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Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Honey Stinger Organic Waffles > Test Report by jerry adams

HONEY STINGER WAFFLES
TEST SERIES BY JERRY ADAMS
LONG-TERM REPORT

INITIAL REPORT - October 26, 2012
LONG TERM REPORT - December 29, 2012

TESTER INFORMATION

NAME: Jerry Adams
EMAIL: jerryaadamsatyahoodotcom
AGE: 58
LOCATION: Portland, Oregon, USA
GENDER: m
HEIGHT: 6' 1" (1.85 m)
WEIGHT: 195 lb (88.50 kg)

I started hiking about 45 years ago. My first backpack was 40 years ago. I currently try to do one backpack trip of 1 to 5 nights every month (which can be tricky in the winter). Mostly I stay in the Western half of Oregon and Washington. In recent years I have shifted to lightweight - my pack weight without food and water is about 12 lb (6 kg). I make a lot of my own gear - silnylon tarp-tent, bivy, synthetic bag, simple bag style pack.


INITIAL REPORT

PRODUCT INFORMATION & SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: Honey Stinger
Year of Manufacture: 2012
Manufacturer's Website: http://www.honeystinger.com/index.html
MSRP: US$22.24 for box of 16 waffles
Listed Weight: 1.06 oz (30 g) per waffle
Measured Weight: 1.19 oz (34 g) just waffle, average of 3 boxes,
1.24 oz (35 g) with wrapper
Other details:
I am testing 3 flavors - Honey, Lemon, and Chocolate

Honey Stinger Waffles are a snack intended to provide energy when exercising. From their website "Inspired by Lance Armstrong who suggested we produce our own version of similar waffles which are sold throughout Europe and eaten by professional cyclists".

The waffles are made with organic ingredients. The ingredients don't include any caffeine, vitamins, herbs, or anything, but just food ingredients. This is what I look for in my food.

Each waffle is about 3.25 inches (83 mm) in diameter and 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick.

The ingredients for the three flavors are almost identical.

Ingredients for Honey flavor:
Organic wheat flour, organic palm fruit oil, organic rice syrup, organic cane sugar, organic honey, organic whole wheat flour, organic soy flour, sea salt, organic soy lecithin, organic spices, baking soda.

Lemon also has natural flavor.

Chocolate also has organic cocoa and natural flavor.

Nutrients - per waffle:

Honey and Lemon:
calories 160
fat 7 g
carbs 21 g
protein 0 g

Chocolate:
calories 160
fat 9 g
carbs 19 g
protein 1 g

When backpacking, I normally eat some cookies that I make myself, that I have selected to provide the most nutrients with the minimum weight. They have 1500 calories and weigh 9 ounces (256 g) per day. I will eat the Honey Stinger Waffles instead of my cookies. The measured weight of the waffles is about 10% more than the listed weight so I assume the calories per waffle will also be 10% more, so I'll need 9 waffles which weigh 10.7 ounces (303 g). This is 1.7 ounces (47 g) more than my cookies per day. So, these waffles are slightly heavier (but I'll never notice). I would say that these waffles meet my low weight goals.

One difference between these waffles and my standard fare (cookies) is the waffles have more carbs, a little less fat, and less protein. So, the waffles are really more suited for restoring energy when I'm exercising heavily, rather than providing my daily nutrition on a backpacking trip. Maybe I'll substitute 9 of my cookies per day with 6 waffles and 3 ounces (85 g) of beef jerky or 8 waffles and a hard boiled egg to get the nutrient profile better.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

I tried one of each flavor at home to make sure they tasted okay:

IMAGE 1
waffles


The waffles have sort of a waffly/bready layer on top and bottom and a middle layer with honey/lemon/chocolate. Sort of like a mini fig newton. They're fairly sweet.

I thought the waffles were quite tasty. These will work quite well for me on my next backpacking trip. My wife took a few bites of each and also thought they tasted good.

The chocolate flavor was fairly mild. It was more of a sweet waffle with slight chocolate flavor. Same thing with the honey and lemon flavors, but I noticed it more with the chocolate. This is what I would expect given that flavoring wasn't one of the first ingredients listed, so there isn't very much. This isn't a bad thing, just a characteristic.

It was fairly difficult but possible with just my hands to open the individually wrapped waffles. The wrapping was some sort of aluminized plastic - seemed like it would provide good protection for the waffle.

SUMMARY

The Honey Stinger Waffles will be really nice for backpacking trips.

They have a lot of calories for the weight so they'll be good for my lightweight backpacking style.

A negative is, the fat/carb/protein ratio is more suitable for heavy exercise, like bicycling. They have a lot of carbs and not so much protein. For backpacking, where I don't need so much quick energy but more long term nutritional needs, I'll supplement with something that's high in protein, maybe some fat, and few carbs, like jerky or a hard boiled egg.

I'll take these on one or two backpacking trips of a few days each. One thing about backpacking food is, I'll sometimes think an item is good, but after eating it for a few days, I'll get tired of it. So far, the three I tasted seem very good. I'll find out how good they taste after a few days of backpacking.

I'm looking forward to testing these.


LONG-TERM REPORT

LONG-TERM TEST LOCATIONS AND CONDITIONS

November 24, 2012 - 3 night backpack and 3 night car camp on the Deschutes River in North central Oregon. I did 30 miles (48 km) of backpacking. 300 feet (100 m) of elevation gain. Temperatures were 28 to 40 F (-2 to 4 C).

Mmm mm good:
IMAGE 1

December 19, 2012 - 3 night backpack and 2 night car camp on the lower Deschutes River in North central Oregon. I did 30 miles (48 km) of backpacking. 1600 feet (500 m) of elevation gain. 32 to 48 F (0 to 8 C).

PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD

I took the Honey Stinger Waffles on two backpacking trips.

The best application, I think, of the Honey Stinger Waffles is for quick energy during a long exercise - they have lots of carbs and quite a bit of fat also. I ate 2 at midday for all of my backpacking days. It seems like it increased my energy level for the rest of the day.

I also ate 4 waffles per day at dinner. As I mentioned in the Initial Report, the waffles are high in carbs and somewhat high in fat so to make complete nutrition, I added 2 ounces (57 g) of pepperoni and 3 ounces (85 g) of cheese which adds protein and more fat to make complete nutrition. I also ate half a red bell pepper.

Normally, I eat some hot soup, but with the cheese and pepperoni I didn't feel the need to. This saved firing up the stove which is a minor pain.

It was fairly cool when I was eating the waffles (32 to 48 F, 0 to 8 C). They were very chewy because of the cool weather. If it had been colder, it could have been a problem, except it would be easy to just put the waffles in my pocket for a while to heat up a little.

Sometimes with backpacking food, it tastes good at first, but I get tired of it after a few days. The Honey Stinger Waffles tasted good even after a few days.

These waffles are structurally sound. I carried around a waffle in a pocket all day and it was still in one piece at the end. This is a good thing, but if it was too strong it would be difficult to eat, but as I mentioned above, as long as it wasn't too cold, it was fine.

I liked all three flavors. I noticed that the filling on the chocolate kind of melted a little and flowed to one side - more of an observation than a complaint, but maybe they're not as good for warm weather? It's weird because it was never warm. Maybe it happened when they were at home but they were never above room temperature. I think maybe I liked the honey flavor best.

SUMMARY

I enjoyed eating the Honey Stinger Waffles on two backpacking trips.

These were very tasty, even after several days of backpacking. I liked all three flavors about equally, maybe the honey flavor a little more.

They are structurally strong so they can be carried around without breaking but that makes them pretty chewy. When it was around 32 F (0 C) they were quite chewy, but I could have just put them in my pocket to warm up a bit which would have made them easier to chew.

The nutritional profile (high carb and low protein) make them good to replenish energy in high level activity like hiking. I think they would also be good for bicycling (their initial application) and running.

For backpacking, where the activity level is lower but sustained over several days, then the waffles can be supplemented with food that's high in protein and also has some fat, like cheese and Pepperoni.

Thanks to Honey Stinger and BackpackGearTest.org for letting me test these.

This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1.5 Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
Read more gear reviews by jerry adams

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