Backpacking Smoothie Recipes, anyone?

"I carry one of these for breakfast each day, usually with a different dry protein source and flavor in each bag. Always with the oatmeal base, even if you dont like oatmeals typical texture try it this way. super fast, super easy, super nutritious breakfast"

Can you give us a breakdown of the nutritional specs, i.e. calories/carbs/protein/fat/fiber per ounce? This would be very helpful in diet planning for longer trips. The mix sounds very nutritious, BTW.

Tom,

Here is my analysis. Notes:

1) Format — sorry about that — I do not know how to format a table in this forum (where does it tell how to do that?) — hope it is understandable as is.

2) I took the liberty of adding in chia seeds and flax meal in order to get the cal/oz up closer to 125. I do like each of them, though, and often add them to my own cereal.

3) I added in the chopped walnuts because that is what I had handy. Other nuts should be similar.

4) I added the raisins and craisins even though they are low cal/oz because they are common grocery store stuff, taste good, look good, and provide a couple of fruit servings. You can obviously improve the numbers from a UL point of view by substituting freeze dried fruit and blending that in with the powders.

5) Another obvious note: you can always substitute a flavored protein powder, such as chocolate or strawberry.

Should be fine as is if you intend to eat it; the chopped nuts, raisins and craisins help with texture and eye-appeal.

If you intend to drink the smoothie, then there are two choices:

1) Keep the nuts, raisins and craisins separate and eat them along with the drink (or just add them to your trail mix).

2) You might be able to blend the nuts, raisins, and craisins in with the powders. I expect these would blend best with a high-power blender, such as a Vitamix.

=====
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Carb:Fat:Prot
………………………………………………………….Weight (g) Energy (Cal) Carbs (g) Fat (g) Protein (g) % Energy Cal/Ounce Cal/Gram

1 cup…….Oat flakes………………………………………………..80…..300…..54…..6………10…..70:17:13…106…3.8
1 scoop..Cytosport vanilla whey powder………………..36…..140…..3…….2.5…..27…..08:16:76…110…3.9
2 Tbsp….Flax seed meal……………………………………….14……70…….5…….5………3…….26:58:16…142…5.0
1 Tbsp….Chia seeds……………………………………………..12……60…….4…….4………2…….27:60:13…142…5.0
1/4 cup…Walnuts, chopped……………………………………28…..190…..4…….18…….4…….08:84:08…..192…6.8
1/4 cup…Raisins……………………………………………………40…….130…31…..0………1…….97:00:03…..92…..3.3
1/4 cup…Craisins…………………………………………………..40…….130…33…..0………0…….100:00:00…92…..3.3
TOTAL (with whey)…………………………………………………250…1020…134…35.5…47…….51:31:18…116…4.1

1/4 cup…Dried egg whites (6 eggs) (Just Whites)…24…..72………0…….0…….18…….00:00:100…..85…..3.0
TOTAL (with 6 egg whites)……………………………………..238…952…..131…33…….38…..54:31:16…113…4.0

4 envelopes…Plain gelatin (dry)……………………………..28…..92…….0…….0………..24…..00:00:100…93…..3.3
TOTAL (with 4 envelopes gelatin)…………………………..242…972…131…33………44…..53:30:18…114…4.0

" hope it is understandable as is."

It takes a little digging(not your fault), but it's all there. Those are some nutritious recipes, and pretty tasty sounding in the bargain. What's not to like?

Thanks, Bob, for going to the trouble of laying it out. More grist for my ever busy nutritional mill.

Tom

Thanks for analyzing it. I use the raisins or cranberries just to give me something to chew if I don't have the whole almonds for agitation. The key here is to shoot for a 4'grams carb to 1 gram protein ratio to get your metabolism cranking in the AM. The nuts add omega 3 fat and calories. Look at the omega 3s as the foundation blocks of your fats. The 6s 9s should be in decreasing amounts. They are in the processed foods like pop tarts and Cheetos. An imbalance causes inflammation which should be avoided at all cost

Here is my base. I am a nutritionist and have been a world fitness champion. The important thing on the trail is a complex carb with protein and fiber to start your day.

I start with 2/3 to 1 cup dry oatmeal in a blender. Blend on high until it becomes oat flower. Then mix in either

powdered egg whites-typically about 6-8 eggs worth for a guy. you can buy a bucket of them on amazon and they are pretty tasteless

or

Knox gelatin- 4 envelopes is about 24 grams of protein and is pretty much tasteless. backpackers should be eating knox geletan daily to avoid knee and joint damage, our diet typically does not include connective tissue which is the basis for the gelatin and the amino acid blend helps feed and strengthen your connective tissues i.e. tendons and cartilage

or

whey protein powder- get a really good brand like Beverly or Optimum not some wally world, cosco, or overpriced GNC stuff, the cheap brands are cheap for a reason, i dont have enough space to expand but for a few extra pennies per serving get the good stuff or go cheap and smell the result. The better brands also have better flavor, I typically use Beverly vanilla, Beverly chocolate tastes like ovaltine and is also good mixed dry into peanut butter to form a thick dry paste for high protein high calorie snacks, Optimum has a lot of good flavors I am not affiliated with any of these companies just my opinion

add the protein source to the blender of now powdered oatmeal and blend together

you can add whatever you like here- dry bananas, blueberries, strawberries, anything you like to dehydrate or can find dry at Trader Joes, whole foods etc and blend well
you can also mix banana pudding or whatever flavor dry pudding mix you like the taste of

put into a freezer bag and on the trail you can either add hot water or cold. If you want to carry a shaker cup with lid you can eliminate the metal ball and put 10 almonds into your dry mix to agitate it. With the almonds you gain a lot of omega 3 fat, a real plus.

I typically like to just add chopped pecans and dry raisins or cranberries to the dry mix and then on the trail add hot water and eat out of freezer bag with a spoon. You can add cold water and drink the mix as a smoothie if you prefer

I just found Warner B’s recipe quoted above.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how much water to mix it with?

I tried this, or at least a variation, for a mid day snack today using the gelatin and blueberries, cranberies, and 1/4 cup of Nido.  Very good, although it never really thickened up.  I think my problem was I used steel cut oats, and could not get the oats to the consistency of oat flour.  I think next time I would just by oat powder (what a concept!) rather than try to make it.  I do think blending in the blueberries and cranberries was a good choice though for a cold drink.  They provided great flavor and plenty of sweetness.

I had the intention to answer the “how much water question” but realized part way through it really depends, so don’t bother trying to answer it.

Matt

From what I gather from the Knox Gelatine web site, gelatin won’t dissolve in cold water. It softens, but doesn’t dissolve. Heat appears to be necessary to dissolve the gelatin, before it will set.

http://www.knoxgelatine.com/basics.htm

Check out this smoothie recipe:

http://youtu.be/pNHmLGHW8e0