Ultimate Snack

JefeBo55

Member
What's everyones go to snack when taking something underground?

Sweet or savoury, or do you not even bother!?!

 

Ian Ball

Well-known member
Big question, whatever is in the Clapham shop on the way up, usually a flapjack if I'm spoilt for choice.
 

AR

Well-known member
Flapjack, for preference my home-baked stuff made with a dash of black treacle and sultanas.
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
Mars bars/Yorkie bars are my go to. Yorkie bars hold their own a little better against your body heat whereas mars bars melt more.

I usually buy the packs of 3 or 4 and shove all of them in my oversuit, not bothering to unwrap them from the multipack, as it adds an extra layer of protection from heat/water/mud.

If your taking a bag/Daren drum you could probably take different snacks down.

Without getting too geeky, in the last year I read up on carbs etc so I could go on longer cycle rides. British cycling recommends 0.5-1g of carbs per kg of body weight per hour. I ignore this and if I?m going for a long ride aim for 30-60g of carbs per hour.
Typically a mars bar will give you at a guess 27g of carbs. So pretty good!

British cyclings reasoning for this advise is something to do with using up glycogen in muscles in the first two hours of intense exercise. Whether you deem caving to be intense or not depends on your fitness, what type of cave it is and how much you drank the night before ;)

I?ve not necessarily needed to know any of this since I started caving, but I guess it?s helped to know it, given that I now can?t rely on a trusty fry up before every single caving trip. Now eating porridge like every other day, then not eating till the evening cannot be good for your performance.

On trips with Stuart France and John Stevens in South Wales (on separate trips) I was amazed that they pulled out sandwiches. And in some respects now I know more I can see why! Probably about 40g of carbs in a sandwich at a guess, so a good addition into the arsenal of caving gear to have a decent trip.

There is probably something to be said too for the use of well timed sugary drinks/lucozade if this is better for you to carry, it will both hydrate and give you the energy in an hour that you?ve decided you need it.
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
I did also once take a soreen loaf caving, which I know some people swear by, but then I also carried a few diving bottles for a friend and a book to read.

The book was trashed in colostomy, (after only reading one or two pages!) as I think the dry bag it was in leaked a little.

I trashed the bag I was carrying the diving cylinders in, and I also demolished the soreen loaf cos it was tasty!
 

JefeBo55

Member
alastairgott said:
Mars bars/Yorkie bars are my go to. Yorkie bars hold their own a little better against your body heat whereas mars bars melt more.

I usually buy the packs of 3 or 4 and shove all of them in my oversuit, not bothering to unwrap them from the multipack, as it adds an extra layer of protection from heat/water/mud.

If your taking a bag/Daren drum you could probably take different snacks down.

Without getting too geeky, in the last year I read up on carbs etc so I could go on longer cycle rides. British cycling recommends 0.5-1g of carbs per kg of body weight per hour. I ignore this and if I?m going for a long ride aim for 30-60g of carbs per hour.
Typically a mars bar will give you at a guess 27g of carbs. So pretty good!

British cyclings reasoning for this advise is something to do with using up glycogen in muscles in the first two hours of intense exercise. Whether you deem caving to be intense or not depends on your fitness, what type of cave it is and how much you drank the night before ;)

I?ve not necessarily needed to know any of this since I started caving, but I guess it?s helped to know it, given that I now can?t rely on a trusty fry up before every single caving trip. Now eating porridge like every other day, then not eating till the evening cannot be good for your performance.

On trips with Stuart France and John Stevens in South Wales (on separate trips) I was amazed that they pulled out sandwiches. And in some respects now I know more I can see why! Probably about 40g of carbs in a sandwich at a guess, so a good addition into the arsenal of caving gear to have a decent trip.

There is probably something to be said too for the use of well timed sugary drinks/lucozade if this is better for you to carry, it will both hydrate and give you the energy in an hour that you?ve decided you need it.

Quite interesting tbh, if you take a big day out underground most people don't even think too take food or water then wonder why they are so trashed when they exit!

I'm 100% on board with screen. So hard not to just stuff the lot in in a oner though  :LOL:
 

Minion

Member
Morrison?s vegan Cornish pasties are the ones for me! Proper good stodge, lots of carbs and fat. You can fit two comfortably into one of the Inglesport waterproof box things, I forget which size box and the website is down so can?t check.
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
Cadbury's brunch bars, and some big bags of skittles I got cheap... :p not the healthiest of cave snacks!

Soreen is held in high regard by EUSS (Exeter Uni). One of their members once clutch and plummeted on a pitch, landing on tackle sack on their back, but remaining miraculously unharmed. Inside the tackle sack a loaf of Soreen however was crushed flat. The Soreen had sacrificed itself to protect its caver...
 

Gerbil007

Member
A Pork Pie or two does the trick for me and they tend to be pretty resilient to rough treatment. Flapjack gets an honorable mention.

I did once take some leftovers from a roast dinner on an Upper Flood Swallet digging trip. The plastic container ended up cracked, leaving me with barely recognisable slices of pork, swimming in a blend of greyish brown mush, consisting of mashed potato, parsnip, gravel and stream water. Still ate it.
 

Oscar D

Active member
Always thought those squeezy cycling energy sachets would be the best as long as you focus on the robust and compact form factor and not taste or texture.

Would be interested to hear about how people take drinks as it's a pain lugging a big plastic water bottle about in the top of the bag. Perhaps one of those water filtration staws so you could just drink out of sumps and pools?

Overall I think de hydration can be more of an issue considering lots of people don't think about drinking underground, especially in wet places.
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
By pure coincidence the following article popped up on the UKHillwalking site this morning. I've not read it but mention it here in case it helps.

I hope a proper nutritionist gets involved in this discussion because certain of the suggestions above aren't ideal for a (smooth) energy delivery point of view.

Maybe this topic will lead on to a separate one on what's the perfect caving breakfast, which would be interesting. (Or maybe that's been done before?)

Anyway, here's the UKH link: https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/skills/series/health/the_best_hill_snacks_-_top_trumps-13708?&utm_campaign=ukh_2021_25&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ukh_newsletter
 

tomferry

Well-known member
Interesting article I am very limited in the caving world but the trips I have done i attached my 2l dry sack to my belt , I had to find the perfect bottle to fit inside it which for me was a 330ml oasis bottle with lukarzade  then In the same bag I have a so called ? impossible? to break box which is small in that I have a extremely small first aid collection of items and a Mars bar and pepperoni sticks  .


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Fulk

Well-known member
Cold pizza? No way; then again, somebody in the article recommended cold fried-egg sandwich.
 

paul

Moderator
Mars bars for me.

I once caved with a fellow club member who pulled out a cold slice of pizza from the night before, wrapped in aluminium foil, from her helmet. I would have been willing to swap, but she wouldn't. I always thought cold pizza would taste disgusting, but having tried it, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.
 
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