Best Trail Bar I have ever had!

Yesterday I picked up a box of Nature Valley's new 'Roasted Nut Crunch'.

This is definitely the best trail bar I have ever tried! It is not a protein powerhouse at only 6 grams of protein, but they are good.

Reminds me of one of those Peanut Plank candy bars.

Hummmmm..bars! I'm packing for a 2 week trip today and i think i'll go with the snickers/mars/nature valley/brownies/almonds and cashew combo. 1000 cal. a day of snacks should keep me alive!

Best trail bars? I've been thru a bunch:

** Bear Valley Meal Paks and Pemmican Bars/the old 1980s standby with 400 calories and alot of protein.

** Larabars/made in Colorado--almond/cashew a fave.

** Kind nut bars/some with coconut/grocery store stuff with nuts.

** Pro Bars/superfood slam is a favorite. Just discovered these at a bicycle shop and later got online and ordered a few cases.

** Boomi-bars/cashew-almond is great. New discovery at a health food store so I ordered a couple cases. Simple and good.

All these babies can be ordered online.

Nature Valley is hands down my favorite bar brand. The oat bars don't mush up like soft bars, and even if they crumble, the texture isn't disturbing at best like a Nutragrain. Oats 'n' Honey is amazing! The salty 'n' sweet bars are great in cooler weather, too, since they might melt in high temps.

I mash up Nature's Valley Oats 'n' Honey bars and add milk for cereal every morning. Sam's Club sells a giant box for $10.

Had the Almond Nut crunch with my yogurt today, simply amazing!

My ultimate, forever-favorite trail bars: LaraBar's apple and cherry pie flavors. All natural, no high-fructose corn syrup, a good dose of protein due to the yummy nuts they include, and amazingly delicious!

I like to use PowerBars but they make you really thirsty and with scarce water it is not the best option.

My absolute favorite all around bar is Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Fruit and Nut. I usually take 6 on an overnight hike and it gives me a lot of extra energy after snack time.

Has anyone ever made their own bars? I have friends that make them from oats, honey, crushed nuts, and a bunch of other stuff. Any recipes?

We love the CLIFF bars; awesome protein and good source of energy.

I like Cliff Bars too, my favorite is the Oatmeal, Walnut, Raisin.

I have experimented with making my own bars, but, for me it is cheaper to buy them when I figure in my time. I did however enjoy making some.

I like Clif bars. But recently have found Luna bars (for chicks I know, but good).

What I like most about the Clif bars is the taste and the wide variety........ and the price......we get them 10 for $10 on sale at Krogers.

Yeah, Clif bars are my mainstay, with Odwalla banana-nut bars sometimes too.

I make cake-like bars using a bulk bran muffin mix, ground quinoa, chopped dried apricots, walnuts, and soy protein isolate. Proportions vary, just use enough bran muffin mix to bind the batter well. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees. They have to be packed in a container though because they crumble. Best for day-hikes and around the house.

I used to eat Power Bars but on the first day of a 4-day wilderness river trip I left part of a molar in one. Bad teeth and chewy bars go together like pain and sorrow.

Since I'm baking today, here's a better-quantified version of the recipe above:

3/4 cup ground sunflower seed kernels

1/2 cup soy protein isolate

1 cup ground quinoa seeds

Combine that in a big mixing bowl with 2 cups of milk and let it set 5 minutes (to let the quinoa soften)

Then add:

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chopped dried apricots (or any dried fruit you like, of course)

2 big "glugs" of olive oil (use safflower or whatever if the taste of olive oil is too much)

Stir in :

1 1/2 cups muffin mix, adding more milk as necessary to keep the batter workable

Plop into a greased 9 X 12 pan and bake at 350 deg for 25 to 30 minutes.

You can also add sugar, honey, or molasses if you have a sweet tooth, and ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, or other favorite spices.

Besides the complex carbs from the wheat and quinoa, this recipe provides several sources of fat (sunflower meal, walnuts, and olive oil), sources of protein (soy protein, milk, and quinoa, which has a higher proportion of complete protein than wheat or other cereal grains), good fiber content, and sugars from the dried fruit (and whatever sweetener you add, if any).

(Note: I make the quinoa and the sunflower kernel meal using a little high-speed blender meant for grinding coffee beans.)

Too fragile for a real trail bar and not as vitamin-enhanced as Clif or PowerBars or Luna bars, but cheap to make and reasonably nutritious.

A few of my favorites:

I like Kashi granola bars. The cherry dark chocolate flavor is a big favorite.

Also, the Clif/Luna/ZBar family: Luna has a new flavor, raspberry chocolate, which is really good. The caramel nut brownie is aweseome too. My kids, and me, also really like their kid ZBar flavors. We even give out Clif Kid Spooky S'mores ZBars for Halloween.

I used to bring back extra sample size Clif/Luna bars from Outdoor Retailer, because I liked the small size as an extra option. Now they make boxes of bars that size (I knew it was a good idea!).

Honey Stinger makes a peanut butter protein bar that is insanely dense and highly caloric. I limit its use to an occasional recovery bar. (I like their gels and chews for long runs.)

I also like ProBars, if you don't mind quite a few calories. I want to try their new Fruition bars.

http://www.trailspace.com/articles/2009/09/23/new-bars-chews-bites.html

Beyond "real" trail bars, Snickers are my absolute favorite hiking/backpacking candy bar.

I just had an apple cinnamon Pure Bar for the first time (I saw them at the grocery store and bought two the other day) and it was really good. I'll definitely try some other flavors: wild blueberry, chocolate brownie...

It's a raw, organic, minimally-processed bar. You can taste the distinct ingredients (not a mash of stuff) and was quite yummy.

Alicia said:

I just had an apple cinnamon Pure Bar for the first time (I saw them at the grocery store and bought two the other day) and it was really good. I'll definitely try some other flavors: wild blueberry, chocolate brownie...

It's a raw, organic, minimally-processed bar. You can taste the distinct ingredients (not a mash of stuff) and was quite yummy.

Alicia, that sounds good!

I am a big fan of cooking from scratch, when I have the time. As you mentioned about the Pure Bar, when home cooking with raw or fresh ingredients you get individual & distinct flavors from the ingredients.

I'm not a big fan of processed foods, the flavors just don't 'kick' for me.

I often find that while not the most convenient, I have time for scratch cooking while backpacking on non travel days.

On travel days I just try to find the most nutritious & tasty trail food possible.

I've never been able to go on peanut butter & ramen for 5 days, I get depressed!

Bake your own Logan bread. Much cheaper and healthier. Very easy to make and won't freeze solid in the winter.

Check out this illustrated recipe:

http://sectionhiker.com/2008/06/22/logan-bread-recipe/

Wildberry Chocolate Bumper Bar

http://www.cookietime.co.nz/bwc.html