Erica and I really like the Honey Stinger brand of sports-foods. Their energy gels are mostly honey with some added salt and vitamins, which I find delicious, and their energy chews are pretty much the only ones Erica can stomach. I like the quick boost of a gel, especially for running, but when I’m on the bike I like something a little more solid, both to give my stomach a break from pure sugar and for the variety of actually eating. Honey Stinger introduced me to the energy waffle and it’s been a part of my training and race diet for several years now. As they note on the back of the packet:
Our partner Lance Armstrong gave us the inspiration for the Stinger Waffle direct from his years of racing and training in Europe.
“One of my favorite things to eat on the bike is the ‘stroopwafel’ found in northern Europe. I hope you’ll like this organic Honey Stinger version. Enjoy” Lance Armstrong
The Honey Stinger version is organic and available in Honey, Vanilla, Lemon, Strawberry, and Chocolate flavors. And they cost about $1.40 a piece. Well worth it.
Unless you happen to live near Gene’s Sausage Shop, or some other European food-stuffs importer, I recently discovered. I was at Gene’s and discovered that I can buy a bag of 8 stroopie waffles, imported from the Netherlands, for $3.69. That’s $0.46 a piece, and I can wrap them up in a piece of plastic wrap (which is a lot easier to open on the bike than the Honey Stinger package) and throw them in my bike food pouch no problem. Also, Stroopie is really fun to say. How do they compare?
(To be fair, this particular Honey Stinger waffle had been at the bottom of my sports-foods-bin for a little while[1], hence it’s slightly battered and crumbly edge.)
| Criteria | Honey Stinger | Dutch Bakery |
|---|---|---|
| Price per | $1.39 | $0.46 |
| Organic | Yes | Nope |
| Sports Vitamins added | None | None |
| Weight | 30 g[2] | 33 g |
| Calories | 160 | 141 |
| Fat | 7 g | 5.6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g | 3.1 g |
| Sodium | 55 mg | 100 mg |
| Carbohydrates | 21 g | 20.1 g |
| Fiber | 1 g | 0.48 g |
| Sugars | 14 g | 12.7 g |
| Protein | 0 g | 1.2 g |
| Flavors | Honey, Vanilla, Lemon, Strawberry, Chocolate | Waffle[3] |
[1] Also, this package is old enough that it still has Lance Armstrong on it. As I expected, he has disappeared from all the packaging currently displayed on the Honey Stinger site.
[2] The package says 30g and I weighed this particular one and it came in right at 30g, despite there being some crumbs still in the package. So it probably would be about 31g whole.
[3] Which tastes a lot like the Honey flavor of Honey Stinger, despite having no honey in it.
Stroopie!
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