Hi,

Can anyone here recommend a food bar or food substance that has the highest energy per weight ratio?

I know there are bars and gels and pastes, but I don't know what from what.

I guess I'm looking for something that will fit the following:
-Very high energy
-Long lasting energy
-Very low weight
-Long shelf life
-No cooking required
-Wide storage temperature range
-Decent tasting at least. Not a high priority, but ya gotta get it down for it to do any good, right?

One thing I've been looking into is chia seeds. Below is a link about them.

http://www.backpacking.net/forums/showfl...o=&vc=1

Try carrying A Nalgene bottle(1 liter wide mouth)filled with trail mix.And when its empty you have another water carrier.By the time it is empty you should have found a source of food.Also consider honey.It NEVER spoils,but just crystalizes.Jars of honey have been found in Egyptian tombs that were still good.How is that for shelf life? <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Here's what I did for my parents. I put the B.O.B. in a bucket with a spin off lid , I included the usual stuff. For food I put in bottled water, gum, hard candy, MRE crackers, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of "cheese", canned tuna, and cans of water packed sardines ( for my dad). The idea being that nothing here is very expensive or hard to get, they will eat it and no cooking. They can grap the B.O.B., the extra 12 pack of water and combined with what's in the day sack all ready in the car they'd be O.K. I did include some MRE jams and snacks as well as condiments and a jar of Tang.

How about these? Anyone got experience with them?



A Complete Meal In a chewable Tablet Form.....And Taste Very Good
—sort of like a malt ball. • Evolved from the Early Space Program The Best Possible Nutrition in a
very small volume tablet. • 10+ Year Shelf Life Easily Carried & Stored • They Taste Great • Twelve 3.9 gram tabs a day are all you need • 180 Tabs Per Bottle — A 15 day Food Supply

Nutritional Information Per Serving Serving size:
12 tablets Servings per container. 15 Calories per serving (approximately 20 cal/tab) 240 Protein (grams), 4 Carbohydrate (grams), 26 Fat (grams), 12 Sodium per serving (mg), 140 Percentage of US Recommended Daily Allowance (US RDA) Protein

12 Vitamin A ............... 100 Vitamin C ............... 100 Thiamin .................. 100 Riboflavin ............... 100 Niacin .................... 100 Calcium ................... 30 Iron ........................ 100

Ingredients: Non-fat dry milk solids, sucrose, vegetable oils (including sunflower and/or safflower oil), natural and artificial flavors, sodium ascorbate, vitamin E acetate, niacinamide, ferrous fumarate, zinc gluconate, calcium pantothenate, potassium chloride, manganese glucomate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine hydrochloride, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3, folic acid, potassium iodine, cyanocobalamin.


http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_info.php/cPath/38_60/products_id/556

I have these Survival Tabs as my last line of food defense (behind energy bars, MREs, and Maydays). They actually taste better than the Maydays in my opinion, but still not great. And the ones I tried were a couple of years old. The thing is they don't really have very many calories, so their primary role is to stave off micronutrient deficiency.

look into honey and peanut butter. both fit all of your requirements. plus you can find them in handy little single serve packets. they should last until the sun turns into a red giant and then goes super nova.

/edit
oops forgot about allergies. might want to reconsider this post. honey ain't good for pregnant women and children under 2. also some people are allergic to peanut butter. let me think on this one some more and i'll post with others

I think honey is pretty much all sugar, so would have fewer calories per gram than peanut butter. For best calorie to weight ratio, I think you would want something with a higher fat content.

I've looked at the ingredients/calorie information on most of the commercially available snacks (e.g. Power Bars) and they all seem pretty heavy on the carbohydrates; not suitable for a balanced diet over an extended period unless supplemented by something else. Of course, they're designed for quick energy boosts for athletes, I believe, not as emergency rations.

Assuming a BOB scenario takes place, we A. will be carrying a somewhat larger assembly and B. as in all emergencies facing a degree of disruption in our normal routine. It is B. that concerns me. Any time of physical or emotional stress is a lousy time to hit our bodies with a radical change in diet. Survival tabs mixed with trail mix, dressed with honey and floating in a cup of iodine purified water may be a nutritional ambrosia. I wouldn't want to throw that regime onto anybody, be they Vegan or connoiseur of sparkly thing donuts and instant coffee. Whatever you pack, plan on eating it for the planned supply duration with some impromptu drilling (run away, build the fire, dress the blisters from running away.) You may find some less than desireable foodstuffs can carry almost as well and find greater acceptance from upset children or adult stomachs with PHs primed by coke and nachos <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />. Burt Gummer's MREs aside, We don't need additional suprises out there. I just observed the end of the Iranian new year celebration with a picnic, the Passover Seder and Easter dinner are approaching and my Filipina nieghbor dared me to eat another Balut tommorow <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> But this is California <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Mainstay Bars

Read My Lips:{}

PEMMICAN ROCKS!!!!!

You will find nothing that fits the bill for your requirements better.

If it was good enough for Lewis and Clark, the Hudson's Bay, and a nation of native Americans, I think it will work for you and me.