"The Feed Zone" cookbooks. Anypone found them helpful?

mrfpb

I'm a bit of a cookbook/foodshow fan and always on the llokout for tasty but healthy recipies. I saw these books recommended on a running forum (though they were written for cyclists). I thought the "portable food2 cookbook looked particularly interesting:
https://wordery.com/feed-zone-portables ... YTQyMjg%3D
Are they any good for the money (£16 is the cheapest online), or should I continue looking at free recipes on cycling on other fitness websites.

buckmulligan

I have both and they're not bad.

First of all they're from the good old US of A so everything is in cups of this and ounces of that, which you'll have to convert; also you might have to find substitutes for some of the more obscure ingredients. Having said that, they are good books once you get past that.

The original Feedzone Cookbook has a few portable ideas, but is mostly proper meals and ways to eat healthily on the road (as pro-cyclists) have to. It's alright, but nothing earth-shattering if you're already used to cooking relatively healthy and balanced meals.

The Feedzone Portables book is much more useful if you're fed up of eating pre-packaged crap on the bike. All the stuff is quick and easy to make and it made a nice change for me to have some different "real food" on the bike.

Both books have some good nutritional advice in them too. I can't remember which one it was now, but for example, one of them talks about the water content of the food you eat on the bike and the impact that can have on digestion; most pre-packaged cereal bars etc have a very low water content to keep shelf-life high, but this makes them harder to ingest and digest as well as requiring you to drink more fluids; freshly prepared food will have a much higher water content, will be more easily digested and help towards keeping your hydration levels up. There are a few chapters in them along those lines, which depending on your experience of sports nutrition, may or may not be of interest to you.

On the whole I'd recommend them, but the Portables one moreso than the original.

joey54321

If you're happy making/storing/using rice cakes the portable one is good, I am hesitant to use rice cakes as I wouldn't get through enough quickly enough and I am a bit concerned with rice and food poisoning.

buckmulligan

You know that rice can be cooked in whatever quantity you want right?!

You can make just one single rice cake if you like, you don't need to make a whole pan every time!

mrfpb

Thanks for the feedback.

We eat lots of rice in my house, and tend to cook enough to have leftover portions for next days lunch. So long as it's chilled fairly promptly it's ok (90 mins after cooking). I guess the issue is how warm it gets on the ride. I'd need to keep it on a saddle bag rather than a pocket.

buckmulligan

IMO there's a bit of an unnecessary stigma around rice and food poisoning.

Sure, I wouldn't cook it, store it for a week and then reheat it, but keeping some freshly made rice-cakes in your warm(ish) pocket for a few hours on a ride isn't going to kill you!

I routinely make them a day or two before, store them in the fridge and carry them in my pockets on a ride and have never suffered any ill-effects... except for the time that I made some with chilli jam in them, but that's another story.