Food for touring

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All uphill

Still rolling along
Location
Somerset
I had my first couple of short tours in 2019 and planned many more in 2020; well, you know how that went for all of us!

Now I'm preparing some trips this spring and summer and am looking for advice on how to get enough energy without getting uncomfortably stuffed.
I've experienced running out of energy and don't want to go there again, and I've also had problems with high volumes of food causing constipation and piles.

Is increasing liquid intake helpful?

Do I need to concentrate on highly calorific foods?

What works for you?
 

Oldhippy

Cynical idealist
Pasta with extra pasta, fresh veg bought local to where I am, cheese, love cheese,. I'm a kind of don't worry about the weight of the bike guy. You've reminded me I need to sort out and refresh my cooking spice box for this year. Thank you for that.
 
OP
OP
All uphill

All uphill

Still rolling along
Location
Somerset
Thanks @Oldhippy

The cheese and veg sound great, but I'd struggle with a pasta meal - feel like I've swallowed a bowling ball whole.

Maybe I need to increase the liquids.
 
Location
España
I had my first couple of short tours in 2019 and planned many more in 2020; well, you know how that went for all of us!

Now I'm preparing some trips this spring and summer and am looking for advice on how to get enough energy without getting uncomfortably stuffed.
I've experienced running out of energy and don't want to go there again, and I've also had problems with high volumes of food causing constipation and piles.

Is increasing liquid intake helpful?

Do I need to concentrate on highly calorific foods?

What works for you?
Liquid? Absolutely!
I've had to train myself to drink more.

As for constipation and piles I'm reluctant to give advice - we're all different. Prevention is better than the cure, I imagine. Maybe look at increasing your fibre? Sorry, that's not particularly helpful. Maybe a chat with a pharmacist in advance may help.

As for not getting uncomfortably stuffed? A little and often is my motto. If I'm hungry (or thirsty) I'm too late.

High calorie food? I've never really thought about it. But then again I'm rarely pushing myself that hard. Perhaps your style is different?

How much and when to a certain extent depends on your style. Big distances going fast is probably different to meandering and stopping often.

I love cous-cous for breakfast. Add boiling water - simple. Liven it up with cinnamon and dried fruit and nuts. Add powdered milk for pazazz. And coffee! Otherwise porridge.

Tortillas make a great lunch filled with whatever you like. Peanut butter and banana is my go to.

My bar bag will normally have some cereal bars or nut mix.

Dinner can be anything from pasta to noodles with sauce to bread, cheese, cold meats. I find beans great too.

Do you plan to eat out or to be self sufficient? Depending on where you are and your budget you can get tasty food cheaply. Belgian chippers do great food, relatively cheaply. Dutch ones not so much. (I used to cycle to Belgium for my chips^_^).

I used to have links but if you look on YouTube for camp cooking, backpacking menus etc. you might find some inspiration.

Good luck!
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
Trying to think back to last year's Lejog....
Averaging around 90 miles a day we would have a hearty breakfast at our accommodation, maybe a splash & dash mid morning coffee, lunch at a venue of choice where we would just pick whatever took our fancy. Mid afternoon might have been a short stop somewhere to make sure we had a good gulp from our water bottles and some flapjack or similar while having a breather and a chat before the final push onto the nights accommodation and a traditional evening meal washed down with a couple of jars.

Nothing special, or high calorie, or technical about it. Make sure you always have water in your bottle and drink it even if you don't think you need to.
 
I used to really have a sweet tooth.
On a 6-week tour from Southern Sweden to Gibraltar with a mate, we’d probably have 3-4 Snickers a day. Every day!
And I’ve always been partial to chocolate milk and would have no problem getting through a couple of litre cartons. Every day. I did drink water, too, though.

On another 6-week solo trip in Australia, I tried to eat more healthily so fuelled myself on Soreen Malt Bread and/or any kind of fruit cake I could find.
 
Last edited:

mudsticks

Obviously an Aubergine
I had my first couple of short tours in 2019 and planned many more in 2020; well, you know how that went for all of us!

Now I'm preparing some trips this spring and summer and am looking for advice on how to get enough energy without getting uncomfortably stuffed.
I've experienced running out of energy and don't want to go there again, and I've also had problems with high volumes of food causing constipation and piles.

Is increasing liquid intake helpful?

Do I need to concentrate on highly calorific foods?

What works for you?

Definitely more liquids for combatting constipation, and try dried fruit for lightweight energy and fibre, snacking on the go.

I'll usually have a bag of things like dried figs prunes, apple rings, with Brazil nuts which give oil and protein too and have them easily accessible, to snack on.

Those whole dried bananas you can get from wholefood shops are alright as well.

I've never had a problem with constipation , but then on a day to day basis I eat loads of veg (unsurprisingly)
I'll often dehydrate lots of greenstuff to take on trips to add to noodles /pasta / couscous.

Piles is a medical condition , best advised by a doc or at least a pharmacist
But yeah I believe constipation is an aggravating factor..

I'll always have a few of those just add boiling water dehydrated meals on board too, for those times when there's no pub.

'Summit to eat' and ' firepot' are current fave brands.

They're not cheap but if not able to eat out, they're high calorie quick and satisfying too.

If you do a lot of trips it's worth buying them in bulk, for the savings, they have a long shelf life .
 
OP
OP
All uphill

All uphill

Still rolling along
Location
Somerset
Thanks everyone. Really helpful.

I reckon I'm not drinking enough, leading to problems. Time to fill up my bottles and get out there!
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Break your touring day down

A couple of hours riding in the morning, then a jam and banana sandwich a cake or such like
Another couple of hours till lunch and a hot sit down meal somewhere and maybe a pint.
Another couple of hours and a mid afternoon snack of flapjacks or bananas or whatever suits
Reach your overnight stay, shower and relax, then evening meal.

Yes to two water bottles on bike and try to sip as you go along. If you want extra energy without eating put about 30g of sugar in each water bottle. That’s equivalent of 7 sugar cubes if supplied from a cafe. It’s roughly 1/3 of the sugar you’d get in a coke. Enough to give you a boost, but not enough to make it sweetly sick.

If you’ve experienced running out of energy then hopefully you’ve tuned into how it felt leading up to that point. Maybe your exertion felt harder than it should have been etc. if you find energy dipping then find somewhere to stop, a bus shelter etc. Get out some snacks off the bike and eat and drink and take a break. Give it 15 mins or so, then get going and see how you feel. Have a proper feed when you reach a suitable village or town.
 

mudsticks

Obviously an Aubergine
Thanks everyone. Really helpful.

I reckon I'm not drinking enough, leading to problems. Time to fill up my bottles and get out there!

I find it hard to drink very much plain water on an hourly basis, being a bit of a tea feind in daily life .

(Making a big pot for 5 ATM)

Maybe try some of that concentrated squash to put in to make drinking regularly more appealing.
 
I carried some of those multi vitamin effervescent tablets to add to water and was able to get more water down at midday.
Breakfast was generally a pot of yogourt with added museli and a cheese roll. I couldnt be bothered to cook up a porridge.
Pasta uses the most water and fuel
. Rice uses less water but possibly more fuel. Couscous is the most economical to cook. I generally had a one pot rice dish with veg, sausage meat or fish or whatever. Oil is good for calories. If you are not carrying olive oil, then pesto and tinned fish are a useful source of extra calories.
In Norway, when the cold weather was drawing in, I was constantly hungry and would stop at big supermarkets for their hot grilled burger.
 

Oldhippy

Cynical idealist
Break your touring day down

A couple of hours riding in the morning, then a jam and banana sandwich a cake or such like
Another couple of hours till lunch and a hot sit down meal somewhere and maybe a pint.
Another couple of hours and a mid afternoon snack of flapjacks or bananas or whatever suits
Reach your overnight stay, shower and relax, then evening meal.

Yes to two water bottles on bike and try to sip as you go along. If you want extra energy without eating put about 30g of sugar in each water bottle. That’s equivalent of 7 sugar cubes if supplied from a cafe. It’s roughly 1/3 of the sugar you’d get in a coke. Enough to give you a boost, but not enough to make it sweetly sick.

If you’ve experienced running out of energy then hopefully you’ve tuned into how it felt leading up to that point. Maybe your exertion felt harder than it should have been etc. if you find energy dipping then find somewhere to stop, a bus shelter etc. Get out some snacks off the bike and eat and drink and take a break. Give it 15 mins or so, then get going and see how you feel. Have a proper feed when you reach a suitable village or town.
Jam and banana in the same sandwich! Is there no law against this aberration!
 
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