Energy Bars

my fav also:

unwrapped payday bars in bag(s) of G.O.R.P.

GORP-plus /// GORP+ /// superGORP may consist of some of the following, dependin’ upon what i have available:

raisins, payday bars, peanuts, almonds, sometimes cashews/walnuts/pecans, always dried papaya&dried pineapple, sometimes non-sulfurated apples, craisins, apricots, a couple of prunes, sometimes various types of seeds, carob coated peanuts&raisins (doesn’t seem to melt as easily as chocolate), occasionally M&M’s, sometimes choco. coated espresso beans (haven’t found carob coated espresso beans yet).

buy the ingredients separately at the super-market. can be made more cheaply or more expensively depending upon the ingredients selected.

sometimes all i eat is GORP with multi-V&M supplement.

any other GORP suggestions would be appreciated.

Paul, like you, I tend to cruise the grocery store for what hits my fancy when building the next trip’s GORP. Lately, I’ve added banana chips.

I’ll have to try the chocoloate coated espresso beans and Payday bars.

The other ingredient I’ll often add is a teaspoon of salt in the mix. I tend to crave salt when hiking and just like that little bit extra.

GORP is a much more personal thing than I ever realized.

My favorite GORP ingredients are: raw almonds, cranberries!, macadamia nuts, and pistachio nuts.

Sunflower seeds can also add nicely to a GORP mix. Also m&m peanuts will give you both peanuts and chocolate that will not melt easily.

Good Old Raisins & Peanuts (GORP) is probably the best energy combination listed. Everyone can make their own according to their tastes. Also,if there is an allergy to specific foods, they can of course be eliminated. I think the Pay-Day bar is another great addition.

My favorite is chocolate chip. I like the Clif bars, too, but Kudos are my favorite – right in between candy and a breakfast cereal bar in sweetness and nutrition.

I would like to clarify a misconception by the reviewers about LaraBar. LaraBars do not ever melt or freeze because they are made from only fruit, nuts and spices – nothing else added. They are the cleanest burning energy because of the purity of ingredients.
If you are interested in sampling a LaraBar, and you are one of the first 50 people to contact us from this article, we will happily send you a sample to try. Please contact us at 877-LARABAR.

LaraBars, thank you for posting a clarification on the temperature properties of your product.

Please note that the LaraBar was the second highest rated bar in our tests. It was my personal favorite. I have a number of LaraBars at home waiting to go on my next trip. That being said…

No product is perfect in the eyes of all beholders. The LaraBar had a host of positive comments and only a few negative ones. That is what one would expect from a well received product. I believe by ‘likely to melt’ our commenter (anonymous by test design) meant that the fruit portion would soften with higher temperature. Our highest rated bar got a similar comment ‘likely to crumble outside the package.’

-Alan Dixon
Product Review Director

I like bars that are made out of food, and was very impressed to find the fuel bars being certified organic nuts and seeds…no added synthetic, fractionated vitamins and chemicals. FYI…I contacted the company and they are locally distributed by Bristol Farms. Soon, Whole Foods market and Mothers will carry them as well.

Good stuff!

Jim

Has anyone received their free sample Larabars yet? (See the phone number 3 posts previously). When your samples arrive, please post the results of your taste tests :)
The Larabars were my second favorite after Probars. I like to take 1 of each for each backpacking day.

BTW my Whole Foods has a complete set of the Larabar line in the energy bar section. ProBars I have to order online which is a lot less convenient.

-Alan

Bought one of the Cherry Larabars at Whole Foods. I picked the flavor at random — I love cherries, but most ‘cherry flavored’ stuff is that nasty artificial flavor that tastes like cough drops.

But the Larabar does have a good, intense, real cherry flavor. Very similar to the flavor of my homemade dried tart cherries, in fact. The overall texture and flavor aren’t bad (sort of a dates-and-nuts flavor), and I don’t think it can freeze very hard in cold weather. IIRC the single bar was about $2.29, and a case of 16 was $30, which makes them about twice the cost of Clif bars. That’s going to limit the number of Larabars for me, anyway. I may end up with the occasional single bar for a different flavor.

Ken

I received my free LaraBar and tried it. I got the Banana Cookie, which tastes quite a bit like Banana Nut Bread. The texture is chewy, not like jerky, but more like fruit leather.
I would try more LaraBar flavors on a weekend trip just to find out how well they satisfy my needs.

Well after I tried my free LaraBar I bought some more for this last weekend trip. I had the Chocolate Coconut Chew and 3/4 through the bar I bit into something hard. After isolating it, I found it to be a piece of walnut shell. I guess their quality control let that one go through.
Added;
I talked with the people at Humm Foods to advise them of the lot number I had the shell piece. I understand that when they deal with natural foods in bulk, especially items like walnuts, or any shelled item sometimes shell pieces will slip through inspection. They were very responsive and their immediate concern was if I had any dental needs, which I did not.
I have sent them the wrapper and shell piece and they have offered more than replacing the bar. In all honesty I was not expecting their offer, just wanted to advise them of the issue.

They’re 4 to 1 carbs to protein and that’s an ideal ratio for replenishing lost fuel and rebuilding damaged (used) muscle, at least that’s what my nutritionist recommended when I did a 2-day 17-hour row from Corvallis, OR to Portland, OR.

Seems to me she included hydration in there too.

Lots of variety with Clif Bars.

I really like alot of the bars put out by Odwalla. Some of them *look* kind of interesting (superfood = compressed road apples) but they taste good and have a solid ingredient base.

Some Odwalla bars always get tossed in along with some Hammer gel and (now) a ProBar or two.

I got a cherry pie flavor Lara bar. I liked it. It is a bit tart and not sugary, and is chewy, not hard. My wife and son did not like it. The person on the phone said it is their most popular flavor.

I don’t have the sweet tooth for most of the bars out there. There are two things I really like:
1. BALANCE Energy Crunch Mix. This is a great tasting substitute for gorp – a little healthier too. The Chocolate and Toffee mixes tast good, The Berry Crunch is awful!

2. CLIFF BAR Chocolate Almond Fudge. This is a satisfying brownie like bar. I like the texture, a little of the almond crunch, and the taste – without being overly sweet.

I have a budding addiction to Larabars that I’ve tempered so far by reminding myself how much they cost. Yikes.

Now, the $2.29 I’ve seen mentioned is a bit steeper than around here (New Mexico). Regular price at Wild Oats is $1.79, and they have been on sale a few times at $1.59. On top of that, when you buy a case of ANYTHING at Wild Oats they will bump 10% off the price (even if you mix flavors rather than just grab a case box off the shelf). That brings the unit cost down to about $1.43 plus tax. Not too bad for something that tastes so good.

The story behind Larabar is typical – she was on a backpacking trip and decided that the food she brought was gross and “why can’t anyone make a bar that I like???”, so after the trip she started experimenting. Usually the story includes a line about her burning through a dozen food processor motors – hehe – and finalizing the formulations.

Getting shelf life took a new wrapper technology, and then they were ready to sell.

No, I don’t work for them. I just had a minor epiphany the very first bar I tried (banana cookie), and I spread the word when I can.

And, since $1.43 is still not that cheap, I of course have been experimenting with my own food processor now and then. :-)

Andrea
http://tenacity.net

I Consumed 5 Clif Bars/day on 12 day unsupported JMT trip last summer with no problems. they are edible in a wide range of temperatures and I get them for $.79 @ Costco Warehouse Stores. I’d love to know how to obtain them for the previously reported $.50-.60

Regarding water consumption with bars: The human body can only metabolize 7gm of carbohydrate/100ml water(referred to as The 7% Solution). (I don’t know how this applies to protein and fats.) Therefore it should come as no surprise that you have to consume twice as much water with a 400 calorie bar than with a 200 calorie bar. This also means that if you eat over 70gm of carb/liter of water(or put this amt. of carb powder in your water) your body will dehydrate itself attempting to add fluid to your stomach until it’s contents are diluted to 7%.

This is also why I don’t understand gels. They are heavy (because they contain water) and you have to guess how much water to consume with the amount of gel that you have consumed to avoid going over 7%. I pre-measure $.25 baggies of Gatorade and toss one in each quart of water and I have a bottle of 7% solution ready to go. What could be simpler, lighter, cheaper, easier and more accurate?

Quoting you here… “My big gripe about the gel products is the packaging is awkward. I’d rather see the stuff in a tube with a cap (like toothpaste, pesto mix, or wasabi) and I could just take a hit off the tube when the urge strikes. A tube that held the equivalent of 3-4 gel packages would seem to be about right.”

Have you seen the DIY food tubes that REI has? If you don’t mind packaging them yourself this might be an option for you. I think the packaging weight might be more, but it is a reusable food tube that could be used again and again. They would probably hold several servings compared to the serving size of the original product.

Tim

Most posts here are concerned with taste and calories. But I find that not all calories are created equal.

My family finds that bars that have a significant amount of protein are more satisfying. We each ate two bars every morning for breakfast for 14 days on the Wonderland Trail, one upon waking, the second mid-morning. This kept us going until lunch (on occasion I would have liked a third bar, though).

Bars without significant protein do not keep us going until lunch.

We tried them all: Power bars, Clif bars, Balance bars, Luna, etc, and have a mild preference for Clif bars.

I make my own bars using a high energy cereal by Kelloggs called Vector. I’m not sure if you have it in the US but it is available up here in Canada. I add peanut butter, fruit and a few other ingredients to make my own energy bars.

Now if I had to buy bars I would have to say that Clif and Luna are my favs. I really like the Clif Carrot Cake bar.