I've been making a food plan for an upcoming trek, and I've hit a few road bumps.

Though I enjoy the taste and everything else about the probars, I just can't afford too many of these.

I cant get cliff bars for 80 cents each, but I would not want to survive just on those, as they are way too sweet and digest far too fast.

I have no tried the Bear Valley Pemmican bars yet. I plan on maybe having 1-3 per day; if I like them.

This leaves me with making my own food. I plan on making hummus and dehydrating it. Sounds simple, even though I've never used a dehydrator.

I think that with hummus/crackers or wraps, cliff bars, pemmican bars and maybe a probar or half of one, I can make about 3/4 of my daily needs.

This got me thinking: I should try making my own trail bars, or some kind of healthy, balanced, high calorie trail food.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I know there are lots of threads on trail bar recipes, etc but I just want to know if I've pointed myself in the right direction before I go purchase a dehydrator and ingredients.

THANKS,
Blair

I wouldn't think you'd need a dehydrator to make your own trail bars. To make dehydrated meals, of course. But not trail bars.

Not hard at all to make bars - but do realize that quality homemade bars do contain pricey ingredients ;-) A number of us have posted winner recipes in this forum over the years, so searching will pull them up :-)
You don't dehydrate them though! Baked, yes and also raw ones.

Sarah,
I found a few in the past threads, and they all sound delicious.
I've read that these homemade bars need freezing (obviously). Is there a way to make them last longer outside of the freezer? Would vaccuum sealing work?

I'm planning a PCT thru-hike and would like to use homemade bars, but they would have to be unfrozen for at least a few weeks.

THANKS,
Blair

Mike Should upload his trail goo thing here^^^


better yet ill link it up!

Goo: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/reviews/display_reviews.html?forum_thread_id=5058

Packing in food vac bags will help but...yeah, unfortunately that is where commercial bars do shine. Commercial bars last for a year or more often, homemade bars not so well past a week. This is partially why commercial bars all have a similar texture (where they don't taste raw or baked but somewhere in the middle). It is a blend of certain ingredients that naturally preserves them.

Other options would include peanut or other nut butters that are mixed with dried milk, honey and other ingredients to a stiff paste (that is slice able). This will last for months!

As well, nut/fruit balls last a long time, especially if booze is added. They are easy to make, simply pulverizing dried fruit and nuts, often with honey and spices. Honey is a natural preservative. Roll in more nuts or coconut to control stickiness. These store well in a plastic box.