Dried fruit, anyone?

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Lately I’ve been trying to produce my own energy bars. I made some tasty little morsels, but they don’t help at all on the bike! I think they have too much fat. Oh well, live and learn.

While making them I discovered something interesting. I was using a bag of dried fruit that I got at Costco to make the bars, and I compared the nutritional content of the fruit to a Powerbar. They were almost exactly the same in terms of sugar content, plus the fruit had a lot more fiber. On the bike it really works well, and takes less time to get to my muscles than the Powerbar. My energy bar experiment went bust, but I found something much better.

I highly recommend this as fuel. Anyone with similar experiences?

i usually carry a small box of raisins which works as good as a bar, but for longer rides i alternate raisins, bar and fig newtons, along with a drink

i usually carry a small box of raisins which works as good as a bar, but for longer rides i alternate raisins, bar and fig newtons, along with a drink

+1 on the raisins, for longer rides, I just carry more raisins, some pecan nuts and a banana in addition to the drinks.

Dried fruit is excellent. Bananas are even better and are easier to eat when you are breathing a bit hard.

Jay.

Dried fruit is excellent. Bananas are even better and are easier to eat when you are breathing a bit hard.

Jay.
the dried fruit you are eating - does it have added sugar or perservatives?? if not then its an excellent snack, but some dried fruits arent healthy( i used to eat raisins that had hydronated veg oil in, now i only eat organic ones)

i love dried apricots. like candy for a cycling snack.

i love dried apricots. like candy for a cycling snack.===========================================================
Dried fruit makes me FART - which is kinda fun - at home and harmless on the bike:)

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Dried fruit makes me FART - which is kinda fun - at home and harmless on the bike:)Too much dried apricot and you'll do more than fart :eek:

I've to toyed with the idea of producing my own energy bars, has anyone come across some recipes,you could share with us?

Yes, dried fruit is awesome, and I also carry some with me on long rides. In ancient Greece some athlete was disqualified for eating dried figs; it was the EPO of its time! I once did a mountainous century ride in about 5:30 eating nothing but a couple of slices of home-made bread, plus a bunch of dried figs (OK, I did stop and buy an Odwalla smoothie too!).

Dried fruit is much higher in natural sugars than fresh fruit though (I guess the drying process causes sugars to form naturally), so it's higher on the glycemic index. For that reason you should save the dried fruit for later in the ride, or for your post-ride recovery snack. Eat lower GI foods like fresh fruit, pasta and the like before the ride. My favorite is buckwheat... either in pancakes or cereal. It's much lower GI than wheat and oatmeal.

Great GI info:

http://www.glycemicindex.com/

http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_food_diet/glycemic_index.php

Enjoy!

Lately I’ve been trying to produce my own energy bars. I made some tasty little morsels, but they don’t help at all on the bike! I think they have too much fat. Oh well, live and learn.

While making them I discovered something interesting. I was using a bag of dried fruit that I got at Costco to make the bars, and I compared the nutritional content of the fruit to a Powerbar. They were almost exactly the same in terms of sugar content, plus the fruit had a lot more fiber. On the bike it really works well, and takes less time to get to my muscles than the Powerbar. My energy bar experiment went bust, but I found something much better.

I highly recommend this as fuel. Anyone with similar experiences?

Check out the recipe for chewy fruit and nut bars on the can of Quaker Oats. With my modifications they are tastier than most Clif Bars, less expensive, and actually easier to eat. Look out Gary Erickson. For a better texture, press them with a spatula after they come out of the oven.

I found this recipe on another forum, haven't tried them myself yet.

Home Made Muesli bars

4 cups of your favourite muesli
5 weetbix, crushed
1 cup of fruit juice
1/2 cup of honey

Combine fruit juice and honey in a saucepan, bring to a medium simmer and simmer for five minutes.
Combine the muesli and weetbix in a mixing bowl.
Add dry ingredients to liquid and mix well.
Spread mix evenly into a lightly oiled slice tin.
Bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly before cutting into bars.

These quantities make 8 large muesli bars, but I find cutting these bars in half more convenient. You can make you own muesli if you wish - eg 2 cups rolled oats, 1 cup almond flakes, 1 cup dried fruit mix. The possibilities are endless. Just make sure you end up with 4 cups.
For the fruit juice, I use the syrup out of whatever canned fruit we happen to have open at the time. Apricot juice/syrup works very well.

And then there is this one, which works well if you spread a little butter on each slice...

All-Bran Cake

1 cup Kellogs AllBran
1 cup dark brown sugar
1-1 1/2 cups fruit medley
1 tsp each nutmeg, cinnamon
1 cup milk
1 cup SR flour

Mix together everything but the flour and leave for several hours or
overnight, until bran has completely broken up. Add flour and mix.
Place in loaf tin and bake approx 50-60 mins at 180C.

Raisin is a high GI, it'll give somehow an instant energy, while dry apricot is low GI.