What soaring foods do you eat?

I have been trying to determine what foods work well for extended cross
country flying. It needs to taste good, give you energy, easy to eat
in flight, not too messy, filling, doesn't melt, etc.

What does everyone use?

- John

Granola bars, soft or crunchy.
Peanuts (shelled, of course)
Maybe a banana and/or apple

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

At 23:00 18 May 2005, Contestid67 wrote:
I have been trying to determine what foods work well
for extended cross
country flying. It needs to taste good, give you energy,
easy to eat
in flight, not too messy, filling, doesn't melt, etc.

What does everyone use?

- John

On 18 May 2005 15:49:53 -0700, "ContestID67"
wrote:

What does everyone use?

GU http://www.gusports.com/ washed down with Gatorade.

Current in-flight menu includes a small sandwich composed of meat
(salami or ham) and cheese and basil on a WASA crisp bread, a mixed nut
medley of peanuts, almonds and pecans. Desert is a Boomi bar. This
weeks favorite is the pineapple ginger with pinenuts.
http://www.boomibar.com/

I'm still interviewing in-flight food service staff/ballast

Paul
Nimbus 3D

Any standard trail mix or granola bars minus chocolate.. some trail mix does
include chocolate chips.. that melts out here.. its going to be 100F+ this
weekend. Also consider bagels.. raisin cinnamon works great.. stays moist
in a plastic bag but dries out fast when opened.. it's 0-4% humidity out
here

BT

"ContestID67" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been trying to determine what foods work well for extended cross
country flying. It needs to taste good, give you energy, easy to eat
in flight, not too messy, filling, doesn't melt, etc.

What does everyone use?

- John

"ContestID67" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been trying to determine what foods work well for extended cross
country flying. It needs to taste good, give you energy, easy to eat
in flight, not too messy, filling, doesn't melt, etc.

What does everyone use?

- John

Great question.

I have found Pemmican concentrated food bars to be great.
http://www.mealpack.com/

They last a months while sealed and don't crumble or make my fingers sticky
when I eat them. I keep two or three in my survival vest. They taste good
too.

Bill Daniels

I am confused about the responses to this message so far.

Perhaps if you are simply wafting around the sky to make your 5 hour or
are "leisurely" goin' somewhere there will be time for nourishment. But
most of my significant cross country is in a contest setting. And I can
tell you the there are precious few times in a 5-6 hour contest flight
when the concentration on the clouds, other gliders, speed maximization
tasks, thermal optimization, evaluating lift streets, etc. allow for a
break in concentration to open a package and eat something. I even, at
times, feel the concentration load is such that I will defer peeing or
drinking from the water tube until I get to the next flight regime.

Wonderingly,

Larry Goddard
"01" USA



"ContestID67" wrote in message
:

I have been trying to determine what foods work well for extended cross
country flying. It needs to taste good, give you energy, easy to eat
in flight, not too messy, filling, doesn't melt, etc.

What does everyone use?

- John

Larry,

If you neglect to eat, drink, etc. you are at risk of beginning to
loose your ability to focus on all those other tasks you are talking
about. Most people need food every 2 to 4 hours to maintain peak
concentration and we have all seen the effects of dehydration too many
times. I have lost at least one friend to that here in the west.

That is why most of us find food that we can eat with little effort. I
tend to use soft granola bars (the hard ones dehydrate me and are
messy), I like apples because they tend to settle my stomach and
provide moisture as well.


Tim

Tim,

I completely agree with you about the hydration issue. I did not mean
to imply that I did not drink. Actually, depending on the day, I drink
quite a bit... with the concomitant peeing. I simply meant to make the
point that proper concentration is not always enhanced by diverting
attention to water spouts or ziplock baggies full of granola, or peeing,
for that matter.

Another issue that I was alluding to is that of "level of
concentration". It is very easy to be driving down the interstate at 75
mph, negotiating traffic, talking on the cellphone, and, when we reach
our destination in one piece, to say "Man, I am a multitasking dude!
Driving, talking, negotiating deals... and I am obviously safe... see, I
made here without a scratch!"

The fact is that I may have simply had the minimum of concentration
necessary to negotiate the driving task successfully. When it comes to
contest and serious cross country, "adequate concentration" is going to
give you mediocre results at best.

I can hear it now... "But darlin', I got the bowl of ice cream because I
need to concentrate on the football game... and it's been 2 hours since
dinner time!" :-)

Larry




"ttaylor at cc.usu.edu" wrote in message
:

Larry,

If you neglect to eat, drink, etc. you are at risk of beginning to
loose your ability to focus on all those other tasks you are talking
about. Most people need food every 2 to 4 hours to maintain peak
concentration and we have all seen the effects of dehydration too many
times. I have lost at least one friend to that here in the west.

That is why most of us find food that we can eat with little effort. I
tend to use soft granola bars (the hard ones dehydrate me and are
messy), I like apples because they tend to settle my stomach and
provide moisture as well.


Tim

01-- Zero One wrote:
I am confused about the responses to this message so far.

Perhaps if you are simply wafting around the sky to make your 5 hour or
are "leisurely" goin' somewhere there will be time for nourishment.

No, but my recreational and record attempt flights generally require
less concentration than a contest flight.

But
most of my significant cross country is in a contest setting. And I can
tell you the there are precious few times in a 5-6 hour contest flight
when the concentration on the clouds, other gliders, speed maximization
tasks, thermal optimization, evaluating lift streets, etc. allow for a
break in concentration to open a package and eat something.

In your situation, it makes sense, but that is not the case for me, even
in contests. Clearly, you are flying in different contests than I do.
It's been a long time since I flew in a contest that had a 5 or 6 hour
task; generally, the regionals are about 3 hours, and the Nationals
(some years ago) were more like 4 hours. In the olden days, 5 or 6 hours
was more common.

My non-contest flights are significantly longer than my contest tasks,
so I do take food along: a handful of mixed nuts, some dried fruit
(raisins, cranberries, cherries), a few strips of beef jerky, and a
high-fiber muffin).

I even, at
times, feel the concentration load is such that I will defer peeing or
drinking from the water tube until I get to the next flight regime.

Same here, but there are times during almost all my flights where I am
just cruising for 5-15 minutes towards the only good choice, which is
plenty of time eat something. Perhaps you are so busy because of where
you fly, perhaps you are better at seeing things that need to be
analyzed, or perhaps you need to relax a little .

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA