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    Food Living Outside Play Technology Workshop

    Backpacking Food Bars 3.3by Grand Wanderer on September 6, 2012

    Table of Contents

    Backpacking Food Bars 3.3 ......................................................................................................

    Intro: Backpacking Food Bars 3.3 ..............................................................................................

    Step 1: Tools and Ingredients .................................................................................................

    Step 2: Prep and Mix Ingredients ...............................................................................................

    Step 3: Baking ............................................................................................................

    Step 4: Packaging ..........................................................................................................

    Step 5: Flavor Variants ......................................................................................................

    Step 6: Breakfast Variant: ....................................................................................................

    Step 7: Meeting My Goals ....................................................................................................

    Step 8: Caveats ...........................................................................................................

    Step 9: Gillianas Recipe: ....................................................................................................

    Related Instructables ........................................................................................................ 1

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    Author:Grand Wanderer Grand Wanderer

    After spending 2 years traveling my wife and I have lived in 8 different cities across the United States. Among other things we've had the privileged of visitinnearly half of the national parks in the US. Now we're settling down, getting a house, and starting to have kids. And I've finally found an enjoyable job as theweb marketing director of a small light product design company (see jenesisproducts.com).

    Intro: Backpacking Food Bars 3.3My wife and I have had the privilege of living in Seattle for the past 3 months, and with almost 200 miles of weekend backpacking trips under our belts Ive had plenty time to work on improving my backpacking food bars. I think the current results are much better than the original and 2.0 versions.

    As with the previous versions of the bars, my goals are:

    1. High in calories, carbohydrates, and protein2. Shelf stable for at least a week under high temperature and humidity3. Sufficiently palatable to be eaten multiple times a day for many days in a row4. Easily and cheaply made from readily available ingredients5. The Holy Grail: something that even my ever-skeptical wife would be willing to eat.

    My apologies up front for the poor lighting in some of the pictures. The lighting in my kitchen is pretty bad, which is made all the more embarrassing by the fact that I nwork for a lighting company .

    http://jenesisproducts.com/about/http://www.instructables.com/id/Backpacking-Food-Bars-20/http://www.instructables.com/id/Backpacking-Food-Bars/http://www.grandwanderer.com/http://member/Grand+Wanderer/http://member/Grand+Wanderer/
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    Step 1:Tools and IngredientsTools: Mixing bowl Measuring cup Measuring spoons (if creating one of the flavor variants) Rubber spatula Food processor (or knife and cutting board) Jellyroll pan Aluminum foil Oven (preheated to 250F) Plastic wrap

    Ingredients: Sweetened condensed milk (2 cups)

    Nut butter of your choice (2 cups) Whey protein concentrate (1 cup) Glutinous rice flour (1 cup) Nuts (1 cup, chopped) Dried fruit (1 cup, chopped)

    Step 2:Prep and Mix IngredientsAs with the 2.0 recipe, use a food processor or a knife and cutting board to reduce dried fruit and nuts to desired size. Combine all ingredients in the mixing bowl and mthoroughly. The dough should have a crumbly/sticky clay-like consistency, but will vary depending on the consistency of the nut butter you chose to use.

    Now its time for a new step that helps the bars consistency significantly: knead the dough with your hands for 3-5 minutes. The dough should stiffen quite a bit and wseem to shrink. It will also leak oil from the nut butter, so try and do the kneading on a plate to make cleanup easier. And if youre really serious about getting all of thocalories, collect that oil and drizzle it on the bars just before putting them in the oven.

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    Step 3:BakingIf you havent done so already, preheat your oven to 250F. While the oven is preheating, line your jellyroll pan with foil (my deepest gratitude to everyone who suggesthis in the 2.0 recipes comments). Using your hands, press the dough into the pan up to the lip of the pan, and squaring off the end of the dough if it doesnt quite fill thpan.

    Alternatively, if you happen to have a musubi press handy (which I do), or if you can improvise something else, you can press half-cup measurements of dough intoperfectly formed bars. I found that this method produces a bar that is much less crumbly than what you get with the hand-pressed method.

    Put the bars in the oven for 30-60 minutes depending on how stiff the nut butter was that you used, and how stiff you want the end product to be.

    Technically you dont have to bake the dough at all, its completely shelf stable as-is, but baking reduces weight slightly and, in my opinion, improves the flavorsignificantly. Using normal peanut butter and the hand-pressed method I found that 30 minutes gave a pleasantly soft bar but after 60 minutes i ts a bit too crumbly.However, baking a mechanically pressed bar for 60 minutes produced the most palatable and transportable results.

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    Step 4:PackagingRemove the bars from the oven and if using the hand-packed method cut the bars into the desired serving sizes while they are still warm. Once the bars are cut, allowthem to cool completely before proceeding.

    Once the bars have cooled, wrap each one in plastic wrap, put the wrapped bars in a gallon ziplock bag, put the ziplock bag in your favorite backpack, and hit the trail

    Step 5:Flavor VariantsEating the same thing day after day gets monotonous. Thankfully this recipe is incredibly customizable. For this instructable I actually divided the batch of dough into fparts and made each a different flavor. I scaled the seasoning amounts up for a full recipe and Ill share those recipes with you here:

    PlainFollow the directions using your favorite nut butter and dried fruit ( I used peanut butter and dried cranberries). The end result has a pleasant, mild, sweet, nutty flavor tearned a not bad from my wife.

    Apple PieUse dried apples as your fruit and mix in the following:cinnamon: 2tspallspice: .25tspcloves: .25tspnutmeg: dashginger: dashThis version was described by friends who joined us on one of our trips as tasting like a desert at a high-end restaurant.

    BrownieUse Nutella as the nut butter, and replace the fruit with chocolate chips

    SavoryIt was asked in the discussion on the 2.0 recipe if a savory version could be made. I gave it my best but the results are pretty mediocre. Heres what I tried:wasabi: 2tspgarlic powder: 4tsponion flakes: .5cdried chives: .5csweet soy sauce: 8tspcayenne pepper: 2tspsalt: 1tspYou could help yourself out a lot by using unsweetened nut butter, but the real problem is the difficulty of combating 2 CUPS of SWEETENED condensed milk. I think best thing to do is work with the sweetness and go for a sweet and sour, pad Thai, or barbeque flavor. Just remember to ALWAYS use shelf-stable ingredients.

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    Step 6:Breakfast Variant:It occurred to me that even if these bars get stale, as long as they dont mold theyre sti ll good. So how do you eat a stale food bar? Turn it into a hot breakfast cereal.

    Take 2 half-cup bars, crumble them into a bowl or pan, pour about a quarter of a cup of boiling water over the bars, and mix thoroughly. You may have to heat theresulting porridge a bit if you like a really warm breakfast.

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    Step 7:Meeting My GoalsFood Value:I ate these food bars as part of two meals and two snacks every day while hiking 14 mile days with a 30lb pack and didnt lose a pound of body mass. They are alsoplenty filling and energizing. Here are the actual numbers for a single half cup bar using peanut butter, dried apples, and walnuts:calories 435.0carbs 42.5gprotein 15.5gfat 23.8gSa 0.21gP 0.33gA 2.0%C 0.5%Ca 14.3%Fe 6.0%

    E 10.0%niacin 20.0%riboflavin 10.0%

    Shelf Life:The current recipe, baked or unbaked, in completely shelf stable. I left bars on my counter, with and without plastic wrap, for two weeks with no sign of mold or significdrying. Im confident these bars will last in your pack for as long as you could realistically want to carry them. As you customize your own bars just remember that wateor any ingredients that contain water, are the kiss of death for shelf life.

    Palatability:These are the best tasting version of the bars yet and could easily pass as some kind of desert. The biggest improvement was replacing the Wal-Mart protein powder whey protein concentrate. Tragically it reduced the overall protein content, but it also got rid of the nasty art ificial sweetener taste, which I consider a net gain. When wwent hiking with our friends they kept trying to nab my extra bars so they must have thought it was pretty good too. Still, having only one flavor gets monotonous.Towards the end of my trips I found myself avoiding the bars if something else was available. I recommend splitting up the dough and making several flavors to take oyour trip. And if someone comes up with a viable savory variant, preferably one that tastes like kielbasa, I want to hear about it.

    Sourcing and Cost:If youre using peanut butter, dried apples, and walnuts, the overall cost is $0.66 per half cup bar. Obviously this is substantially cheaper than any other backpackingfood bar youll find readymade at the grocery or camping store.

    The only ingredient that might be a challenge to acquire is the glutinous rice flour. Check your local Asian grocery. If theres even a modest Asian population in your aryou should be able to find it.

    The Wife Test:As mentioned previously, my wife gave these a not bad, which I probably the best reaction Im likely to pry out of her.

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    Step 8:CaveatsOther Stuff

    Allergens:Let me say up front that glutinous rice flour DOES NOT CONTAIN GLUTEN. Here glutinous is being used as an adjective, not an ingredient. Trust me, I have a friendwith severe celiac disease and I managed to feed him at my house for ten days without killing him.

    Beyond that, the obvious allergens are nuts and milk. If youre only allergic to some nuts you should be able to find a nut butter that will work for you, but if youreallergic to all nuts, or to milk, Im afraid youll have to look for a different food bar.

    Complete Nutrition:While this recipe is high in its target nutrients (calories, carbs, and protein) it is lacking in other areas that would be critical on an extended backpacking trip. In thecomments on the 2.0 recipe there was a robust discussion of potential ingredients to make these almost a complete meal, but I chose to pare down the ingredients tofocus on this primarily as an energy bar. Subsequently, these bars are low in dietary fiber and most trace nutrients. Keep this in mind while planning your meals.

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    Step 9:Gillianas Recipe:In the comments on the 2.0 recipe many people chimed in about their own adjustments to the recipe. User gilliana even went so far as to offer a complete recipe with

    instructions. I havent tried it myself yet, but I thought her effort and thoroughness deserved some recognition.

    gilliana says:I thought this was a lovely idea, so I thought I'd try, too. I am gluten-intolerant, so here's my gluten-free version. It lasted on in a Tupperware container on the counter f3 weeks just fine and probably would have lasted longer, except people (including me) kept sneaking just a lit tle bit. I used banana for the fruit base, pecans, cashewsand sunflower seeds for the nuts, and raisins, dried blueberries, and dried cherries for the fruit.

    GLUTEN-FREE HIKING BARSThis recipe doesnt use eggs, so it is allowed to lick the bowl. The combination of grain and chickpea gives a complete protein.

    cup amaranth flour cup chickpea flour 1 tsp cinnamon tsp guar gum tsp calcium carbonate (=600 mg calcium) - optional tsp sea salt cup sunflower seeds or chopped pecans, cashews, and/or other nuts/seeds cup dried fruit of choice, chopped if needed to the size of raisins or a bit smaller

    1 mashed banana or cup apple sauce cup honey 1 tsp vanilla cup chia seeds or flaxseeds cup peanut butter

    c Preheat oven to 325oF. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 9 inch baking pan.c In a large bowl, whisk together the amaranth flour, chickpea flour, cinnamon, guar gum, calcium, and salt. If at all lumpy, run the flour through a sieve.c Chop any nuts, seeds, or dried fruit that needs chopping. Add to the flour mix and stir well.c Mash the banana in a medium-sized, falt-bottomed bowl. Add the honey and vanilla and stir well. Add the chia seeds and beat with an electric beater.c If the peanut butter is cold, put it in a small glass or ceramic bowl and heat it for about 30 seconds in the microwave until it is soft. Add to the banana mix and cream beat together.c Add the peanut butter mix to the flour-fruit-and-nut mix and stir until combined.c Spoon the dough evenly into the baking pan. Use the bowl of a spoon to swirl and pat in delicate circles until the dough is spread out evenly and about 1 thick. Aspatula helps to get all the dough out of the bowl and off the spoon.c Bake for about 45 minutes, until the surface of the bars is lightly browned, the bars have separated slightly from the sides of the pan, and a probe inserted into themiddle comes out dry. Put the probe in at an angle so you dont scratch your baking pan.

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    c Let cool completely before turning the baked dough out onto a cutting board and cutting into 16 bars.

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