Wine gums and orange squash on the ride - with a cake stop after 2-3 hrs. For a ride of say >35 miles, a breakfast of muesli, plus yoghurt and honey, toast and coffee. The breakfast should give you slow release carbs for ~4 hrs, but you need to snack on the wine gums and sip fluid say every half hour too. Shorter rides I just have cornflakes and toast, and skip the wine gums Need to drink though, particularly if warm out.
I carry a couple of gels, but for emergencies only - when I know I'm running out of steam. And the energy drinks I'm not sure about - only use for very long rides (for me) of >100k. Listen to what your body is telling you and fuel when it's saying 'feed me'. In general though, that's too late - so you need to gain experience of how much to eat in-ride and how often. You'll work it out.
There's not a lot of fuel in a gel - it'll only last you half an hour at max I think. They are a get out of jail card, topping up the base store with continual (small) snacking seems to be a better option, plus drink plenty.
A more experienced nutritionist will be along shortly, no doubt. But the above works for me.