Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

The simplest fix for rides up to 3 hours is - buy a bottle of Hammer Gel and one of their 6 oz. squeeze flasks. Not expensive and works better than sugar-based gels.

For serious rides, the only thing I'll use is my homemade liquid food. In a large container, mix 7 parts maltodextrin with 1 part chocolate whey protein, by weight. Two cups of this powder mix is ~750 calories. For long rides, mix the two cups of powder in a 24 oz. or liter water bottle. Carry extra powder in Ziplocs in your saddle bag. I got about half my calories on 400k rides from this stuff, all of my calories on one-day STP and RAMROD. I carry Endurolyte capsules for electrolytes. So food in one bottle, plain water in the other, the Endurolytes in a Hammer squeeze coin purse shoved up my shorts leg. The malto-whey mix has a very mild flavor and does not taste sweet. It doesn't bother my mouth when used all day. I buy the maltodextrin in 50# bags from a homebrew supplier and the 5 lb. whey protein containers online.

I've been using this stuff on almost all of my long weekend rides for about 20 years. At the above strength, I take a swallow about every 15' and then a swallow of water, but both those vary with the temperature and terrain. I also carry a Hammer flask just in case I screw up and get underfed, but that almost never happens. Still . . .

Hammer makes the hardware a little hard to find. It's here: https://www.hammernutrition.com/products/gear