Make Your Own Survival Power Gel

Portable Survival Energy in a Gel

Surviving can be hard and difficult work under the most trying of circumstances. Without enough calories supplied from whatever survival food reserves are on hand, the would be survivor may be hard pressed to accomplish the tasks necessary to make it through another day.

To begin with, a person on foot can carry only a limited amount of survival food even if he is prepared. Those of us who venture into the wilderness require a backup food energy supply that we keep in our packs untouched until a real survival situation occurs. Should the need arise we can tap into this food resource in the hope that it will see us through until we are rescued, find help, or develop other sources of sustenance.

Experience has shown that three days or 72-hours is the time it takes for 99% of survival situations to resolve into successful rescue or self-extraction. During this critical period the energy reserves contained in the food you are carrying will be more important than other nutrition factors. This is simply because your first nutritional requirement will be energy to metabolize into movement, thinking, and keeping warm.

Survival Power Gel Considerations

You might think that all you have to do is fill a small bottle full of cheap honey or corn syrup and you have yourself a survival power gel. Although you could do that, it is important to know that there are a number of different kinds of sugars in food and these sugars are not all alike. Each type of sugar is metabolized by the human body at different rates, which is measured by the glycemic index.

The higher the glycemic index of a particular food the faster the sugars within it enter the blood stream and are converted into energy. But there is a problem – high sugar spikes cause an excess release of insulin, an overcompensation response by the body that will cause an resultant crash in blood sugar levels. This is exactly the opposite of the desired result you want from consuming your emergency survival food reserve.

Some Potential Power Gel Ingredients

The following chart shows the relative glycemic indexes for some of the various sugars you can choose from to create your own survival power gels (note that it is based upon white bread = 100):

Fructose 32
Agave Nectar 38
Lactose 65
Honey 83
High fructose corn syrup 89
Sucrose 92
Glucose 137
Glucose tablets 146
Maltodextrin 150
Maltose 150
Brown Rice Syrup ?
Blackstrap molasses ?

As you can see in the above chart, agave nectar (also known as agave syrup) would be the choice if all we wanted was a slow metabolism of sugars for energy. However there is another consideration. Perhaps you need a quick boost of energy from your survival gel in order to deal with an emergency or your energy level is being sapped as you attempt to get over to the next ridge. Or maybe you are cold now and need a little quick fix in order to provide your body with enough energy to rewarm itself.

Power Gel Formula

Studies have shown that a 2 parts glucose (high glycemic index) to 1 part fructose (low glycemic index) result in a 20-55% increase in the body’s ability to process the energy you give it. This means you get an excellent energy boost without a huge insulin spike that will cause you to feel exhausted.

A good formulation for a basic survival power gel would be 60% brown rice syrup and 40% honey. This seems to be a good working compromise between quick energy requirements and longer term energy metabolism. But you can make your power gel even better!

Another factor that is important when under physical stress is the loss of electrolytes, which need to be replaced for optimum physical performance. I have found this can be taken care of by making the power gel 20% blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is one of the most nutritious food items around; chock full of calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, and other vitamins and minerals.

So the final formula for the survival power gel I have come up with is:
50% brown rice syrup
30% honey
20 % blackstrap molasses
1/8 teaspoon salt (for additional electrolytes)

The Survival Power Gel Ingredients

Brown Rice Syrup

The energy derived from brown rice syrup is

50% complex carbohydrates 2 to 3 hours to be absorbed
45% maltose absorbed in about 1.5 hours
3% glucose absorbed into the bloodstream immediately

This release of energy over a long period of time is exactly what survivors are looking for in a power gel.

But that's not all. Brown rice syrup is very healthy for you as it is made up of easily digested simple sugars.

Honey

The energy derived from honey is

38% fructose which is absorbed quite slowly
31% glucose which is absorbed very quickly
1% sucrose
8% maltose and other sugars that are absorbed in about 1.5 hours.

Blackstrap Molasses

Power Gel Containers

Good containers for your home made power gels are Coghlan Squeeze Tubes and Gel Flasks. Simply pour your power gel mix into the containers until they are about ¾ full (any more and they are liable to leak due to expansion or contraction of the ingredients).

I recommend including one squeeze tube of your home made power gel in your survival kit. It will weigh about 300-grams and provide you with the energy you need for a full-day – longer if you ration it. A good power gel serving size is about 30 grams, which means you get ten hits from each Coghlan Squeeze Tube, providing you with plenty of energy and electrolytes to make it through another day.