Backpack Meal Trials – Snacks and Add-ons

We have examined breakfast options and meal bars in this series so far, but what about snacks?  Pretty much everyone takes a mid-morning and mid-afternoon break with a quick fuel up snack, right?

I wanted to look a few readily available options that I had hanging around the pantry to see how they compare.  I have most of these items on a subscription delivery from Amazon as they end up in my daughter’s lunch box for snacks.  Since that comes with a discount, the cost per unit is the single purchase price shown on Amazon that day.

Snack:  Epic Beef Bar

Cost:  $2.41/bar

Servings per package: 1

Caloric density:  140 cal (81 cal/oz)

Package weight:   1.73 oz

Preparation:  Cold

Epic Beef Bar

I really like Epic bars, particularly the beef or bison versions.   They are compact, flavorful, and not dry at all. These are my go-to snack at work during an extended meeting around lunchtime, and during business travel.

Looking at caloric density, however, these come up a bit short at about 81 calories per ounce.  I also wanted to see how much the packaging affected that, and as you can see not much at all.  Total weight dropped from 1.73 oz to 1.62 oz.

Snack:  Vermont Smoke & Cure Original Beef and Pork Stick

Cost: $1.37/stick

Servings per package: 1

Caloric density:  80 cal (71 cal/oz)

Package weight:   1.12 oz

Preparation:  Cold

Vermont Original Beef and Port Stick.

I was turned on to these beef sticks by a coworker, and found I really enjoyed them.  My daughters love them too, so these find a way into their lunchboxes for snacks several times a week.  Simple ingredient list that your five-year-old can read.

Much like the Epic bars, these don’t pack much of a punch in the caloric density game at 71 calories per ounce.  I also looked at the packaging weight and found no discernible difference to caloric density.

Snack:  Honey Stinger Honey Waffle and Chocolate Flavored

Cost:  $1.11/waffle

Servings per package: 1

Caloric density:  150 cal (119 cal/oz) Honey; 160 cal (135 cal/oz) Chocolate

Package weight:   1.3 oz Honey; 1.2 oz Chocolate

Preparation:  Cold

Honey Stingers.

I learned about the Honey Stinger reading this article about no-cook backcountry meals on the GoHunt.com site.  You will notice that Brady Miller reviewed many of the options we are looking at in this series, and went into much greater nutritional detail.  I highly suggest checking that article out.

I purchased a sample pack for testing with my then-kindergarten age daughter.  She picked honey and chocolate as her favorites, so that is what we stuck with.  These also find places in my daughter’s lunch box on a regular basis.

Each of these offerings break the 100 cal/oz threshold, which I consider bare minimum criteria to meet my “in the pack” standard for food.  We looked at Justin’s nut butter in the Meal Bar post, so how would the addition of a nut butter affect the Honey Stingers?

Package weight:   2.5 oz Honey Stinger + Justin’s Peanut Butter

Caloric density:  360 cal (146 cal/oz) Honey

Cost:  $0.58/pack

Once again, the addition of the nut butter more than doubles the caloric value, and increases the density from 119 cal/oz to 146 cal/oz.  Each of these variations also passed the six-year-old taste test, and at less than 60 cents is an excellent purchase.

Snack Bar:  Wilderness Athlete Re-Bar

Cost: $2.91/bar

Servings per package: 1

Caloric density:  200 cal (112 cal/oz)

Package weight:    1.79 oz

Preparation:  Cold

Wilderness Athlete reintroduced these last year, and they are good.  Two flavors:  Mountain Berry and Almond Chocolate chip.  These do not have quite enough oomph to be a meal bar, but could definitely be a good snack option – especially if nut butter is added.   My rough calculations say Re-Bar plus Justin’s peanut butter would be a 2.99 oz snack with 410 calories at 137 cals/ounce.  Not too bad.

Drink Mix:  Wilderness Athlete Hydrate and Recover and Energy and Focus

Cost:  $1.40/packet

Servings per package: 1

Caloric density:  40 cal  (71 cal/oz) H&R; 45 cal  (76 cal/oz) E&F

Package weight:   0.56 oz H&R; 0.59 oz E&F

Preparation:  Cold

Wilderness Athlete Drink Mixes.

I love these WA packs, and use them during my business travels often.  I work for a large engineering firm which provides water treatment to many municipalities.   That pretty much means I drink lots of tap water, and, as you know, not all tap water tastes equal.  These packs really clean up any off flavors from your water source, especially if you are using chlorination tabs in the backcountry.

Do they work?  You can be the judge of that, but I will add this:  I used the Wilderness Athlete products exclusively during a deployment to Iraq in 2017, and I never experienced an issue with dehydration or performance degradation.  I have written extensively about that experience here.

I still use energy and focus every day in the afternoon at work, and sometimes to kick-start a morning workout.

The Superman is my go-to drink.  Mix one scoop (or pack) each of Hydrate and Recover into your water bottle and shake.  My go to flavor profile:   Strawberry Granada and Tropical Fusion.

Drink Mix:  Wilderness Athlete Superman

Cost:  $1.40/packet, so $2.80 for the Superman.

Servings per package: 1 (uses two packs, 1 each of Hydrate and Recover, one of Energy and Focus.

Caloric density:  95 cal  (82 cal/oz)

Package weight:   1.15 oz

Preparation:  Cold

Can you lower the cost-per-serving by making your own packs from the bulk powder?  Absolutely.  I like the convenience of the packs, and knowing they are not going to bust or separate in my bag.  What the WA site through the end of summer, and you are sure to find these bags on sale.

Conclusions and Observations:  Each of these snack foods tested are palatable, easy to carry, and nutritious.  So how do they all stack up:

Clearly the addition to any of the bars increasing the caloric density pretty significantly.  In each case the snack really just becomes a mechanism to transfer the nut butter from package to mouth, while giving it a bit of texture.

This test has concluded for me that I will likely be packing the Chocolate Honey Stinger and Justin Nut Butter option as at least one daily snack.  This combo will provide the best calorie per weight ratio overall.  Regarding the Wilderness Athlete drink mix products, I have used them all over the world, and enjoy them.  They will always have a spot in my pack, and this year is no different.

As always, if you have a favorite backcountry snack, tell us about it!  One of the goals here is improve our collective experiences in the backcountry, so help us build that knowledge base.

Next time, we will conduct taste testing of cooked, dehydrated main meals.  See you then.