Food for long Tramps

I used to use OSMs but just found something about the taste of them that really makes them unpalatable after having a few, even if they are spread out over multiple days.

@dodgydave, yep agree. I don't know if it's the oil they use or another ingredient but the quoted flavour just isn't there. Its like an 'anti-taste', if there is such a thing? From memory only the chocolate ones are palatable.... just!

I use OSM's for breakfasts/lunches/snacks during the day. Usually I have 1 bar that acts as a nutritional base chased down by some other high calorie/low nutrition/low weight food that tastes better. I find after a couple of days the OSM's become almost too sweet to eat and I crave a savory flavour (bacon would work well...). As it happens I recently got an email to a survey OSM are carrying out at the moment (because I brought some of their product online through the Munchtime website) so I told them what I thought.

I find OSMs are overly sweet and wonder how much sugar is packed in these - and how much that sugar loading could offset any long-burning energy otherwise in these bars - causing a shortterm crash. Im about to experiment and make some meals in a dehydrator - some of us are going on an Easter mish to the Raglan range - and I have a 60L pack with an 18kg loading limit (thats both me and the type of pack frame!). So Im going to make a few beef meals and some chicken meals. Apparently the main thing is keep food pieces small and minimise fat content (to prevent rancidity). Looking forward to some cookery-tinkering. Being GF I find Brekkies the hardest to sort out - I cant tolerate oats either, bugger it. I think I will go with amaranth puffs, quinoa flakes, pea protein powder, egg white powder, cocoa, in hot water, mixed with some coconut oil. The protein hit will be large. I always get a massive energy rush from the raw coconut oil - if you havent tried this tramping - you should. I found that my overall food consumption (mostly of crappy processed "muesli bars") dropped substantially once you give your body pure clean-burning energy. So that overall reduces the amount of food I have needed to take on trips.

two things hold food bars together... fat and sugar.... most bars are high in fat and or sugar.. OSM's have 17% sugar by weight..

Just got back from five nights in the Bush and took what I consider to be the bare minimum food and worked well. 2 instant porridges with a scoop of protein powder and coffee for breaky 1 osm choc bite (better than the larger standard size as they get a bit much) a lunchbox salami and coffee for lunch. A radix meal osm bite and coffee with a shot of whiskey for dinner. Sour worms for snacks and supplemented with a bit of backsteak too.

I'm hoping that's just one days worth not the full 5!

You cant beat the sour worms. Or a good whiskey.

Sour worms - yuck. The kids know they won’t have to share any of these with Dad!

I'm not keen on commercial oversugared snacks so when we had a glut of strawberries this summer, I made fruit leathers with yogurt (in my case, coconut yogurt) and added chia and chestnut flour to the mix. I munch them spread with nut butter. Almond butter has good levels of calcium for us older folk who are concerned about osteoporosis.