Surprising high cal/oz foods?

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

maybe this is a “duh” sorta thing, but it surprised me so figured I’d inform others who may not have realized, and see if people have other good ideas to add to this list.

i was eating some chips the other day and glanced at the nutrition info… Lays French Onion potato chips are 160 cal/oz! All the other bags of chips & crackers I checked (Fritos, Cheez-Its, etc) are closer to 140 cal/oz… still up there but not quite as surprising.

any other fun high calorie options that might not be the obvious cheese, butter & olive oil options?

[Paul Wagner]

Slim Jims, if you can stomach them.

[Ralph Burgess]

I have started eating Bobo’s oat bars for breakfast.    Tasty with coffee.   127 cal/oz, and good calorie density too – a 380cal bar has about the same volume as a Clif bar.

[James Marco]

Many dehydrated foods are around 100-130C/oz. Onions, precooked beans, rice, etc. Fats and oils are around 240-250C/oz. Peanut butter, nuts, and others all have excelent calories. Even precooked/dehydrated peppers, corn, green beans, etc have around 100C/oz or good calories.

Fats, oils have the most calories. Proteins and carbs have the next most. Veggies an fruits have the least. This is generally speaking, though it is possible to have exceptions (dried avacodos for example.)

[Matthew / BPL]

200 calories per 30 grams

[David Thomas]

Pecan pie.

[Katherine .]

Ha! Matthew, I have that same TJs bag in my backpacking food stash. Goes into the hot breakfast.

TJs also sells very convenient small pouches of coconut oil.

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

Oooh, I like you’re thinking David! How to make that preservable while camping is your next task :)

Matt- didn’t know coconut… esp being almost 200 cal/oz, that is def surprising! Any idea if toasted is similar? I really don’t like raw.

James- dried avocados? Is that actually a thing??!! I’ve had fried as an appetizer, VERY yummy. Will have to look that up

ralph- loved Bobo bars when we lived in denver. My wife would get them st the farmers market in Boulder where they started.

Paul- I’m not a fan of slim Jim’s but I can def eat them. I’ll have to check on them next time I’m at the store.

[James Marco]

Ha, ha…yeah. Dried avacados has about 169C/oz. VERY high as dried vegies/fruits go.

[Tipi Walter]

For a 100 grams, chips generally supply about 480 calories.  Olive oil is 884 calories and butter is 717.

Peanut butter has 588.

You can’t go wrong with nut butters if you’re willing to carry them.

[Paul McLaughlin]

CHOCOLATE Pecan Pie.

[Greg Mihalik]

[Diane Pinkers]

dried avocado:

https://www.tech-mods.net/dehydrated-avocado/

https://myprimaladventures.me/2016/08/14/dehydrated-avocado/

But, maybe not this, see review:

https://www.amazon.com/Avocado-Powder-2-2-LBS-1000/dp/B005DZI8BK#customerReviews

The homemade stuff looks good, I migh have to try it myself.

[J-L]

Those Bobo’s oat bars look pretty good…do they get really hard when it’s cold?

[Don A.]

The avocado powder sold on Amazon wasn’t exactly a hit for the one person that reviewed it.

“I never imagined what the scum around a public toilet tasted like, but if its any worse than this powder I would be amazed. As the carolina reaper is hot, this magically disgusting powder lingers with a nausiating raw egg and cat crap feeling on your mouth”

[Diane Pinkers]

Bobo’s bars are good, but they can be a little dry, and have a finite shelf life. Bought too far in advance, they can develop mold. I have used them for many hikes, and love them.

[Terry Sparks]

Coconut milk powder, powdered butter, powdered heavy cream, powdered MCT oil and just about any other powdered dairy product will have about 200 cals. per oz.  While thru-hiking the CDT this year I added coconut milk powder to my breakfast and to the Nido I drank with lunch and with my mid-afternoon snack.

I’m still craving it.

[Matthew / BPL]

YMMV but my advice is to try the MCT oil powder at home rather than on the trail. I’m ok with one scoop at a time but two scoops is way more than my GI tract can handle elegantly.

[Bret G]

I was surprised by those honey stinger waffle cookies are 160 cal/oz.

[David Thomas]

The most calories/ounce I’ve ever achieved is to take a 1-gram $20 bill into the Grand Canyon and convert it to 2 large lemonades, 2 granola and 3 snickers bars at Phantom Ranch.

1300 calories / gram = 37,000 calories (a week’s worth) per ounce.

[Matthew / BPL]

Bret, Those waffles are compact as heck too. I’m a big fan because I rarely grow tired of them unlike many other types of bars. And if I’m not in the mood I can choke one down in just a couple big bites and a swish of water.

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

My wife loves the Honey Stinger waffles for after long runs. I actually haven’t eaten them yet. Will have to snag some of hers :)

[Matthew / BPL]

Lemon Honey Stinger Waffles are the best thing ever. Also they go really well with mint tea.

The gluten free wildflower honey waffles are amazing too but I think they are 10 or 15 calories less bar bar so I’ll stick with lemon.

Gingersnap are ok too.

I’ll leave the rest of the flavors for other people.

They pack really well in bearcans. My son and I took literally 150 with us on the JMT. I think we had maybe three left at the end.

[victoria maki]

Ryan, how about KETO bricks?  They are like 1000 calories.  Even if you are not on KETO, they are a whole meal.  They are a tad hard to get as they sell out quickly.

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

@energizer I’m not KETO or any other specialty diet so hadn’t heard of those. Just checked them out and they look very interesting! 1000 cal at 151g weight is ~190 cal/oz so way up there! They’re really expensive though at $12 each. Not sure my hiking budget can swallow that. I haven’t calculated rough costs on my homemade freezer bag meals yet, but pretty sure they’re in the $4-6 each range. Will have to do that soon

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