounts of water to keep my mouth from going bezerk.

I thought I had a winner. :(

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Mmmmmmmmmm.

Yeah, they are SO not good for me. But do I ever love them ;-)

[Anonymous]

Huzefa,
Almost any oil, hands down for calories/oz or gram. Best added to less calorie dense foods, e.g. mashed potatoes, dal soup, etc. A close second would be higher calorie nuts, e.g. macadamia, walnuts, pecans at ~200 cal/oz. Chocolate with GE 70% cocoa mass is also quite high.

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