Need a GU recipe
April 17, 2010 7:56 AM   Subscribe

Anyone have any good energy/GU/ gel recipes?

I love running distance. I love taking a few GU's with me. Problem is, at 3-4 gu's on my long runs, it's getting expensive. Anyone have a recipe to make your own energy gel at home?

I prefer goop type recipes over hard, energy bar type recipes, but I'd look at either or.
posted by ShootTheMoon to Health & Fitness (8 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Might want to try this or this for a homemade energy gel. And for a sport's drink to carry in a camelbak, try this.
posted by icy at 9:11 AM on April 17, 2010


GUs made me a little sick while running, so I starting using these instead. They sell them at all the local running stores in my area, and it works like a charm. Just agave syrup and cocoa — it can't be hard to mix a batch of that up for yourself in the right proportions, with minimal experimentation. No idea what you're going to do about a container, though.
posted by adiabat at 10:37 AM on April 17, 2010


Interesting recipes! I had no idea you could make your own.

Adiabat -- the container part is easy. Running stores sell things like this.
posted by kestrel251 at 11:19 AM on April 17, 2010


shootthemoon, have you just considered buying the gel in larger containers? there's a substantial savings benefit. i buy hammer gel by the bottle and use a $2 flask to store it. It holds 4 servings per bottle.
posted by SeƱor Pantalones at 11:23 AM on April 17, 2010


I've known several hikers that swear by Moose Goo. Of course I also know several hikers that swear by butter rolled in hot cocoa mix, so YMMV.
posted by piedmont at 11:54 AM on April 17, 2010


There's a lot to be said for baked goods, especially for when you're training and not racing. I used to race bikes a bit for a collegiate team, and the coach made the excellent point that if you eat clif-* on the training rides, you'll be sick to death of the shit by the time racing season rolls around. There's also the garbage-in-garbage-out factor to contend with; while quick energy to avert severe bonkage is important, it's also important to eat good stuff.

That said, my favorite long bike-ride energy foods were and are:
* Crack brownies! You bake up a batch of brownies, with a bunch of ground coffee mixed into the batter. Lots of sugar, lots of eggs, and, of course, lots of caffeine. Basically the best thing in the world.

* Peanut butter and banana on tortilla. Honey makes it even better, but greatly increases the potential for extreme stickiness. The tortilla keeps things much more compact than the same on normal bread. The right proportion of PB and banana will also ensure it goes down without getting stuck too much.

* Homebrewed Gatorade. Fill a bottle with water, throw in a bunch of brown sugar and squeeze in a bunch of lemon juice for flavor. Then add a pinch of Morton Lite Salt, which is 50% sodium and 50% potassium. With this, you have unlocked all of the scientific secrets of gatorade, and for the tiniest fraction of the price. If you're feeling adventurous, you can add caffeine. If you're feeling _really_ adventurous, you can dissolve some ibuprofen tablets into the drink. Once you're sufficiently amped and ignorant of the extreme hell you're putting your body through, you're ready to win races! (Caution: Team-mates will mock you for having a 'chunky bottle.' So make sure the ibuprofen dissolves well.)
posted by kaibutsu at 12:19 PM on April 17, 2010 [3 favorites]


I'm a fan of creamy peanut butter mixed with honey. I've yet to try it with a little virgin coconut oil mixed in, but I can't imagine it'd be less than awesome.

Works great in refillable squeeze bottles.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 12:40 PM on April 17, 2010


Honey is near-perfect already, and is often sold in convenient sticks. I recall a magazine article a while back that compared various gels to honey, and the practical difference was slim to nonexistent. Or get some gel flasks and mix something up. The web overflows with recipes for homemade honey-based gels.
posted by richyoung at 1:47 PM on April 17, 2010


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