Sunscreen, water bottle and a healthy snack are the necessities to pack for your next Zen-inducing hike. But the snack part can be tricky. Granola is too crumbly and messy. Store-bought protein bars are loaded with sugar. And are you really going to bust out a sandwich on the trail?
Homemade bars and power bites, a culinary social media trend that blew up last year, are the answers. Loaded with oats, nut butters, seeds or dried fruit, they involve minimal or no baking, and they’re highly adaptable and easy to transport, not just on hikes but for school lunches and breakfast on the go.
Zero-Waste Chef blogger Anne-Marie Bonneau makes a Chocolate Cranberry Granola Bar with flaxseed meal and water — instead of egg — to bind the oats, bittersweet chocolate and pumpkin seeds together. Simmer + Sauce’s Andrea Potischman devotes a whole section of her blog to bars and bites, like Cowboy “Cookie” Power Bites and Apricot-Almond Breakfast Bars, which get their moist chewiness from coconut oil, almond butter and almond milk.
“They’re made with wholesome ingredients and often pack a lot of fiber and protein,” she says. “They can be made paleo, keto and grain-free and in general are a healthier treat option.”
Potischman’s bars have four elements: In addition to oats or nut flour, she includes a seed or nut butter, a natural sweetener, like honey or date syrup, and a medley of mix-ins, from extracts to protein powder. A quick bake in the oven gives them crunch. Best part? Stored in an airtight container, they last for weeks.
Some of Potischman’s power bites — hello, one-bowl No-Bake Oreo Cookie Dough Bites — lean on the sweet side, but still pack a nutritional punch. Those Cowboy “Cookie” Power Bites contain rolled oats, pecans and two tablespoons of chia seeds in each batch. They satisfy her sweet tooth and take minutes to make.
“It’s really more assembly than cooking or baking,” Potischman says.
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