Ultimate Oat Slice

Keeping yourself well fed on the mountain can be one of the more challenging parts of mountain hunting. There are more options on the market than ever, and although many of them are great they do come with a common draw back. Cost.

For a one-off trip splashing out on the fancy snacks and latest dehy meal doesn't hurt, but for those of you that are spending weeks or even months hunting, these costs can really add up quickly.

The obvious option is to make your own. This is a ‘Muslie bar’ recipe I have played around with for the last couple of years and I believe it is a very good choice for a calorie dense and affordable snack/lunch. Yes, there are lighter options, but generally this comes at the cost of palatability. An often-overlooked part of mountain food is actually whether it is edible. When you are fatigued and dehydrated there is nothing worse than trying to swallow some shitty ‘super bar’ that might look good on the packaging, but just about chokes you trying to eat it.

This recipe is easy to eat, tastes good and even a hunting guide can make it.

Ingredients-

3 cups rolled Oats

1 cup Whittakers 72% dark Ghana (roughly chopped)

1 cup Sultanas (or other dried fruit)

Salt- 1/2 teaspoon

250 grams butter

2 eggs

1 cup Brown Sugar (or Honey)

1 cup Flour

Dash of Vanilla essence

Extras- Teaspoon or two of Cinnamon or Ginger to taste

Method-

Pre heat oven to 160 Degrees Celsius (320 F)
Grease and line a square 20cm baking tin

Place a saucepan on low heat and melt the butter, sugar and vanilla essence, when melted take off the heat and mix through the two eggs and cup of flour until smooth

In a large bowl combine the oats, sultanas, salt and cinnamon/ginger.

Then stir through the butter/sugar until the mixture is smooth. Lastly add the chopped chocolate

The texture and consistency can change a lot depending on the chocolate you use, if want a smoother bar, chop it finer, for a chunky bar, use bigger pieces.

Pour into your baking tin and bake for around 15mins until it has a light golden crust.

Remove from oven and allow to cool, then place in fridge to set before slicing with a sharp knife into the sizes you require.

When kept cool and dry this will last for a long time(weeks+), but you will likely eat it all before it goes off.

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What’s in it?!

I am no nutritionist, but we all know that we need calorie dense food for the hills, and more calorie dense that food is, the more efficient it is to pack. A good rule of thumb has been 100+calories per Oz, which equates to around 418Kj per 28grams or nearly 15 Kj per gram.

Now, not all grams are equal when it comes to food. Both Proteins and Carbohydrates have 16.7Kj (4 calories) per gram while fat has 37.7Kj (9calories).
So, bang for buck fat has more than double the energy for the weight of carbohydrates and protein.

Without diving too deep, our bodies need all forms of energy and all 3 play an important role in our bodily function. But its important to focus on a fat heavy diet if you want a sensible pack weight, and a full belly.

I’ve plugged this recipe into an online calories calculator and it tells me that we will get around 458 calories/1916Kj per 100gram serving.

Which is pretty impressive and well within the ‘100 calories per Oz’ density, giving us around 130 calories per Oz, with a good dose of fat and carbs for sustained energy.

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What’s it cost??

Now there are many advantages to making your own food, but if it ends up costing considerably more than the store-bought option, the novelty wears off after a while.
So here is a rough break down of pricing, from my local supermarket as at the winter of 2024.

Oats- $6.49 per 1.5kg (43 cents per 100gms)

Whittakers 72% Dark Ghana-$6.79 per block ($2.72 per 100gms)

Sultanas- $7 per kg (70 cents per 100gms)

Butter- $5.79 per 500gms ($1.15 per 100gms)

Eggs- $9.79 per dozen (81 cents per egg)

Brown Sugar- $2.99 per kg (29 cents per 100gms)

Flour- $2.65 per 1.5kg (18cemts per 100gms)


So for one batch of these bars we are looking at the total costs-

Oats- 270gms= $1.16

Chocolate- 180gms= $4.90

Sultanas- 200gms= $1.40

Butter- 250gms= $2.90

Eggs- 2= $1.62

Brown Sugar- 215gms= $0.61 cents

Flour- 120gms= $0.22 cents

Add this up and for the main ingredients we are looking at around $12.81, plus a bit of salt and some extras. So, let’s say it’s costing $13 dollars per batch.

Now one batch of this mix weighs around 1280-1300 grams, so it’s costing us $1 per 100grams.

Most of the cheap options at the supermarket will be nearly double this cost, and some are easily $3.50-$4 per 100grams.

So in my books, this is a very good option, both financially and nutritionally.

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