Looking for suggestions for food that can be bought at a grocery store for fueling bike rides for my youth athletes. I am finding parents often don’t allow their kids to have sugary junk food, so trying to give a list of items that work as “ride only” fuel, a well as explain to them what the kids need for the load and level of intensity they are riding.
Pop-tarts seem to be a good one, welches fruit snacks, stroopwafels, z bars have always been a favorite for me, any other ideas? oatmeal cream pies are a go to, but might be getting too close to sounding like junk food to parents. I’ve also been liking fig bars.
Real food, Bananas are obviously a go too, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and making energy ball type things (if they are up for it).
I eat like a kid probably 20% of the time and peanut butter & honey toast alongside smoothies make up a surprising percent of my diet sometimes.
I think the key here is focusing on really good ingredients. Almost anything can be leveled up and made to be healthy if you’re using natural/healthy ingredients.
I’m all for fruit of any kind (you’re getting lots of carbs in (fructose mostly) but also plenty of micronutrients and fiber if you get in a good amount of diversity.
Natural granola bars are always going to win out over "junkier’ foods like cream pies. They are a great way to get a lot of calories in and can be healthy and desirable if you get the right ones! Zbars are a good example. It’s possible to buy them by the case sometimes which can help to bring the cost down too.
PB&Js are a good option if you’re able to assemble things, and some natural fruit juice works well to wash them down. Just mix in a little water to keep the sugar at a reasonable level.
Something tells me that @Caro.Gomez-Villafane will have some good ideas for this one.
I like the taste of the Nature Valley fig bars but they have quite a bit more fat than your classic Fig Newtons, which is almost entirely carbs. So I’ve switched. If your kids want something that isn’t sweet, rice crackers offer some good palate relief.
Eggo Liege Style frozen waffles….individually wrapped and will thaw in your jersey pocket. Similar are Snack ‘em frozen waffles, but those may be harder to find.
Nature’s Bakery Fig bars are available in many flavors (blueberry, raspberry, etc) and let’s not forget the original on-the-bike energy bar, good ol’ Fig Newtons. I prefer Strawberry Newtons though.
Bobo’s Oat Bites are available at Costco (oat cake w/ fruit filling) as are Bobo PB&J snacks (grape and strawberry jelly options). Good value there. Costco also has a variety pack of the Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars.
I prefer to eat non-processed food whenever possible so I would suggest things that have already been mentioned while training:
Figs- not the fig bars but the real fruit. Some kids may not like them so the best next thing is fig bars which are a great source of energy!
Bananas- super good on the bike as it tends to be easy on the stomach.
Oranges- good pick-me-up kind of food.
Coconut sticks- these are a great source of natural fat and that also tend to be nice to the stomach.
Dulce de Batata- I have recently added this one to my training diet and it’s been . It’s like creamed sweet potato that you could find at a latin shop or amazon.
PBJ- I like these on longer-type rides where you will need to fuel to work further. It’s a nice power food to have, but it can get messy haha.
I do want to point out that it’s super important that the kids show up at practice having eaten a nice pre-training meal and hydrated. If they are practicing in the morning, eggs, toast, and avocado can be a nice breakfast. If they are training in the afternoon they should be spacing lunch from the workout so whatever it is they are eating at home that day gets nicely digested before practice.
P.S.: my go-to junk food items on long rides are Snickers bars and a Mexican Coca-Cola on the last stretch home if it is a super hot day.
They’re not a mainstream brand that I’ve seen outside of Costco, rather, they’re probably made for Costco. They AREN’T in the snack section up front, mine has them in the same area as the bread among all the other specialty bread and pastry products.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a package of them at home, else I’d take a picture of the label.
In addition to the suggestions already made, the Costco brand apple sauce packets are popular with my kids. For kids who are interested in cooking, second the Feed Zone Portables, and we’ve had fun trying different variations of fruits and nuts for these:
It’s a tough topic. From a pure performance standpoint, they need simple carbs on the bike. But depending on the the group/age of kids, racing and training probably shouldn’t be too focused on performance. And parents are going to be rightfully concerned about kids taking their on-bike eating habits and start eating too much sugar off the bike. I think it really depends on the kid and situation. I’d try to make a very clear line between fueling on the bike and eating properly off the bike, but again it depends on the kids and what level they are operating at. Some kids these days know more about performance-based cycling training and nutrition than most adults (interweb and all).
Thanks all, all good tips I will compile. We are in Vermont, so I was going to purchase them all a hammer flask for them to fill with their own maple. For the longer rides, or more serios athletes, I will suggest they add some sodium to the maple.
We don’t have a Costco in a reasonable distance, which is kind of a bummer.
I’ve seen recipes for Liege Waffles online, just need to wrap them individually. It shouldn’t be hard to find one with maple syrup or maple sugar as the sweetener.
. It’s like creamed sweet potato that you could find at a latin shop or 
and a Mexican Coca-Cola on the last stretch home if it is a super hot day.
