Touring - What to eat.

During a tour, whether it be a one, two or multi day tour. And when there are town you stop in that have no place to purchase something to eat. What is a good food to carry on the bike that you can stop and eat when you need to?

I've heard that fig newtons are good, I assume this also means the strawberry and raspberry kind too. I know that pwer bar would work but they are kind of expensive and some people do not care for the taste.

I ask because it seems to me that in the hot summer sun and humidity newtons would not last very long. Neither would a banana. Am I wrong about this?

What do you folks carry with you and what works for you?

On weekend or longer tours,I generally carry a can of Sterno, matches, extra water, Dehydrated food and instant coffee for emergency situations; those being no grocery store. Have never had trouble keeping Fig Newton's in any flavor. I never buy more than 3 bannanas: 1 very green; 1 not so green and 1 mostly yellow with some green; pack them in the coolest part of my pannier and only eat 1 per day. Apples and oranges last several days, but pears you need to eat right away.
Hunger is a scarry thing, but it won't kill you to miss a meal once in awhile. My biggest staple while riding is GORP (Trail Mix) and water.

Fig Newtons and fresh fruit are always welcome food stuffs. One of the things I always take along that will fill you up when you cannot gather grub at the local grocery is soup. You can get dehydrated soup in those styrofoam cups at your local grocery store. Then put the contents in a zip-lock bag and throw away the (I mean recycle) the styro-foam cup. Be sure to label it because sometimes it is difficult to figure out what is in that bag. They weigh almost nothing and take up precious little space. You can do all sorts of creative stuff with them like mixing to varieties together and adding some of that new tuna in a pouch. You get the drift. These things are certainly a fraction of the cost of those costly mountain meals.. Happy Touring

Mur

On the 7 day tour (450-500mi.) done by Dwagenheim, RWTD, Sokool and myself, we brought...

1. Tuna (pouch type not can) - pouch is lighter and more compact.
2. Trail Mix (nuts, raisins, dried bannanas, etc.)
3. Ramen (instant noodles)
4. Assorted Instant Soups
5. Rice
6. Oatmeal

Since mayo and tuna goes quite well, but mayo spoils in the heat quickly; its quite hard to take it with you...Hell, i like the tuna alone, but yknow if ya *really* wanted it, get the little packets of it from like Mcdonalds, BK, etc. Yknow where they give em out. Kinda like the little ketchup packages. If you can get Mayo/Ketchup/Mustard/Relish packets, that would be the best to take with you since they dont spoil easy at all. I discovered this when we stepped into a grocery store in okeechobee...(thought of buying a sandwich so i grabbed some packets and pocketed em...i returned the sandwich and later digged in my pockets to find the mayo. AHA! genius at work...roight!

Some stuff you should just have in addition to the edibles.

1. Olive Oil/Veg. Oil (needed for rice, all purpose use)
2. Spices (garlic, salt, pepper,curry,hot sauce --whatever u like)
3. Dish Soap (dishes get dirty)

-happy touring

Lately, it's been bagels and granola bars and maybe an apple. Fig newtons and bananas are good too.

Just choose something that agrees with you, travels well, and is loaded with carbs (simple and complex).

Good Riding!

You need something with good packaging and which won't melt to stuff in your bags for emergency use.
I usually take a few cereal bars. I did keep a powerbar in my bag for about a year, and eventually ate it, but its revolting stuff.

Cooked or heated food is probably overkill, unless you are doing your own cooking anyway.

Im usually more paranoid about running short of water than food, but I did suffer once when I climbed a big mountain without any food supplies.

Most of our tours have been accomplished without a stove. One of those tours lasted a month and one went six weeks, camping every night -- both in Canadian Rockies and British Columbia. Leaving the stove at home saved a lot of weight and hassle. And, saved us prep and clean up time in camp.

We ate fresh foods, canned foods that tasted good cold, canned fish/meats, crackers, breads, rice cakes, granola bars cereal and canned fruit (my tummy gets unhappy with milk products and bike riding, so I avoid them; though, I have no problem with milk products backpacking or sea kayaking), cookies (newtons, and drier cookies), nuts, GORP (raising, peanuts and M&Ms, mixed in equal parts).

Never cared for Powerbars. Only time I tried them was on a three week sea kayak trip in and around Glacier Bay. The cold temperatures made them so stiff that they were impossible to eat.

Because we all enjoyed peanut butter and jam, that was a major component of our calories (I know PB does not work for everyone, taste, allergies to peanuts). Sometimes we had some interesting meals, especially when we found canned corn tortillas, canned sour cream and canned beef = tacos! (Peanut butter and jelly was better.)

With three people we could finish with a small jar of mayo before it went bad, or just toss the leftovers if we were worried about spoilage.

We would usually carry several days worth of food, so that we would not be without.

Sometimes it took some creataivity to come up with a reasonable meal

Then there was the day we ate ourselves down to a couple granola bars assuming the grocery store would be open on Saturday morning (in a small Canadian town). It wasn't. We had 75 miles to go to bet to Revelstoke. So, we went to a restaurant that, it turned out served an outdoor working clientele. We ordered TWO large breakfasts each and bought a bunch of pasteries for the road. Worked out fine.

Bakeries are wonderful places, too.

Soft fruit we would usually eat on the spot since it does not carry well. Harder fruit we'd pack.

Mike Sakarias
Juneau Alaska

Originally posted by MichaelW
I did keep a powerbar in my bag for about a year, and eventually ate it, but its revolting stuff.

I was introduced to the Odwalla food bars on the STP this year while they are not what I would call yummie they are good compared to the other power bars out there and they are packed with energy. Plus they are made with real food! I always have a couple in my bag just in case

PB&J is great. Me and my friend ate that exclusively during our two day trip. We were stuck on Martha's Vineyard, where all the food is 2x normal price, so we couldn't afford to eat out. Haha, funny memories of sitting out on the bench outside of the supermarket, devouring our ghetto meal. Anyways, especially good is that "Goober Grape" thing which has PB&J mixed together in stripes. Very compact, very quick to make and eat, loaded with fat, protein, and carbs. The only issue is carrying around bread, which is light but bulky. We ended up just tying the bag of bread to our bags and letting it hang loose.

in addition to PB&J, or as an alternative if you get sick of it, i really like Nutella or other similar nut-made spreads.

since about 5 years or so, i've been able to find Nutella in most larger US grocery stores... i personally find it tastes a little better than PB&J and can be better eaten w/o the jelly.

for bread i used to use a plastic bread-box, but now i buy "hard" bread which is pretty durable and usually doesn't get all crumbly...

as everyone has said: if you have access to grocery stores every other day or so, then fruits and oatmeal and muesli, plus pasta and the sauce packets IF you decide to take a stove

on more remote trips, i go more dehydrated as if i were doing primitive backpacking... then you pretty much have to take a stove.

i eat a variety of bars from the cheap one in the grocery store to Balance Bars (my favorite)

in general:
* for day/weekend trips: no stove - bars and fruit, bread and nutella
* for tours with frequent grocery: granola/muesli with yogurt ot milk (i can eat dairy 2 minutes before i get on the bike), PB&J or Nutella and bread, lots of fresh fruit
* for tours with stove: pasta and powder sauces, oatmeal and hot chocolate --- i never cook more than 2 times per day

and on long tours i almost always "eat out" once every few days for something different... all-you-can-eat buffets are great while on tour

Nothing goes down better the PB&J! That is peanut butter and jelly, even warm, it is heaven when you are hungry. On a long ride, I like to carry a banana, cliff bar, and a small pack of peanuts. I use to eat a candy bar, but I have replaced it with a cliff bar.

If you have a costco, you can get cliff bars for a little under $0.80 a piece.

But!!! don't forget the water.... mucho water... I think that is almost more important than food and a days ride.

Happy Spinning

Annie :fun:

Here's a cooking hint. I just discovered Reynolds Non-Stick aluminum foil. It works great. Just line your pan and viola it is converted into a nonstick pan and you can simply roll up the foil and discard it, properly of course. It really gives you some a great more versitility to your cooking options.

Mur