Anybody have a top-5 or top-10 list of the highest-calorie, lowest volume, lowest weight foods? On a short trip where you really don't need to worry about nutritional balance, fiber, vitamins, etc., but just want to get enough calories to fuel your body for exercise and warmth at night, what are the top 5 or 10 best? I'm hoping somebody has a very scientific spreadsheet that you can sort by calories per gram and calories by volume, since weight and pack volume are important. So for instance, no way would I bring dried green peas. Super light, but minimal calories, and rather volume intensive. M&M peanut seem to score well, as do sunflower seeds. NIDO powder. Olive oil. OK, people, let's make a list.

One of our high-caloric go to foods are Maple Sugared Walnuts.... yum.

Here you go:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1050733&postcount=52

Nutty Bars.

Crushed Pringles.
170 calories/ounce and they take up no space.

As for coated nuts, they're easy...recipes like this work with about any type of nut and you can substitute in other ingredients to taste (vanilla, etc.)
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/cinnamon-roasted-almonds/Detail.aspx

While a tiny bit lower in calories, Kettle brand tater chips come in at 150 calories per ounce, crush well and taste fab-u-lous added to everything (OK, maybe not to breakfast....). The cheddar flavor is soooo good! And no fillers - it is just fried taters with seasoning. Even come in organic ;-)

Maple sugar walnuts...yummy.

Candied nuts in general are a good one...plain walnuts are about 186 calories per ounce..add in the maple sugar and you are well above that. I prefer almonds and at 160ish calories per ounce plain they are still a good option and perhaps pack a bit easier/smaller than the walnuts. Also relatively healthy.

Also a big fan of some of the dried/cured meats. No refridgeration needed and still solid in terms of calories. It can be eaten by itself or cubed and added into noddles or whatever you are eating for dinner. My favorite is Landjaeger.

This webpage has a nice list of some "calorie-dense food items".

Calorie dense items are nice, but I need to avoid those with so much saturated fat. Unsaturated is OK, which starts me with olive oil and some healthy nuts.

--B.G.--