What kind of food does an Ocean Rower eat (and how much?)
“Food is fuel” as my old mate Paul O’hAoláin used to say, cynically dismissing the pleasures of eating, but where ocean rowing is concerned it’s absolutely true. Calories are what will power us across the Atlantic, so what form do those calories take, and how much fuel do we need?
Let’s start with “how much”?
Atlantic Campaigns, as with all aspects of the crossing, have guidelines in place to dictate what our dietary requirements look like. This is (as a minimum) how much food we have to take with us:
“Rowers must show they have sufficient food to provide 60 kcal per kg of bodyweight per day for the prescribed number of days.”
For Dan and me, as 100kg men in the pairs division, that equates to 6,000 kcal each, per day, for 65 days. This is about twice the recommended calorie intake for adult men going about their daily business, but we’ll use every bit of it.
Wet and dry food
A chunk of those calories will be provided by freeze dried meals-bags of dehydrated food to which we’ll add boiled (or warm) water. There are a number of recommended suppliers and brands, and it’s up to each team to figure out which meals work for them. I’ll list more details below, but take the Real Turmat Pulled Pork with Rice for example. One of these bags will give the diner 700 kcals, so we’ll each eat something similar to this three or four times per day.
I’ve eaten a lot of these freeze dried meals over the years (on dry land) and I have to say they’ve become pretty sophisticated in terms of recipes and tastiness.
Another rule involves the proportion of “wet to dry” meals we’ll need to take. Of those 65 days 52 must be “dry” (like the pulled pork described above) and 13 must be “wet”. Wet meals are ready to go, straight out of the bag, and don’t require any water to be added. Wayfarer meals, like this Chicken Tikka and Rice, are one such example. These are last-resort rations and might be used under particularly stressful circumstances, like if we’re stuck in a storm for days on end, or if we’re struggling to prepare or eat the dehydrated food due to sickness.
Easy peasy
To make up the balance of all those other calories we’ll snack around the clock on things like trail mixes, chocolate, energy bars, dried meat-whatever’s calorific and tasty.
“Choose snacks that are a joy as well as being functional”
Angela Walker, nutritionist
One factor where endurance sports is concerned is mastication (you read that right) and some things like energy bars aren’t easily eaten when you’re exhausted and woolly-mouthed. So instead of filling the diet plan with chewy stuff, protein shakes are a great way to get energy in easily whilst rehydrating at the same time.
Our friends Paolo and Serena at MegaRawBar suggested consuming their organic energy gels (which are already way more digestible than others I’ve taken cycling) by adding them to half a litre of water. Instant energy drink worth 100 kcal! Easy.
What else will we take?
Thanks to El Toro Foods in Palma de Mallorca for sponsoring us biltong supplies for our journey! We’ll be taking 100g of their beef biltong per day, split between us, to add 100 kcal each (and delicious flavour) to our daily menu.
I’ve mentioned MegaRawBar already, and these guys are fantastic. Having recently set up their factory and coffee shop in Lloseta, Mallorca, they provide organic, locally sourced energy products to cyclists and athletes from all over the world. Huge thanks to them for sponsoring energy bars and gels for our crossing!
We’re also talking to Pulsin at the moment, because their organic protein products (shakes, bars) will be a superb addition to our meal plan.
Typical meal plan: 1 day
Here’s a quick breakdown of what one day (6,000 kcal per person) will typically look like:
Meals
- Expedition Foods Granola with Raspberries 1,000 kcal
- Expedition Foods Beef Cottage Pie 1,000 kcal
- Real Turmat (Field Meal) Kebab Stew 706 kcal
- Real Turmat (Field Meal) Pulled Pork with Rice 701 kcal
Snacks
- MegaRawBar Energy Bar 158 kcal
- 3 Pulsin Protein Shakes 600 kcal
- 1 LG cup of trail mix 700 kcal
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup 210 kcal
- El Toro Foods Beef Biltong 100 kcal
- 2 MegaRawBar Gel (in water) 340 kcal
- 100g Resilient Nutrition Nut Butter 547 kcal
Buy us dinner?!
If you’d like to help us keep energised, why not buy us a meal or two? We’ll send you a photo of us digging into your contribution. One meal a day, for a week, will cost around €100. Head over to our GoFundMe page to donate!
Originally published at https://roaring40s.co.uk on September 6, 2022.
