Suddenly I am obsessed with energy/weight ratios!

I've been standing at the kitchen table sorting and selecting from the piles of food that live (usually not literally!) in my walking food bag. Dried meals, nuts, gels, Kendal Mint Cake, flapjacks, 9 Bars, instant porridge, Mars Bars ... Things aren't so bad for a normal day's walking or a normal overnight bivi.  Just stuff in some food and it'll be great.  But suddenly I am packing for an OMM and there are two immediate things that strike me:

• I will expend a lot of energy
• I have to run with it on my back

So the scientist in me immediately thinks of finding things with the maximum amount of energy and the lowest weight. That's expressed as kcal/100g on nearly all packaged foods. Here's what I found, in order of goodness.

• Mug Shots - 101 (kcal/100g)
• SiS Gel - 144
• Fuizion Flapjack Fruit Bar - 330
• Clif Bar - 373
• Mountain Fuel Night Fuel - 385
• Instant Porridge (with sugar) - 401
• Running Food Chia Charge flapjack - 472
• Mars Bar - 449
• Snickers - 511
• 9 Bar - 518
• Fuizion Chicken and Bacon Pasta - 519
• Cadbury Dairy Milk - 532
• Expedition Foods Chilli con Carne - 542
• Roasted Jumbo Cashews - 593
• Instant Porridge - 601
• Roasted Mixed Nuts - 616 

So the highest energy density I have is roasted nuts and porridge, followed by dried meals and chocolate, then Mars Bars and Chia flapjacks. Gels, though they are good for a quick energy boost, are real losers in the energy/weight race, and the Mugs Shots are there to warm us up at the end of a long day rather than fill us with energy.

1.5 days of food for two people (almost! Porridge and Snickers not shown!)

I'll be taking all of that lot, in varying quantities. The overall plan is:

Day time: 2288 kcal

2 x chia flapjacks - 700 

2 x 9 bars - 408

2 x Snickers -  590

1/2 packet of nuts - 590

Overnight Camp: 1171 kcal

Mug Shot - 248

Dried meal - 750

Mountain Fuel Hot Chocolate - 173 

------------

Morning: 593 kcal

Mountain Fuel Hot Chocolate - 173 

Instant Porridge with sugar -  420

Day time: 2288 kcal

2 x chia flapjacks - 700 

2 x 9 bars - 408

2 x Snickers -  590

1/2 packet of nuts - 593

So a full day (Breakfast, daytime and overnight) would be a total of just over 4000 calories!

I'll be setting out with a total of 1.2kg of food, and 6340 calories, giving my food an overall ratio of 535 kcal/100g. Is that enough?  

I'll tell you on Sunday night!

Oh - and whisky is only about 207 kcal/100g, but we are taking some anyway!