Are there any good off the shelf alternatives (i.e. from a newsagent/shop)?

I always have a Tracker or and Eat Natural bar.

nakd?

Have a look at their website as they do a range of flapjacks which are nice.

Kellogs nutri grain or elevenses bars are also pretty good

Mule Bars FTW! Tasty as you like, and a really great company run by great people.

Not avaialble in the corner shop though, I suspect.

Kellogs nutri grain or elevenses bars are also pretty good

This is what I was wondering, will have to look at them

Mule Bars FTW! Tasty as you like, and a really great company run by great people.

They employ child labour to distribute samples!! 🙂
I wouldn’t have minded but she gave me that licorice one without fair warning. (Set2Rise they were sending the kids out to distribute samples, very nice they were too).

If you have a Waitrose nearby, they sell the ‘getbuzzing’ bars in the normal cereal bar bit – £2.50 for 3, 250Kcal per bars and pretty tasty.

I’ve always been partial to the Soreen Go bars. Can get a box of 6 from ASDA for about the same price as a Cliff bar – no idea of the nutritional comparison (and not that fussed to be honest).

Just remember to keep them in your pockets, rock hard when it’s cold out.

Nature Valley granola bars, almost any supermarket – 1 pack (2 biscuits) is 200 cals, 25g carbs, 10g of which are sugar so good mix of low/high GI.
Very dry and crumbly though, so best for snack stops with a drink rather than on the go.
or any of the Nakd bars, some supermarkets and H&B – basically just pressed dried fruit and nuts – Berry bar is 230 cals, 40g carbs, 25g of which is sugar so more of a quick burn, gooey and chompy so don’t fall apart
Trek cherry flapjack, only seen them in H&B – 240 cals 25g carb/15g sugar/10g protein, moist but a bit crumbly

(Set2Rise they were sending the kids out to distribute samples, very nice they were too).

The kids or the bars? 🙂

The liquorice is my least favourite, it must be said. Mango or the Apple Strudel are the winnders.

you could just stock up on clif bars when they are jobbing them out on sportpursuit?

Maltloaf?

Fig rolls?

Fig rolls are about 45p in Sainsburies. Probably enough in a pack for a 3 hour race.