candy vs. cereal vs. protein vs. energy bars?

C.J.Patten said:

Any websites out there with info on this comparison? I bike daily but
nothing extreme yet. (up to 10km... will be back to doing 100+km at a time
by the end of the summer) Wondering what would be a good bar to carry in a
saddle pack as a road snack.

I figure a banana and diluted energy drink (half Gatorade, half water) would
do the same thing as a lot of the pricey energy bars.

How do cereal bars and candy bars compare? Snickers and the Kellogg's
Nutri-Grain strawberry bars come to mind.

Opinions welcome!

Bananas, dried fruit, cereal bars and malt loaf. All much much cheaper
than the sports bars

--
Tony

"Don't argue the matter, the difficulties will argue for themselves"
-W.S. Churchill

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bananas, dried fruit, cereal bars and malt loaf. All much much cheaper
than the sports bars

And tastier, unless sports bars have improved since last time I chewed a
free sample!

Pete

I am a firm believer in just reading the labels - save a lot of money
by just comparing what is in the stuff you are buying

Tom

"C.J.Patten" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Any websites out there with info on this comparison? I bike daily but
nothing extreme yet. (up to 10km... will be back to doing 100+km at a time
by the end of the summer) Wondering what would be a good bar to carry in a
saddle pack as a road snack.

I figure a banana and diluted energy drink (half Gatorade, half water)
would do the same thing as a lot of the pricey energy bars.

How do cereal bars and candy bars compare? Snickers and the Kellogg's
Nutri-Grain strawberry bars come to mind.

Opinions welcome!

Chris

Well I am not sure about the difference in nutrition, but as far as taste
goes I would vote for the nutri-grain bars. The last sports bar I tasted,
tasted like dirt stuck together with something resembling elmers white glue.

Ken

In article <[email hidden]>,

C.J.Patten said:

Any websites out there with info on this comparison? I bike daily but
nothing extreme yet. (up to 10km... will be back to doing 100+km at a time
by the end of the summer) Wondering what would be a good bar to carry in a
saddle pack as a road snack.

I figure a banana and diluted energy drink (half Gatorade, half water) would
do the same thing as a lot of the pricey energy bars.

How do cereal bars and candy bars compare? Snickers and the Kellogg's
Nutri-Grain strawberry bars come to mind.

Opinions welcome!

Most candy bars are too melty. For take-with-you snacks
you'll want stuff that both holds together well without
crumbling, and doesn't melt down into a gooey mess.
Some folks like fig newtons. I'm partial to date-nut loaf
squares, myself. But fig newtons are good too. Cereal
bars are IMO overpriced. There's a bunch of recipes for
homemade bars in the FAQ, and many more on the Web.
I find so-called "birdseed bars" quite pleasant, 'cuz I
like the sesame. There's a bunch of recipes for those on
the Web, too.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

C.J.Patten said:

Any websites out there with info on this comparison? I bike daily but
nothing extreme yet. (up to 10km... will be back to doing 100+km at a time
by the end of the summer) Wondering what would be a good bar to carry in a
saddle pack as a road snack.

I figure a banana and diluted energy drink (half Gatorade, half water) would
do the same thing as a lot of the pricey energy bars.

How do cereal bars and candy bars compare? Snickers and the Kellogg's
Nutri-Grain strawberry bars come to mind.

Opinions welcome!

Chris

Home made flapjack, made with Honey - not Golden Syrup. Low GI
Yumminess, zero Hydrogenated rubbish or preservatives.

--
Chris

C.J.Patten wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

Wondering what would be a good bar to carry in a
saddle pack as a road snack.

I figure a banana and diluted energy drink (half Gatorade, half water)

would

Quoted message said:

do the same thing as a lot of the pricey energy bars.

How do cereal bars and candy bars compare? Snickers and the Kellogg's
Nutri-Grain strawberry bars come to mind.

My random thoughts:

Clif Bars are not grody, especially compared to other bars, like Power Bars.
The ingredients list for Clif Bars is pretty wholesome, especially compared
to typical breakfast/granola bars, which often have artificial flavors and
other dodgy ingredients. They hold up in the bike bag, even when it's hot.
As for price, I buy them at Trader Joe's, where they're 99 cents per bar --
that's more than a candy bar, but it's also less than you'd pay for one at a
convenience store.

As for candy bars -- I am not a peanuts fan, so I don't buy Snicker's. My
traditional candy bar for cycling is a Hershey's with Almonds. This is not
something I carry all day in the bike bag, usually, because they melt or
turn grey if not eaten that day. This is something I buy from a convenience
store. Even in the middle of nowhere (why do I have images of the Cathcart
General Store coming to mind?) you can find a Hershey's with Almonds. For
me, a chocolate bar is closer to the effect of sucking down a goo -- it's a
straight shot of sugar as a pick-me-up for tired legs syndrome. A Clif Bar
is more something consumed every 15 or 20 miles as a sustaining snack.

Bananas and gatorade are good to have, too. They meet other needs. So,
here's what you do: carry a couple of clif bars, a banana, *ade along with
water, and a couple of bucks to spend on the road on chocolate bars and
emergencies.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referr­al/Cpetersky

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bananas, dried fruit, cereal bars and malt loaf. All much much cheaper
than the sports bars

Help me out here... "malt-loaf?" That's gotta be UK specific... 😉
Though, as an alternative to protein bars, "meat loaf" might work.

Thanks Tony. 😉

"Ken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well I am not sure about the difference in nutrition, but as far as taste
goes I would vote for the nutri-grain bars. The last sports bar I tasted,
tasted like dirt stuck together with something resembling elmers white
glue.

<chuckle>

When I last tried a Powerbar it fit that description.
Mmmmm. Gum and nuts, together at last.

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Most candy bars are too melty. For take-with-you snacks
you'll want stuff that both holds together well without
crumbling, and doesn't melt down into a gooey mess.

<nods> Melted chocolate bar isn't too appealing. :p

Quoted message said:

Some folks like fig newtons. I'm partial to date-nut loaf
squares, myself. But fig newtons are good too. Cereal

They have Apple and Cherry Newtons too which I find kinda cool.

Quoted message said:

bars are IMO overpriced. There's a bunch of recipes for
homemade bars in the FAQ, and many more on the Web.

AWESOME. Exactly what I was thinking of... making huge batches with store
bought oats, nuts, fruit etc and packing my own bars.

Quoted message said:

I find so-called "birdseed bars" quite pleasant, 'cuz I
like the sesame. There's a bunch of recipes for those on
the Web, too.

Do you mean "Sesame Snaps"?

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Clif Bars are not grody, especially compared to other bars, like Power
Bars.
The ingredients list for Clif Bars is pretty wholesome, especially
compared
to typical breakfast/granola bars, which often have artificial flavors and
other dodgy ingredients. They hold up in the bike bag, even when it's
hot.
As for price, I buy them at Trader Joe's, where they're 99 cents per
bar --
that's more than a candy bar, but it's also less than you'd pay for one at
a
convenience store.

As for candy bars -- I am not a peanuts fan, so I don't buy Snicker's. My
traditional candy bar for cycling is a Hershey's with Almonds. This is not
something I carry all day in the bike bag, usually, because they melt or
turn grey if not eaten that day. This is something I buy from a
convenience
store. Even in the middle of nowhere (why do I have images of the Cathcart
General Store coming to mind?) you can find a Hershey's with Almonds. For
me, a chocolate bar is closer to the effect of sucking down a goo -- it's
a
straight shot of sugar as a pick-me-up for tired legs syndrome. A Clif Bar
is more something consumed every 15 or 20 miles as a sustaining snack.

Bananas and gatorade are good to have, too. They meet other needs. So,
here's what you do: carry a couple of clif bars, a banana, *ade along with
water, and a couple of bucks to spend on the road on chocolate bars and
emergencies.

Thanks Claire! I fell out of cycling before "gels" came in to vogue but I
recall Clif Bars were always VERY highly reviewed - "less grody" is a great
description. ;p

I tried PowerBars years ago - I suppose when they were new on the market.

I've tried military field rations that had a package labelled "dessert -
cherry cake" which we nicknamed "dried lung" for the colour and texture. It
actually tasted great if you could get by the feel.

Power Bars (c.1994) reminded me of the "dried lung" - with added rubber. And
dirt. Maybe they've improved...? Obviously we have a lot of alternatives
these days.

Thanks also to the other replies I got, I was reminded of Fig-Newtons -
which now come in a "bar" sized package for on the road.

I think I'll give home-brew bars a shot too... I love cookin'!

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Chris

In article <[email hidden]>,

C.J.Patten said:

Quoted message said:

I find so-called "birdseed bars" quite pleasant, 'cuz I
like the sesame. There's a bunch of recipes for those on
the Web, too.

Do you mean "Sesame Snaps"?

No, but those are good too, in their own right.

Here's a birdseed bar basic recipe:
http://health.rmad.org/rotw/2005-01-09.htm
(hmmm ... barley malt + almond butter for a binder,
instead of honey or molasses ... interesting.)

Best thing is to look at a number of recipes,
take ideas that sound the most appealing,
mix 'n match them, substitute stuff if you
want to, and concoct whatever is to your liking.

If you Google search on key phrases like
"power bar recipe", "energy bar recipe", etc
you'll find tons o' stuff.

cheers,
Tom
--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

No, but those are good too, in their own right.

Here's a birdseed bar basic recipe:
http://health.rmad.org/rotw/2005-01-09.htm
(hmmm ... barley malt + almond butter for a binder,
instead of honey or molasses ... interesting.)

Best thing is to look at a number of recipes,
take ideas that sound the most appealing,
mix 'n match them, substitute stuff if you
want to, and concoct whatever is to your liking.

If you Google search on key phrases like
"power bar recipe", "energy bar recipe", etc
you'll find tons o' stuff.

Right on! Heading there now!

Thanks!

Claire Petersky said:

As for candy bars -- I am not a peanuts fan, so I don't buy Snicker's. My
traditional candy bar for cycling is a Hershey's with Almonds. This is not
something I carry all day in the bike bag, usually, because they melt or
turn grey if not eaten that day. This is something I buy from a convenience
store. Even in the middle of nowhere (why do I have images of the Cathcart
General Store coming to mind?) you can find a Hershey's with Almonds. For
me, a chocolate bar is closer to the effect of sucking down a goo -- it's a
straight shot of sugar as a pick-me-up for tired legs syndrome. A Clif Bar
is more something consumed every 15 or 20 miles as a sustaining snack.

Just keep in mind that 'Milk Chocolate' is not actually derived from the
cacao bean. If you can find it, you want dark chocolate (Theobroma cacao)
to actually get authentic chocolate which contains the good chemicals
including phenylethylamine (PEA), and other neat things including mild .

Though it -sounds- yummy, like it's better b/c it's made with uh, 'milk',
it's not. It's the cheapest corn sugar and chemical junk they could find
colored brown and preservates are added to make it the right consistency.

Better to go to a real chocolate store and carefully buy dark chocolate.

Go here and read all the links. Though 100 % dark chocolate is bitter and
is used for cooking, you can usually find a mix of dark chocolate and
sweeteners which taste similar to the 'candy' that we westerners are used
to eating. <g>

It's really a fascinating substance. Go here for a short blurb with lots of
cool links.

http://www.chocolate.org/

Anyway the 'candy' companies have picked up on this, that discerning
choco-holics now know that 'milk chocolate' is [censored] and so they now market
something called 'dark chocolate'.

Unfortunately, this is not 'real chocolate' either. It is some kind of fake
waxy substitute, made as cheaply as possible and foisted off onto an
unsuspecting public.

What I do is take real chocolate and combine it with 'real' organic natural
peanut butter to make my own 'Reese cups'.

Some people would rather have the store-bought stuff with the additives and
preservatives - it -is- a type of sugar, but imo, the undesireable kind,
derived from corn syrup. So ymmv. <g>

Buyer beware.

jj

"jj" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just keep in mind that 'Milk Chocolate' is not actually derived from the
cacao bean. If you can find it, you want dark chocolate (Theobroma cacao)
to actually get authentic chocolate which contains the good chemicals
including phenylethylamine (PEA), and other neat things including mild .

Hehehehehe. We keep bars of the *black*, slow conched chocolate around our
household.
It's not particularly sweet but it's the real deal. Don't know how I'd turn
it in to a home-brew powerbar... maybe a really souped up Snickers type bar.
What the heck is IN a Snickers bar anyway?! (peanuts, caramel,
chocolate...that can't be it though...)

😉

C.

C.J.Patten said:

"jj" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just keep in mind that 'Milk Chocolate' is not actually derived from the
cacao bean. If you can find it, you want dark chocolate (Theobroma cacao)
to actually get authentic chocolate which contains the good chemicals
including phenylethylamine (PEA), and other neat things including mild .

Hehehehehe. We keep bars of the *black*, slow conched chocolate around our
household.
It's not particularly sweet but it's the real deal. Don't know how I'd turn
it in to a home-brew powerbar... maybe a really souped up Snickers type bar.
What the heck is IN a Snickers bar anyway?! (peanuts, caramel,
chocolate...that can't be it though...)

😉

C.

We got a metal mold and heated the dark choc and added organic honey. Then
we left a depression in the middle. Into the depression we put real organic
peanut butter and some sea salt. Let it cool some, but not too much then
pour a 'lid' of the melted dark choc. Put this in the fridge, or to store
put it in the freezer. It doesn't melt that quick, though I haven't tried
taking it along on the bike. Usually I'll eat one before a long ride, or
after a long ride. Might work to wrap them up in wax paper and store in a
handlebar bag with a little tiny cool pack - dunno. They go fast - everyone
likes them. You have to tweak the formula to get the salty taste that Reese
cups have. Don't know why Reese hasn't come out with a 'Real chocolate'
pnut butter cup - even if it cost more, discerning buyers would buy them.

What is the brand name of your black slow conched chocolate? I'm always on
the lookout for the good stuff. ;-)

jj

"Claire Petersky" wrote

Quoted message said:

My random thoughts:

Clif Bars are not grody, especially compared to other bars, like Power

Bars.

Quoted message said:

The ingredients list for Clif Bars is pretty wholesome, especially

compared

Quoted message said:

to typical breakfast/granola bars, which often have artificial flavors and
other dodgy ingredients. They hold up in the bike bag, even when it's

hot.

Quoted message said:

As for price, I buy them at Trader Joe's, where they're 99 cents per

bar --

Quoted message said:

that's more than a candy bar, but it's also less than you'd pay for one at

a

Quoted message said:

convenience store.

As for candy bars -- I am not a peanuts fan, so I don't buy Snicker's. My
traditional candy bar for cycling is a Hershey's with Almonds. This is not
something I carry all day in the bike bag, usually, because they melt or
turn grey if not eaten that day. This is something I buy from a

convenience

Quoted message said:

store. Even in the middle of nowhere (why do I have images of the Cathcart
General Store coming to mind?) you can find a Hershey's with Almonds. For
me, a chocolate bar is closer to the effect of sucking down a goo -- it's

a

Quoted message said:

straight shot of sugar as a pick-me-up for tired legs syndrome. A Clif Bar
is more something consumed every 15 or 20 miles as a sustaining snack.

Bananas and gatorade are good to have, too. They meet other needs. So,
here's what you do: carry a couple of clif bars, a banana, *ade along with
water, and a couple of bucks to spend on the road on chocolate bars and
emergencies.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky

I agree with Claire about Clif bars, the worst of them are still pretty
palatable, and the best of them could almost be called appetizing. A lot of
them are made with organic ingredients, which is an improvement over Power
Bars. They come in a wide range of flavors (I'm partial to apricot) so you
can sample the full range and pick your favorite. At their cheapest they
cost more than Snickers, etc., but they seem to keep me going longer.

Lots of places in the US offer Clif Bars in the $.99 to $1.25 range, enough
that I can keep a few boxes around and never have to pay full price. REI,
Colorado Cyclist, Bike Nashbar and other mail order places sell them.
Supermarkets around here will offer odd flavors at a discount from time to
time, so I'll stock up if a flavor I like is being offered for around $1 per
bar.

Nutri-Grain bars come in some tasty flavors, but they really don't seem to
sustain me at all.

If I put a sports drink in my water bottle it's usually pretty heavily
diluted.

HTH,
--
mark

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 21:23:02 -0400, <[email hidden]>,

C.J.Patten said:

Thanks Claire! I fell out of cycling before "gels" came in to vogue but I
recall Clif Bars were always VERY highly reviewed - "less grody" is a great
description. ;p

It's Claire's review of Cliff Bars that persuaded me to try them. She
was right. I've not tried all the flavours but found I prefer the
peanut butter ones.

We've always had gels. Though it was and still is called honey. It
performs as well as gels and you can pronounce all the ingredients.
It's available in different flavours and still less expensive too.

I like using honey instead of jam with peanut butter for sandwiches.
--
zk

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 23:30:55 -0400, <[email hidden]>,

C.J.Patten said:

If you can find it, you want dark chocolate (Theobroma cacao)

Quoted message said:

to actually get authentic chocolate which contains the good chemicals
including phenylethylamine (PEA), and other neat things including mild .

Hehehehehe. We keep bars of the *black*, slow conched chocolate around our
household.
It's not particularly sweet but it's the real deal.

Valrhona is what I buy for the fancy stuff otherwise Lindt 85% is the
house standard. Lindt has just brought out a 50 gram consumer bar at
99% cacao. It's the same price as their 100 gram bars in their line of
"Excellence" chocolates. I use it as a tranquilliser.
--
zk