Cheap alternative to energy bars/gels

nickel

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd share something I've been doing recently to save a bit of money. Instead of buying energy gels and bars I've been eating Asda's own fruit grain bars which are basically their own brand nutrigrain bars. They're about a quid for a box of 8 and each bar contains 22g of carbohydrate with 12g of this being sugars. It was only the other day I noticed that this is actually almost an identical amount to my high 5 isogels, but instead of being a quid each its a quid for 8. I don't know enough about this sort of thing to know if the types of carbohydrate are dramatically different between the two but I've been eating these bars instead of gels for the past few weeks and haven't noticed any ill effects, they're fairly easy to open and tasty too!

Sorry if this is old news but I just thought I'd share it for the sake of those skint cyclists/skin flints (like me) out there!

kev77

Cheers Brother!

sloppyschleckonds

How much is a loaf of soreen?

Bordersroadie

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

How much is a loaf of soreen?

About £1 for two from Aldi. My staple cycling food. Bite off the corner of the packaging for an air hole then crush it flat - fits perfectly into a back pocket. Concentrated, high-density goodness!

DaveMoss

Jaffa cakes are hard to beat

cubes of fruit jelly (i.e the block straight from the packet, not cut up bits of made up jelly)

cheese and jam sandwiches, wrapped in aluminium foil

For very long winter rides, a small block of cheese makes a good emergency ration if you end up completely spent , I think this is the most concentrated form of calories you can get. ( I have never tried this, but the theory sounds good)

navrig

DaveMoss wrote:

For very long winter rides, a small block of cheese makes a good emergency ration if you end up completely spent , I think this is the most concentrated form of calories you can get. ( I have never tried this, but the theory sounds good)

I think that is http://www.atora.co.uk/ which is what arctic explorers have ben known to eat in order to keep going.

See half way down..

http://www.atora.co.uk/aboutus/index.htm

Cheese is less than half the calorific value of suet.

wardieboy

Picking your nose and eating it in an emergency is as good as most high end gels, one to bear in mind.

simon_e

Good call on the Asda bars, Nickel.

I'd suggest Snickers (aka Marathon) or Mars bar. Around 300 calories in each and stocked everywhere

I'm not saying you should live on them but they're ideal for winter training rides.

Tom Dean

Simon E wrote:

Good call on the Asda bars, Nickel.

I'd suggest Snickers (aka Marathon) or Mars bar. Around 300 calories in each and stocked everywhere

I'm not saying you should live on them but they're ideal for winter training rides.

Snickers are 28% fat!

Have a banana

slowlanejane

Flapjacks: recipe -

In a bowl put 8 handfuls sugar - pref brown if you've got it, 3 glugs syrup (just pour it in and as it leaves the can / bottle count 1-2-3) and a pack of butter or marg. Microwave till the butter melts then mix together. Add 10 handfulls rolled oats. Add in anything else you fancy: Nuts, seeds, dried fruit etc. Mix.

Get a cake tin or small roasting tin. Smear it with butter, marg or oil to prevent the flapjack sticking. Better still, line the tin with greaseproof paper, which you need to grease both sides of. Put in the flapjack mix and level it off.

Bake in pre-heated oven (gas 5-6, 170-180 degrees) for 30+ mins, should be looking golden brown, squidgey in the middle and harder at the edges.

Take it out, loosen the tin edges while its hot but leave in the tin to cool a bit, then remove and cool some more - cut it while still warm.

I reckon this costs £2.60, makes about 10 flapjacks.

Very yummy and densely packed nutritionally. And yes it has butter in, but only 3/4 of an ounce or so per slice and you need some fat based energy cals when riding hard ...

nunowoolmez

Also Rice Crispy squares are great! Chocolate flavour is best & packs in as much carbs & energy (and sometimes more) as gels & bars & tastes far nicer. A winner!

nhoj

Banana, man!