calorie to weight ratio

[Megapixel]

I've long thought that ProBars and freeze dried meals (although usually full of salt) carry some of the best calorie to weight ratios. I'm curious to what other folks have found excels in this category as well...

[Maineiac64]

I just tried greenbelly, they seem a pretty good option.

[Siestita]

If you read product labels and do some simple arithmetic you'll learn which foods have the best calorie to weight ratios. Or, simply keep in mind that neither water in food nor fiber (which is helpful, at least in moderation, for other reasons) produce any calories. Also fats generate many more calories (up to about 200 per ounce) than do carbs (100 per ounce).

So, being moisture free, both sport bars and freeze dried meals are good light weight choices but they are not inherently any better in that regard than other less costly choices can be, items such as crackers, candy, rice, precooked dried beans, and pasta. And, as noted above,, the higher the percentage of fat an item contains, relative to its carbs, the better its calories to weight ratio will be. Breakfast bars, granola bars, and so-called nutrition bars sometimes contain nuts and/or vegetable oils., boosting their calories. But you can get even better calories per weight, and some protein, simply by snacking on nuts.

[ranger2012]

Peanut butter, 168 cal/oz of yum. Especially when spread on cosmic brownies (189 cal/oz). Who needs nutrition...

[Dogwood]

Nuts and seeds.

Macadamias, walnuts, filberts, pistachios, cashews, pine, etc.

Sunflower, pumpkin, chia, quinoa, actually a seed, hemp hearts, sesame, etc

Nut and seed butters. Tahini, etc. Pro Bar has 1 oz plus packets of almond butter with cocout oil and yerba mate. Other brands mix cocoa butter, which has high Cal to oz ratio in itself with almond or peanut butter

Seeds mentioned bough from bulk bins saves money

Roasted coconut chips R another fav.

Try EVOO and coconut oil packets. I find both relativEly cheap and conveniently individually packaged at Trader Joes.

[Venchka]

Macadamias are #1 @ 204 calories per ounce.
Pecans are #2 @ 200.
Wayne


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[Dogwood]

Freeze dried meals have a lower Cal to oz ratio than all the items listed.

Remember easy enough though to increase the ratio by adding copious amonuts of anything stated.

Dried full fat coconut milk powders also have a160 cal per oz ratio with some amazing flavor. Other dried milks to try are Peak brand, a Dutch company, a cows milk, Meyenberg goat milk, or even some of the powdered vanilla or plain soy milks. I've seen all these at 155 Cal per oz or more ratios.

Look for energy bite squares at 165 plus cal per oz ratios or low sugar macaroons at around 200 cal per oz.

[Deadeye]

Nuts! Some folks like nut butters, but I'll stick with nuts - no mess. Most nuts are >150 calories/ounce.

[Venchka]

Nuts! Some folks like nut butters, but I'll stick with nuts - no mess. Most nuts are >150 calories/ounce.

Butters are more space friendly. There's a lot of dead air space in a bag of nuts. Although that space could be filled with tiny seeds like Hemp Hearts.
Wayne


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[map man]

As has been stated already, nuts and seeds pretty much all give you more than 160 calories per ounce. I know you shouldn't try to exist on those foods alone, but they are a staple of mine on any backpacking trip.

[Venchka]

One of the best ways to package the nuts of your choice. These keep very well in plastic wrap and a Ziploc bag.
http://www.all-bran.com/recipes/brownies-recipe.html
Wayne


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[Venchka]

The visual version.

Wayne


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[garlic08]

Sounds unanimous, but I'll throw in yet another vote for nuts and seeds.

Leave the packaged, salty glop alone as much as you can.

[DownEaster]

Butters are more space friendly. There's a lot of dead air space in a bag of nuts.

Once you send your warm clothes home, you should have plenty of space in your pack. Go nuts!

[Odd Man Out]

Here's what I do. Look at the product label for g per serving, g of fat, protein, and carbs per serving. Subtract the last three from the first. That will be grams of water per serving. Less water, more fat gives more calorie density. Also don't forget about packaging. The packaging weight of some dehydrated backpacking meals negates their advantage.

[PaulWorksHard]

Pro bars, like cliff bars are pretty poor in that regard.

Carbohydrate=4 calories per gram
Protein = 4 calories per gram
Alcohol = 7 calories per gram
Fat = 9 calories per gram

Bars that are high in sugar will be low in the cal/oz.

In general, nuts and seeds are much higher.
Macadamia nuts are the all stars at 201 cal/oz.
Quinoa, while a complete protein is low in fat and only 103 cal/oz

In general, many nuts and hemp seeds are around 160-170 cal/oz.

My backpacking food is about 4000 cal/day at a little less than 2lbs. 40% of calories are from fat.

I do like Kind bars, but just noticed that Costco has "signature nut bars" that are awfully close to Kind bars and are about 75 cents each. An excellent deal

A good information source: http://nutritiondata.self.com

[MuddyWaters]

Fats. 200-240 cal/oz
Nuts. 160-200
Pepperoni\salami. 130-150
Chocolate. 130-150
Dried fruit 130-150
Bacon. 120-130
Pasta\grains\flour based carbs. 100- 130
Cheese 100-120
Lean protein 80


150 cal\oz is a good target, but if have variety, expect to average 125 or so. Tuna, jerky, pasta, rice etc bring avg down fast. I plan low cal meal items to spike calories. Whether with olive oil, ghee, peanut butter, or mayo packets. Add some fat. Ill admit to pouring olive oil into cathole before because couldnt stomach any more of it....goes OK with some things, not so OK with others. And 1/2 oz is plenty to upset the taste, 1 oz will ruin dinners .

[Dogwood]

Considering some of the foods found in abundance in typical AT hiker food bags ProBars at around 125- 130 cal per oz ratios with about 20 % coming from sugar, mostly from the fruit, isn't likely that low a cal/oz ratio or the highest sugar % in their food.


If you like ProBars ProBar also offers some nut butter combinations that I've found, and you may also find, to be tasty, that increase the cal /oz ratio and lowers the sugar % from total calories further. For example, ProBar has their almond butter mixed with coconut w/ a bit of caffeine(yerba mate) or their Koka Moka mixed with chocolate w/ a bit of caffeine. http://shop.theprobar.com/Koka-Moka-...ine-nut-butter It's about time we some of us expand our nut butter selection from only peanut butter. There are many different nut AND SEED butters available. BTW cocoa butter in itself has a very good cal/oz ratio. Mixing low sugar chocolate, REAL CHOCOLATE, into a nut butter can offer something that is taste and cal/oz appreciated. For a no cook Bfast I'll dip a Probar into some nut butter washed down with copious H20 eaten as I'm packing up.


A handful of hemp hearts(shelled hemp seed) mixed into a morning cereal w/ some nuts, coconut flake, and dried fruits w/ full fat powdered milk(I like full fat coconut milk powder), eaten cold or warmed can have a very high cal/oz ratio and more importantly provide greater nutrition than just calories which so many in the hiker community stop at as if all calories are the same. Food is more than calories.


For example, Tahini(sesame seed paste) is widely available as is becoming sunflower seed butter. Almond butter is becoming universally available in the aisle next to PB selections.

[PaulWorksHard]

Wouldn't eat Pro Bars, except for the nut butters, the others are high in sugar and not that high in calories.

Pro Bar bites 190 cal , 46 g = 117 cal/ oz, 25% sugar
Pro Bar meal 370 cal, 85 g = 123 csl/oz, 19- 27% sugar
Pro Bar bolt 90 cal, 30 g = 85 cal/oz, 40% sugar
Pro Bar fuel 190 cal 51 g = 106 cal/oz, 41% sugar
Pro Bar base 220 cal, 53 = 118 cal/oz, 23% sugar
Pro Bar base 290 cal, 70 g = 118 cal/oz, 23% sugar

But I do like hemp seeds. My breakfast is oatmeal, raisins, chia & hemp seeds.

[MuddyWaters]

White flour and refined grains are worse for you than sugar.
Theres virtually no way to eat 4000 cal per day on trail, or even 3000, without eating a lot of things that arent good for you. Bad fats, sugar, refined flour makes up half of diet, or more. Maybe 90% for some.