Home made energy bars and granola bars?

colm_gti · 16-04-2012 03:11PM

stevieob wrote: »

What about Nature Valley Bars. 3 boxes (36 bars) for a fiver at the moment in Dunnes

They're awful dry and crunchy, good value though if you like them.

pprendeville · 16-04-2012 08:35PM

fat bloke wrote: »

Chr1st PP, best of luck with making them gels, that's hard core. If you find yourself synthesising your own EPO a la breaking bad, then you know you've gone too far....

I just made me tastiest batch of those bar things yet. Problem with launching a batch in the oven and then having a few beers is that you devour half the shaggers while they're still molten and fresh from the oven. I don't think the coconut is my thing. These ones had flaked almonds and some ground hazelnuts (lidl) and then the rest was miscellaneous dried fruit - an apple/apricot/prune (yeah, I'm probably gonna regret that last one) mix from aldi, some raisins, some sultanas, a pot of glace cherries (yum), and about a half a jar of crunchy peanut butter.

Best combo yet. Loadsa sugar in the cherries and salt and protein in the peanut butter, but it also holds them together.... "real nice".

have same problem.usually eat 1/2 of them after making them.:D

those bars even cheaper in Tesco there at weekend. picked up 3 boxes. love em. 12 bars (6x2) in normal oat ones but only 10 bars (5x2) in the berry ones and other flavours. Bit sneaky if you ask me.

dastardly00 · 07-08-2012 11:17AM

QueensGael wrote: »

Here's my mother's recipe - I made a few batches recently, and they turned out great, been scoffing them on my training spins the last few weekends! Sadly, Mamma is not a cyclist, and hence doesn't use the metric system, so apologies in advance for the oz and F. The last line is an actual instruction from her

Oatmeal Bars

6oz porridge oats
2oz plain flour
4oz soft brown sugar
4oz butter
2 tablesps. golden syrup
5oz cooking chocolate

Combine oats flour and sugar. Melt butter and syrup together and pour over dry ingred. Mix well and press into greased tin. Bake 350Fdeg. for 20 - 25 mts. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Melt chocolate and pour over, then cut into squares after the chocolate has hardened a little. Then eat them all up.

I made a batch of these last night. Very very tasty. I find them similar to Chocolate Hobnobs!

colm_gti · 07-08-2012 11:25AM

Having tried loads of variations of these I've found nothing with oats suits me, they're too hard to munch on and breath while moving. Nutrigrains are a bit softer and easier to manage, but fig rolls seem to be on special everywhere at the minute, so I've had a constant batch of them I use for eating on the bike, along with a handful of whatever soft jellies are on special, some energy gels and some lucozade sport in one of my bottles (though I am starting to think there is no need for the lucozade).

Planet X · 07-08-2012 02:19PM

Yeah, figrolls rock. Did the Raid Pyreneen on three packets of Lidl figrolls. Yes they sponsor me now lol.

Planet X · 07-08-2012 02:25PM

iirc. Carb. 26grs. per 100grs. No wrapper rage. Straight down the red tunnel.

lochdara · 07-08-2012 06:18PM

try this for your isotonic - lucoazde sport.
Ive used the drink "Three: Feelin' fruity" but replaced sugar with glucose which i read was better from another thread

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/health_and_fitness/4289704.stm

dvntie · 14-08-2012 12:14AM

QueensGael wrote: »

Here's my mother's recipe - I made a few batches recently, and they turned out great, been scoffing them on my training spins the last few weekends! Sadly, Mamma is not a cyclist, and hence doesn't use the metric system, so apologies in advance for the oz and F. The last line is an actual instruction from her

Oatmeal Bars

6oz porridge oats
2oz plain flour
4oz soft brown sugar
4oz butter
2 tablesps. golden syrup
5oz cooking chocolate

Combine oats flour and sugar. Melt butter and syrup together and pour over dry ingred. Mix well and press into greased tin. Bake 350Fdeg. for 20 - 25 mts. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Melt chocolate and pour over, then cut into squares after the chocolate has hardened a little. Then eat them all up.

Just made them this evening with a dollop of peanut butter in them and I gotta say yum can't wait to head out tomorrow and see how they fare now
Thanx again to your mum :-)

fat bloke · 07-01-2013 09:18PM

This has been a great thread for me I must say, I've yet to make two batches the same.

I'm beginning to question the whole point of the exercise though, which was to save some money! My latest batch, just made this evening are fcuking gorgeous, but as I was munching away I did some contemplative maths....

I put in a bag of whole pecan nuts (250g - about a fiver's worth from Superquinn)
A similar bag of whole almonds - I'd say close to 4 quid.
About 5 small bags of dried cranberries, I think they were around 2 quid each in supervalue
A tin of condensed milk - costs about 3.50
Close to a half a squeezy bottle of maple syrup - no idea how much, lets say a euro.
Some porridge oats - no idea how much, I just horsed some in to cement the mix, maybe 2 to 3 cups. - cost negligible.
I also mixed in maybe 80g of melted butter.

Out of that I cut maybe 30 bars, small ones. Maybe the size of two standard matchboxes, or... 1 garmin 500

So, yes they're fricking delicious, but the little shaggers are working out at nearly a bloody euro each!!! :rolleyes:

I'd better see some training benefits over my commercial-consumer processed-powerbar-chewing colleagues :pac:

Ryath · 07-01-2013 10:42PM

If the point is cost savings you could certainly make them a lot cheaper you have a lot of fruit and are using expensive nuts so can you really compare them with nature valley bars that cost €3 for 6 bars that weigh 252g that are mostly sugar and oats. Your batch must weigh nearly 2kg so it would cost about €25 to buy that many nature valley bars. I'm sure your flapjacks taste a lot better.

Istarted using this recipe as my guide I double the quantities and leave out the chocolate sauce.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/driedcherryandcranbe_88993

Butter 300g
Light brown sugar 160g
Honey 160mls
Porridge Oats 500g
Cranberries/ Cherries rasins etc
100g Nuts Hazel/Walnut/Pecan whatever you fancy

I tend to use what ever dried fruit and nuts I have mostly cranberries and walnuts but I usually use some raisins to make up the weight. For some reason I've never added the coconut must try it next time.
If you wanted to make them as cheaply as possible rasins and almonds are probably the way to go. I find Aldi very good for buying dried fruit and nuts though a 300g bag of mixed fruit is around €2 so they stil are very cheap to make. By my reckoning this makes 1540g of flapjacks at the cost of around €7.50
Heat oven 180C
Melt the butter, honey and sugar in a large saucepan
Add everything else stir till well mixed
I line the baking tray with baking parchment
Pour the mixture into the tray spread out and flatten down well
Bake for 20-25mins and allow to cool then cut out into squares.

My problem is no matter how close to weekend I make them by the time my Sunday spin comes around my wife and two kids have savaged them.
I must try your suggestion of peanut butter in them though might keep them safe from half the family if I put enough in me and my 3 year old love it though so probably would eat even more of them(she literally would eat a jar of it with a spoon if she got the chance.)

pprendeville · 07-01-2013 10:50PM

The problem with these homemade energy bars I find is that once they're made I have cut them out of the glass container they're made in and I say to myself, I'll just eat the bits that are stuck onto it. Then once they're all out and on a plate I say to myself I'll just have one with a glass of Adare full cream fat milk (nicest milk in the world). Then I go an have another one for good measure and offer one to rest of family to stop myself feeling guilty. Then about an hour later, I pretend I haven't eaten much all day and have another one or two. Before I know it he whole plate is half empty. But they taste great.

dastardly00 · 08-01-2013 12:32AM

@ fat bloke

You can definitely cut down on costs by buying almonds/pecan nuts in Aldi or Lidl along with some of the other ingredients. I buy these flaked almonds in Aldi (€1.99 for a 200g pack), for the version of cereal bars that I make.

fat bloke · 08-01-2013 12:37AM

dastardly00 wrote: »

@ fat bloke

You can definitely cut down on costs by buying almonds/pecan nuts in Aldi or Lidl along with some of the other ingredients. I buy these flaked almonds in Aldi (€1.99 for a 200g pack), for the version of cereal bars that I make.

I'm going the other way. Pine nuts, truffle shavings and foie gras essence.

Seve OB · 09-01-2013 10:44AM

pprendeville wrote: »

Then once they're all out and on a plate I say to myself I'll just have one with a glass of Adare full cream fat milk (nicest milk in the world).

As a self professed connoseur of Milk, I have to agree with you here. Ever since Premier done away with their glass bottles with the cream floting to the top, Milk just hasn't been the same, or should I say my Cornflakes haven't been the same!

I have tried Moonshine Milk which was good, but the cream definatley did not float to the top on all the ones I got. Maybe it was because it was only in them horrible plastic 2 litre jugs. I was in Dunnes Cornelscourt and spotted the glass bottle of Adare Milk and knew I had to have it. Unfortunately that was a rare trip out that way and I can't ever seem to get it in my local Dunnes in Blanch or Ongar

Home made energy bars and granola bars?

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