Feed Zone Portables: A Cookbook of On-the-Go Food for Athletes

by Biju Thomas, Allen Lim

Feed Zone Portables offers 75 all-new, easy, healthy recipes for portable snacks that taste great during exercise.

When Dr. Allen Lim left the lab to work with pro cyclists, he found athletes weary of processed bars and gels and the same old pasta. So Lim joined professional chef Biju Thomas to make eating delicious and practical. When the menu changed, no one could argue with the race results. Their groundbreaking Feed Zone Cookbook brought the favorite recipes of the pros to everyday athletes.

In their new cookbook Feed Zone Portables , Chef Biju and Dr. Lim offer 75 all-new portable food recipes for cyclists, runners, triathletes, mountain bikers, climbers, hikers, and backpackers. Each real food recipe is simple, delicious during exercise, easy to make--and ready to go on your next ride, run, climb, hike, road trip, or sporting event.

Feed Zone Portables expands on the most popular features of The Feed Zone Cookbook with more quick and easy recipes for athletes, beautiful full-color photographs of every dish, complete nutrition data, tips on why these are the best foods for athletes, and time-saving ways on how to cook real food every day.

In his introduction to Feed Zone Portables , Dr. Lim shows why real food is a more easily digestible, higher-performance source of energy than prepackaged fuel products. He shows how much athletes really need to eat and drink at different exercise intensities and in cold or hot weather. Because the body burns solid and liquid foods differently, Lim defines a new approach for athletes to drink for hydration and eat real food for energy.

With the recipes, ideas, and guidance in Feed Zone Portables , athletes will nourish better performance with real food and learn to prepare their own creations at home or on the go. Feed Zone Portables includes

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Fitness, Cycling, Health

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

Chef Biju Thomas

Reviews

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a hard time planning these portable meals the first few times I made them but practice makes perfect. We use the rice balls and sticky bites for ultra running. They have been a hit on aid stations and among friends in training runs as well. Bottom Line: Real food is better tolerated and provides energy and hydration in a stressful state.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, I am not the target demographic for this book (which is aimed at endurance athletes such as road cyclists, rock climbers etc), but I found this book surprisingly interesting. I started reading this book because I was looking for lunchbox ideas - the recipes are nothing like anything I normally make, so they picqued my curiosity; they do also sound delicious, with interesting and varied flavour combinations. What also interested me is the impressively researched foreword (over 70 pages!), with detailed discussions about human metabolism and biochemistry. Scientific and creative all at once, I found it the most interesting book I have come across in a long time.

[Christy Keeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't skip the introduction of this book—the authors describe the science behind sports nutrition in exceptional and clear scientific detail. It sounds like a chapter from Maffetone's "Big Book of Endurance Training," but follows with specific recipes supporting the scientific principles. The recipes taste good and pack well for rides, but often don't work well in the heat of the desert. The rice balls fall apart, the egg and meat dishes are unsafe after 5 hours in 90+* heat, anything with chocolate melts, and many of the recipes don't taste great when hot. I stick with my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but now use the "Feed Zone" method of flattening slices of bread, dressing them, and rolling them for ease of eating on the go. Note that many of the recipes freeze well in the portable "containers" so you can make a complete batch to use over several long rides.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly technical cook book.

I'm definitely not one of the athletes this book is made for but it offers a lot of low-carb, high-protein foods to take on the go.

Some are pretty complicated and there is a variety of meals largely sweetened by fruits or maple syrup which isn't my favorite. There's also a lot of information about weight, how to get the most out of your work out, and what it takes to stay active.

A bit too much work for a casual runner like myself but definitely interesting for people who count calories and are super active.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book not because I'm an athlete (I don't require a snack on my hour long walk) but because we travel a lot and need snacks other than pretzels and corn chips. The little homemade grab and goes in this book look to be the perfect homemade snacks to keep us on track. I haven't tried any as I just purchased and read the book on our last trip but I will start preparing some and freezing them for our next trip. They also will be perfect to have in the freezer for home snacking or a quick lunch.

[Mónika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loads of great ideas of places to start. Content overall is 4.5 stars. The science part really should have split into men’s/women’s needs = 2.5 stars. WOMEN ARE NOT SMALL MEN! I will be looking into women-specific training and fueling books next.

Overall, 3.5 stars because a lot of these are going to need trial-and-error adaptations to create vegan alternatives. I like them for the savory flavor ideas and innovative uses of real food ingredients. Real food has been a life-saver in making distance running affordable — other than the expensive gear — and enjoyable. Onwards!

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

hands down the best book for cooking for on-the-bike eating. There's an excellent bit dedicated to ways to wrap things so food both survives your jersey pockets and can be eaten easily while pedalling, which is worth it alone. But instead it's also smashed full of recipes, many of them explained in ways that give you easily modifiable fundamentally (eg. base rice cakes plus what to do with them). Will it make you faster? dunno, but it will be more pleasant on the way.

[Phillip Strom · Rating 4 out of 5]

While mostly a book of recipes for snacks to fuel endurance training and events, the ~50 page intro is a surprisingly deep dive into nutrition science. The authors go deep (probably deeper than most athletes want) on how to calculate caloric expenditure during different activities and exertions over time, a literal deep dive into the gut and how the body processes food, including liquid versus solid calories, and the how water, salt, and caloric concentration changes the osmolality of the food.

[Gwen Sauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really could not give it any more stars because it does not have any section discussing food spoilage and temperature tolerances. There's more information on that from various people you don't know on Amazon in their question and answers. I would have loved to recommend this one to my 19-year-old to use but they have absolutely no sense about food spoilage.

[Laura Westover · Rating 5 out of 5]

The intro of this book is amazing, explains the science behind fuel and hydration for endurance athletes. Followed by mouth watering recipes for fueling on the go. I am training for a 2 day, 235 mile Rode Across Wisconsin this summer, and am looking forward to trying some of these recipes!

[Nurul Huda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking for real-food fuelling options for my long runs and upcoming ultra. Got to try some of these.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoy it.

[Marina Sanford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good balance of the science behind the choices and a varied collection of recipes. Plenty of options and information to keep you fueled for years to come.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as insightful as the first book, but still an excellent read.

[Marya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what the title says. The recipes sound tasty, but I really appreciated the discussion of how food (and drink) is absorbed by the body and how that relates to athletic endeavors.

[JDK1962 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through this book and immediately found a lot of recipes I'd like to try. Any cookbook that makes you want to head for the kitchen is immediately worth four stars. Let's hope the recipes pan out.

The only reason I'm not giving this five stars is because:
-- I haven't tried the recipes (yet).
-- I was not a fan of the athlete endorsements of the authors' work spread throughout the book. Beautiful photographs, but seemed a bit too self-congratulatory.
-- A bit too much jumping around (i.e., where book refers you to recipes or info on another page).

The detailed information on sports nutrition that kicks off the book is pretty impressive. I'd love to see something by these authors that's a more generalized approach to diet and nutrition; I'm at the point where I wish there was the equivalent of Soylent Green or rat "lab blocks" for humans, because I'm so sick of trying to figure out what I should be eating (and what I shouldn't).

Also, it should be mentioned that, as a book, this is a beautiful design in terms of font use, and layout of recipes and photography.

[Izslozne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intimidated by the "Introduction" (50+ pages) but I am glad I read it before diving into the recipes or appendix of nutritional information.

Everything was written in such an inviting and friendly way. It is clear with science, numbers and facts (calculating calorie deficits to glycogen storage in the body) to back up their recipes. I'm not a tri- athlete but I'm a meal-prep-er who came across this book by chance and am now looking at other cookbooks and books by the Feed Zone and Skratch labs.

Appetizing pictures. Recipes that work. Great ideas for kids, families, athletes, and to-go meal & snack prepping. Just a lot of foil and ziploc bags :( though I have altered some portables into small tupperwares.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been cycling for a few years now and on long rides it's imperative to eat a small snack every hour or so. Starting to tire of the limited options of premade food, and especially tired of the condition known as gut rot I decided to look for homemade alternatives. This book came highly recommended by strangers on the internet. The book is full of great recipes, I've made a few of them and they are simple to follow and taste great!

[surfurbian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty handy recipes. Better than gels and bars any day. I have been tweeking the recipes a bit to add whole grains for more fiber and nutritional value. Of course this lowers the glycemic index and is not the best choice for an endurance athlete in need of sugar and far from a bathroom. However, there are other instances and applications where the complex carbohydrates and fiber can be useful. Definitely one to keep on the shelf at the house.

[Jennifer Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this and The Feed Zone Cookbook and I can't wait to try some of these recipes out on my workouts. I'm a triathlete and the normal gels, bars, and whatnot just aren't settling on my stomach anymore. These recipes looked very easy and are from ingredients that I would have in my kitchen normally. Can't wait to try them out.

[pea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

the science part was an a lot to absorb.
at the moment this book is to give me an outline on what to feed my junior cyclists during training...which it does.
biju's recipes are straight forward, adaptable and yummy.

[Amanda Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tasty ideas for long, slower workouts. It has been good to get away from gels and PB&J sandwiches. I don't however see myself utilizing these for races...I need a lot more refining for mess control.

[Whitney Maas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I certainly enjoyed some of the eye opening tips and facts regarding some very "well known" athletic fueling tips, and the ease in which these meals can be enjoyed while in the midst of endurance activities.

[Kristine]

interesting, but not for me. envisioned more protein options but mostly carb. my exercise level is nowhere near what these recipes are for IMO!

[Tara Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good recipes that I can't wait to try this season! There was a lot of scientific nutrition talk in the beginning that I found hard to get through.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great recipes for on-the-bicycle eating and post workout snacks.
Shortcut ideas and tips & tricks around packaging your portables are excellent.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this - it had some great (and weird!) ideas. I want a copy for home!

Sample Recipes here:
http://feedzonecookbook.com/category/...

[Michelle Gamboa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait to try out the recipes. I spent this time looking through and figuring how to incorporate them into my daily and training nutrition.

[Mark]

http://www.unshelved.com/bookclub/201...

[Anne Holcomb]

I finally ordered this and it came yesterday! I am so excited to try out some of the recipes :D