Caving Snacks

[Rachel]

Cheese strings work pretty well

 

[FionaH]

Mini cheeses, cathedral city cheddar usually but sometimes the shops sell variety packs.

 

[AlanClark]

Individual soreens, squashed flat in the pocket of my oversuit, still taste the same, various cereal bars and Cadbury's Double Deckers in the drum. I've tried energy gels but they just end up the same way to do when running or cycling, a horrible sticky mess.
One thing I will do is take a water bottle (collapsible if available) with some Tailwind in it, that gets a couple of hundred more calories in as well as salts. Only dropped one once at the bottom of the entrance pitch of Meregill, didn't even notice I'd lost it until the next member up got to the top and said who does this belong to??

 

[LadyMud]

I need two different snacks - a tasty one for that day, plus an emergency one that I don't really like. Otherwise I'd eat it as well.

 

[caving_fox]

I used to always carry a sealable tin, into which otherwise crushable carbohydrates could safely be transported through ost wet/muddy caves. A pack of sausage rolls was the normal fare. I cave lighter now and no longer need it (and have more fat reserves of my own). I've not found a regular source of chewey and nice flapjack to carry otherwise that would probably be my choice, so I usually have a dark chocolate bounty, and/or a 'protein bar' style thing. Drink is actually the biggest problem, as I tend to need that more than direct food. The re-sealable Caprisun pouches (not the straw version!) work quite well and used to fit in a helmet cradle for ease of transport.

 

[pwhole]

Where the hell do you find dark chocolate Bountys now? I thought they'd been banned or something

 

[alanw]

... an emergency one that I don't really like. Otherwise I'd eat it as well.

Someone's already mentioned Kendal Mintcake.

 

[aricooperdavis]

Drink is actually the biggest problem, as I tend to need that more than direct food.

I absolutely agree, and still haven't found a better option than a cheap PET bottle, but if you've got any better suggestions for carrying water I'm all ears! I find nalgenes to be too rigid to be really practical.

 

[LadyMud]

Flexible bottles such as this Decathlon soft flask are good for drinks (and 150ml is not too bulky).
Other brands are available . . .

 

[Babyhagrid]

I find the softer plastic cycling bottles are good. And very resistant to squashing.

 

[Pitlamp]

Where the hell do you find dark chocolate Bountys now? I thought they'd been banned or something

You could get one from the Ingleborough Cave shop, en route to GG?

 

[Speleofish]

I grew to hate kendal mint cake on an expedition where we were given tons of the stuff. Consequently, it makes a great emergency ration as I'll only eat it in an emergency. Pork pies (gluten-free) are my favourite staple. You have to wrap them up properly (with a little mustard) but they're really good for morale..

 

[kay]

kendal mint cake ;-)

Really?? When I tried that, I realised that the canal I was crawling in had a rather pleasant minty smell....

First requirement of any snack is that it should have a waterproof covering,

I used to carry around a Crunchie bar, I very rarely ate it, but it's there if I need it. When I finally biti into a veteran of several trips above and below ground, I found the entire honeycomb centre had reconfigured itself as a wafer thin lining to the still intact and now apparently empty chocolate shell.

 

[paul]

I grew to hate kendal mint cake on an expedition where we were given tons of the stuff. Consequently, it makes a great emergency ration as I'll only eat it in an emergency. Pork pies (gluten-free) are my favourite staple. You have to wrap them up properly (with a little mustard) but they're really good for morale..

I wasn't ale to stomach Kendal Mint Cake either for many years after living off it for a couple of days while attempting to walk the Pennine Way with a school friend many years ago.

 

[Ian Ball]

I grew to hate kendal mint cake on an expedition where we were given tons of the stuff. Consequently, it makes a great emergency ration as I'll only eat it in an emergency. Pork pies (gluten-free) are my favourite staple. You have to wrap them up properly (with a little mustard) but they're really good for morale..

The vegetarians such as I would not agree.

 

[Ian Ball]

Really?? When I tried that, I realised that the canal I was crawling in had a rather pleasant minty smell....

First requirement of any snack is that it should have a waterproof covering,

What do you advise?

 

[cap n chris]

A plate of salad with perhaps an omelette. Fruit is also good. Something fancy like a pavlova is a winner.

 

[Pitlamp]

Kendal Mint Cake is not good. It's almost pure sugar. This leads to blood sugar spikes followed by insulin lows. Far better to use energy food with more smoothed out release (i.e. containing bigger molecule carbohydrates). Hence my preference for stuff like flapjacks.

Your dentist would probably not advocate eating Kendal Mint Cake (unless you take your toothbrush with you and use it after every nibble).

Nutritional science has moved on a fair bit from when Kendal Mint Cake became famous for getting our chaps up remote mountains.

 

[Ian Ball]

What's your threshold for too much sugar PL? I suppose if you made them yourself it would be a little different but I would imagine most store bought flapjacks would be generously sugared.

I like the KMC, chocolate coated too, available at the Clapham Village Store

 

[2xw]

Put tortillas, choc chip cookies and M&Ms in a ziplock bag and crush them all together, then eat out of the bag like a horse!