Yeah, I have a similar concern about the application of dextrose. How is it different from any other sort of candy?

Dextrose tabs are definitely short term energy boost. Still, something you may want in your "bag of tricks." For longer term, I turn to peanut butter.

The key difference with candy, is that they are pure glucose (dextrose is simply glucose by another name). Candies usually turn to sucrose, which is about half glucose and half fructose, as Sucrose is much sweeter than glucose. It requires some digestion, and this is where the questions arise about the fructose, and it's possible involvement with a variety of heath problems. The same health questions apply to the high fructose corn syrup in many products. In terms of effect on the body, they have similar if not identical effects.

Rather than drink a can of soda pop or an energy drink, I think a couple of dextrose tabs and some plain water is as effective as an energy pickup without the potential long term effects of sucrose and/or high fructose corn syrup.

Am I the only one who picks up condiment packets at "restaurants"?
Chinese Take-Out: Soy sauce, Duck Sauce, hot mustard
Chick--Fil-A: Mayo
TacoBell: hot sauce
KFC: honey, although I do have a small jar in the pack
Arby's: barbeque sauce
Ketchup and yellow mustard most anywhere.
I have a small hardsided, plastic container to hold them.

No Uncle Goo, you are not alone.

I love condiment packs, Uncle Goo! I hate the packaging in terms of garbage, but they're just so convenient!

Here's a few more based on my location:

McDs/Wendy's/Tim's - peanut butter, jam, maple syrup, mayo
Nando's - peri peri hot sauce (my personal favourite)
Arbys - horseradish sauce, bbq sauce
Starbucks - honey, raw sugar
Thai/Vietnamese take-out restaurants - hoisin & srirachia
Take-out sushi places - wasabi, soy sauce, ginger

Soy sauce is particularly useful when coming across leftover rice. Rice is a bit dry? Soy sauce to the rescue.

Jeanette Isabelle

Just remember, in the countries of origin for soy sauce, adding it to rice is a big cultural faux pas. Below is a video focused on Japan, but on the soy sauce thing it applies to other East Asian nations.

Gaijin tip #22: no soy sauce on rice

The video mentions other things you can put on your rice. Furikake is another idea to make your pack food taste better, though it's designed to work with starch only (rice and noodles). There are also a lot of preserved foods in Asian cuisines that survive well without refrigeration, and that is meant to increase your appetite.

Does rum count?

Rum always counts!

I added a little Fireball whiskey to my fire kit.