I never thought I'd be the type to be so particular about what I put in to my body that I'd bother to make my own training food. After successfully detoxing though I was determined not to go straight back to my old habits so just like when I detoxed, I've made the time to experiment.
We've found a winner that's easy to make and eat, is wheat and dairy free, and delicious.
KKB found this recipe on the Bicycling.com blog. Because it's vague, it needed some interpreting but we figured it out and both set to making up our own batches of training goodness.
But because it's vague it means you can experiment with different inputs to find something you like and works for you.
My current batch uses:
2 cups oats
2 cups puffed rice (non wheat cereal)
1 cup or so of dried apricots, walnuts, and dates
1 cup of golden syrup (it's pure sugar, no preservatives)
3/4 cup of organic, smooth peanut butter (no preservatives, salt or sugar)
It's super easy to make - you just mix the dry ingredients together (I chopped my fruit and nuts first), heat the wet ingredients together, pour it in, mix it through, then place into a tray to cool. Once cool, chop it up into small pieces (3cm x 4cm) and individually wrap them in foil.
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| A (blurry, sorry) photo of the set slide ready for wrapping. |
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| The finished product, wrapped and ready to store in the fridge. |
The recipe meets my new expectation of being dairy free and wheat free, and are as easy to get down on long rides as my previously preferred options (ease of chewing and eating have always been high on my list of criteria for training food).
I can of course use different extras, and explore some other options instead of golden syrup too, like other sugar derivatives such as treacle. I think honey would be too runny but might be worth a try, but pure maple syrup is probably cost prohibitive.
My next nutrition assignment is trialing home made electrolyte that KKB's been using for a while now. Just need to find the right cordial to mix in...
(And I promise to think up a more creative title for that post.)
This looks fabulous, AP. With training for RacingThePlanet starting for me in January (and getting back on the clean living next week), I'll definitely be trying this one. I'm thinking of testing to see whether almond paste will work as a substitute for peanut butter (not sure about organic, but most peanut butter seems to have palm oil added).
ReplyDeleteHey HOG,
DeleteThe peanut butter I used is this one: http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/#url=/Shop/ProductDetails%3FStockcode%3D334752%26name%3Dmacro-organic-smooth-peanut-butter
According to the ingredients list it's 100% organic roasted peanuts.
The bad thing is that it's Woolworth's house organic brand. I'll try a health food or organic store next time.
But I don't see why almond paste wouldn't work to be honest. Have a go and see what you think!
-AP