Specialty chocolate bar for walkers and trampers

[Moondog55]

A copy of this years email to Whittakers

"My first message on this subject was 4 years ago Is anything happening about a trekkers bar yet?
I still use the small bars for all my chockolate ration as it is the perfect portion control size but my thoughts on a combined ingredient bar to slightly increase the protein ratio still stand. add some slow roasted steel cut oats, coconut and combine peanuts and roasted almonds in a semi dark chockolate and you have all the bases covered. Cocoa fat for high energy density, sugar for the instant energy release and the other slowly digested ingredients for sustained energy. Add some B group vitamins and you have a very good survival ration for cold weather Regards Ted [Moondog] Malthouse Geelong Australia"


I like the Whittakers bars because of the small and compact bar size
Who else thinks a dedicated muesli style bar would be a seller?
Perhaps no-one as I think I'm the only bloke who actually liked Hersheys Tropical chocolate
Any-one who does agree with me should email Whittakers and make a similar suggestion
Less than 5% roasted oats though

[hobbitle]

I'm not a Whittakers fan actually but any trekking-oriented bars I'm all for! I really like the 24/7 brand ones as they are not too sweet and taste more natural but are almost definitely still just junk food haha

Is there some special way to spell chocolate that I don't know about or did you spell it incorrectly in your email? [FLUSHED FACE]


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[GPSGuided]

Not sure about dedicated walker bars. I like Carmens bars for my outdoor activities, be they cycling or walking. A layer of chocolates add to the energy supplement, especially those dark variety.

[Moondog55]

I have that bad habit of spelling chocolate CHOCKOLATE because when I was in the UK there was a very cheap and nasty bar that was CHOCK-full-of-nuts and it's a finger F**T

[Gadgetgeek]

I would love a trekking chocolate bar, only problem, I need it to be nut free. So for now, I'll have to stick to other bars.

[Zone-5]

I do luv'em over other bars but these I had in Europe with nougat inside as well and they were so good!

[Krudler]

Have you thought about making your own?

I'm about to begin experimenting on creating a choc/nut bar with protein powder.

[Moondog55]

I do like to make my own but it's the portion control and secure packaging I have trouble with
I've been making Kram for years but it is a messy business and vacuum sealers for 50 gram packages seem to be hard to get at a cost I can afford

[thejungleisneutral]

I've made the odd "emergency ration" bar based on the WWII D-Ration bar recipe/ingredients list. They aren't all that nice to the modern palate but I guess you could tart them up for more flavour and nutrition. Seems that in the USA there's a big community of war reenactment enthusiasts so you can find all sorts of strange items, including a D-Ration bar mould which works perfectly for chocolate and for muesli or oat bars. It'd work great for portion control.

Here's a link to a mould that looks the same as mine - http://www.wwiisoldier.com/shop/mold-fo ... unce-wwii/ - If you can't find one, I'm happy to lend you mine.

The cheaper vac sealer you can pick up from Supercheap Auto or Aldi are useable, you just cut the pouch or roll to the right size for whatever you want to vac seal, then use the heatseal feature to seal the edges, leaving one end open to insert your food/batteries/socks/first aid kit/whatever before vac sealing your custom pouch as normal. It works well.


A batch I made and sealed last Christmas for some friends. These ones were actually rocky road chocolate bars I made, but you get the general gist

[Kainas]

Oh my goodness. That picture brings back memories. My Dad would always come back from being out bush with ration packs for us kids... Gosh we loved them.

[JohnStrider]

The old Snickers bar is a staple in my hiking menu.

[north-north-west]

The old Snickers bar is a staple in my hiking menu.

Boost. It does. Plus it's delicious.

[JohnStrider]

The old Snickers bar is a staple in my hiking menu.

Boost. It does. Plus it's delicious.

Can't go wrong. Love my Peanut M&Ms too.

[Zone-5]

The old Snickers bar is a staple in my hiking menu.

Yes that and a Mars Bar and that's brunch before the return walk...

[walkerchris77]

Like this one kainas. The army chocolate was tough stuff. We use to swap our 10 sheets of toilet paper with the ladies for their chocolate. This is a complete D menu rat pack.

[Hiking Noob]

I am a sugar fiend so I have to make bars that don't taste awesome otherwise I'll eat them all in a day. For the OLT I took two 50G bars for each day, mine had mixed roasted nuts, toasted rolled outs, flax seeds, pepitas, peanut butter, maple syrup and I added some fruits that clashed to make them tastes less awesome which was good as they lasted the distance, my snakes however did not

[Moondog55]

Kainas where are the "Biscuits Survival" ??

[Kainas]

It was the condensed milk that I always went for... sucked it straight from the tube.

Love the photo Chris, thanks!

[north-north-west]

from: LAWS of BUSHWALKING v4.2.ii
(Dedicated to the members of the BWT forum, in gratitude for their advice and encouragement)
. . .
21] There is no such thing as 'enough' chocolate

[Arctic Camel]

For me it has to be Whittakers Almond Gold. Has anyone ever tried Ritter Sport? It is the king of sports chocolate, not sure but Lidl or Aldi may sell it here in Oz. It's German chocolate and like everything else Ez German, is well thought out, engineered and tasty.

[walkerchris77]

It was the condensed milk that I always went for... sucked it straight from the tube.

Love the photo Chris, thanks!

Yes good stuff or the tube of jam on the survival biscuits if you wanted a big sugar hit. Spent a bit of time up your way at singleton. Good old days. Nice weather.

[Mark F]

There was a news story the other day about the development of a new choc bar for the army.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-31/scientist-put-defence-force-chocolate-bar-to-the-test/6739054

[NQBushy]

I've made the odd "emergency ration" bar based on the WWII D-Ration bar recipe/ingredients list. They aren't all that nice to the modern palate but I guess you could tart them up for more flavour and nutrition. Seems that in the USA there's a big community of war reenactment enthusiasts so you can find all sorts of strange items, including a D-Ration bar mould which works perfectly for chocolate and for muesli or oat bars. It'd work great for portion control.

Here's a link to a mould that looks the same as mine - http://www.wwiisoldier.com/shop/mold-fo ... unce-wwii/ - If you can't find one, I'm happy to lend you mine.

The cheaper vac sealer you can pick up from Supercheap Auto or Aldi are useable, you just cut the pouch or roll to the right size for whatever you want to vac seal, then use the heatseal feature to seal the edges, leaving one end open to insert your food/batteries/socks/first aid kit/whatever before vac sealing your custom pouch as normal. It works well.


A batch I made and sealed last Christmas for some friends. These ones were actually rocky road chocolate bars I made, but you get the general gist

Hi I would be interested in the recipe for the emergency ration bar, would like to give it a go myself

[Moondog55]

It is the inclusion of raw oat flour that made the K-ration bar so awful I think
If you use toasted muesli and pulverised it in the machine first it would taste a lot better perhaps and not give you the awful griping pain you get wen not used to eating raw oats
I do find it strange that in a country full of climbers and trampers Whittakers haven't really thought of tapping this market. After all they use all of the ingredients; they just have to mix them all together
I agree the dark chocolate with roasted almonds is the best of them, followed by the toasted coconut
I wrote Whittakers in the first instance because they have the best portion size/packaging combination for me and my needs

[-dz-]

I grind the oats in a coffee grinder before using, turns into flour that mixes in easily.

Moondog, not sure if you're kiwi or not but last time I was there Whitaker's has created about 5 or 6 new flavors, all of which are quite out there. A Whitaker's Walkers bar might not be too far fetched anymore.

[Moondog55]

No I'm in Victoria OZ and we haven't yet seen any new flavours

[paul_gee]

Whittaker's are the ultimate track bar! Their dark chocolate peanut slab is everything!

Here's an interesting bit of trivia, and a reference point to Whittaker's connection with the hiking community. I planned to hike (tramp) the Te Araora - 3000km from the top to bottom of NZ - back in 2010/11 and Whittaker's were keen to come on as an in kind sponsor, providing me with all the peanut slabs I needed. The tramp didn't go ahead, but it was nice that they considered me.