Do you have any recipes for high calorie, nutrient dense foods that we would cook here in La Paz, Bolivia and take with us as we pass through the country? Food will be limited in the Bolivian country, so I want to take some with us. Not everything is available here in La Paz, but I think I should be able to round up most foods! (I've already stocked up on peanut butter and nuts, but am looking for variety!) I'm thinking maybe some kind of granola bars or some such, but am open to any and all ideas!

I only eat food in bar form.

Do you have any recipes of bars I could make here??

It is quite difficult to guess what recipes will use the ingredients that are available there.
Let's see. In Bolivia there is quinoa: it has a high mineral content and its proteins are balanced. It has a fresh taste (soak and wash before cooking) and it goes well with everything vegetable like oil, vegetables, nuts... It is good hot or cold, as a side dish or as a main course.

Since I guess that you are not in a competition and that your pace must be within moderate aerobic effort you can eat fattier food than sportier cyclists, to a reasonable level. What do they use as fat in Bolivia? As a matter of fact, check out what they already eat themselves, especially in the countryside. If they lived on it for centuries chances are that you will too for a good while. Chances are too that you may be able to buy a meal from the locals, if only they let you pay: poor people are like that.

I hope this help. That is how I managed in Chile in the '80s but I was based in San Felipe and never wandered for more than 5 days in a row. I remember that high in the mountain they made a sort of jerky, very simply by letting meat dry on clean rocks. Up there, there are no insects to worry about and the rarefied air + the intensity of the sun did the job in less than a day's time.

Of course try to eat a lot before leaving. Our own fat is quite useful and effective. Burning it will even hydrate you better since fat break into water mostly after being used for energy.

Well, I hope this helped somewhat.

thanks JeanM! We do plan on buying meals from locals whenever we can, but we've been told we will be passing through very remote areas where that won't be an option. We've also been warned that water will be very, very scarce, so we won't be able to cook - hence, the quinoa option is out. I plan to stuff my panniers with as much food as I can, but I want it to be high calorie and nutrient dense food rather than plain bread and crackers! I will make some oatmeal cookies with lots of nuts and dried fruit - that should be a good source of energy.

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches have most of what you need... rice is always a good idea, as it has plenty of starch and loads of protein as well. If you can grab some granola I'd load up on as much of it as you can get your hands on. But yeah the water being scarce thing is the scary part... that eliminates lots of options you could have otherwise used to make some really good stuff.

You definitely need to let us know how you end up making it work. I'll be excited to see how it's done!

We'll take some bananas with us, but really need to eat them the first day - they don't travel well at all. Bread is good, but very bulky. I'm hoping to load my panniers with compact, nutrient dense foods - not sure what I'll end up with!

you can try quinoa

Except that we have to cook quinoa and we won't have access to water. Otherwise, w would be eating quinoa every night!

Clif Bars


Nutrition info:




Ingredients: Organic Brown Rice Syrup, ClifPro® (Soy Rice Crisps [Soy Protein Isolate, Rice Flour, Barley Malt Extract], Organic Roasted Soybeans, Organic Soy Flour), Organic Rolled Oats, Blueberry Fruit Pieces (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Blueberry Puree Concentrate, Brown Rice Syrup, Pectin, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Natural Flavor), Organic Toasted Oats (Organic Oats, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice), Organic Dry Roasted Almonds, ClifCrunch® (Organic Oat Fiber, Inulin [Chicory Extract], Organic Milled Flaxseed, Organic Oat Bran, Psyllium), Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Blueberries (Blueberries, Apple Juice Concentrate), Organic Date Paste, Almond Butter, Organic Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, Sea Salt, Citric Acid.

Will you bring water with you then? How long are you going to take for this stage?
Any water that you use for cooking will still be available in the food and count for satisfying your water needs. Just use low heat and a tight pot. Pre-soak the cereals to shorten the cooking time. BTW lentils are one legume that cooks easy and fast.

If you bring cooked rice or quinoa, taking into account that you will be at high altitude and that it is the middle of winter there, those food should keep, portioned hot in plastic bags, for 3 days at least. Remember that those foods will hold some of the precious water that you'll need. (Oh please, make sure that you have enough water!)

You will actually be able to cook by roasting, frying in the pan... You can prolong the time for which the pre-cooked cereals will keep by reheating it, making fried rice and the rest. Use oil liberally.
Fresh eggs can keep at least 3 days.
Pre-mix your bananas with the peanut butter and keep it in sealed plastic, portioned (is that even an English word?). In fact, pre-mix anything that you like. Peanut butter is good but stuff like Nutella isn't half bad.
Bake cookies: they're usually fattier than granola bars.
Bread is highvolume, except unleavened bread like tortillas and pita bread. Still good.
I know that I can get by with very little food if I have water. I'd go slow as to not sollicitate the glycogen metabolism, live on some of my fat. I'd be content with a dull diet as long as it had enough fibers. I may supplement with salt and minerals+vitamins from the pharmacy.
But then I believe that children are traveling with you, if I remember right. Could be tough because their need for food is greater and quality is more important for them.

Have you gone to the market there? There has to be prepared foods that will inspire you, won't there.

Some form of a homemade pizza

Bagels make a good bread-substitute that travels better and is more dense. They work well in combination with peanut butter and jelly. No idea on availability in Bolivia.

Nancy, the idea of a basic oatmeal cookie recipe, fortified with whatever else might work, nuts, fruit, milled flax seed, etc sound like a good idea. Energy dense and if fortified, nutritious. Still gotta be concerned about mold growth. Without a preservative, don't know how you'd prevent that, especially if moist with oil.

I traveled often on something a kin to english muffins. They are denser then bread and travel very well. You make a basic bread dough. This could include your local quinoa. I would cook the quinoa and add it to the dough warm not hot. I am assuming you have access to yeast. Oatmeal would also be a good addition. The dough is rolled out as thin as you can get a bread dough and then cut into the muffin shapes. I find it easier to cut squares than to make the round muffins. Sprinkle them with corn meal. let them rise a bit. They are cooked on a hot griddle or in a hot cast iron pan if you have access to one. No grease or oil in the pan, the corn meal will stop them from sticking. You can finish them off in a oven, but that is not necessary. It will make them drier and last longer. They will go well with your peanut butter.

Also I would stock up on any dry fruits you can get. On long canoe trips my lunches and traveling snacks is a "granola" mix with very little granola. Mostly nuts and dried fruits and M&Ms(gotta have that chocolate). I had a bunch left over on a trip that I was in no hurry to end and ate just that heavy trail mix for several days. I think I could live on it for weeks.

1+, especially those M&Ms.

no access to water?
not even using a filter?

Actually mold needs moisture to grow. Oil and fats in general do nothing for it. They can become rancid, which is quite unpleasant, but it is an oxidation reaction easy to delay with air tight containers like simple plastic bags.

Nancy, how do you like cheese? Keeps well, especially if a bit salty and cooks well without water too. Yogurt-like stuff travel well too: that's pretty much why they were invented by Attila's footmen... just kidding.

fruit & nut oatmeal cookies... sounds like a quaker granola bar, just needs to be fudge dipped.

From what I've been told - no. We are planning to carry water for 3 or 4 days and hope that is enough. Apparently, water is THE big issue up on the altiplano - all the aid groups are trying to figure out how to make water available for the people living here. We are carrying iodine drops so, if we can find reasonably clean water, we can make it drinkable.

But - given how hard it is even for the local people, we aren't planning to cook at all. It takes a lot of water to cook and clean, so we'll just eat gorp and oatmeal cookies and cheese and such until we make it to a restaurant.

My biggest problem right now is that the southern part of Bolivia is the most remote. I think we will find restaurants every day or so for the first 10 days of our journey through the country. After that, we will go about 7 or 8 days before getting to a restaurant. But - that means I need to buy or cook food here that will last at least 2 weeks before we need it!

I'll figure it out - if we need to live on crackers and tuna for the past 2 weeks through Bolivia, we'll do it!

MRE's?

https://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

I've eaten hundreds of Meal Pack Bars
https://www.mealpack.com/

Spot on with the mould, it needs free water, oil does nothing for it.

As far as taking ideas from Attila, I've heard that on the long horseback rides, rather than stop for a break, they would simply make a small cut in the horses neck, and drink the blood. Of course, this may just be a legend, started by someone who was terribly embarrassed at how quickly their country was overrun.

I don't know what the bike equivalent of this is, maybe chain lube?

Nancy,

I would consider the following:
- there are plenty of recipes for DIY energy bars online. Pick one that looks good.
- hard-boiled eggs will keep for several days. in some of my past travels in Latin America when I've been uncertain of re-supply I've carried boiled eggs for a couple of days.
- dried fruit
- dried meat (do they have something like jerky?)

Good luck -

wow you tourers are hardcore...