Endurance sport has a quiet cost problem. Nobody flinches at a £60 pair of bib shorts that lasts three years, but the money you spend on gels, chews and drink mix disappears down your throat every single week. If you are training 8–10 hours a week and fuelling properly — which for most riders and runners means 60g of carbohydrate per hour on longer sessions — branded single-serve products can easily cost you £40–60 a month. Over a year, that is more than most people spend on their race entries.
The good news is that sports nutrition on a budget is entirely achievable: fuelling well and fuelling cheaply are not in conflict. Your muscles cannot tell the difference between glucose from a £2.50 sachet and glucose that cost a fifth of that. What matters is the carbohydrate type, the dose, and the timing. This guide breaks down where the money actually goes in sports nutrition, where the industry quietly overcharges you, and how to build a fuelling strategy that costs less per hour than a cup of coffee.
Quick answer: the cheapest way to fuel properly is to compare cost per 30g of carbohydrate, not price per packet. Bulk 1kg packs of pastilles, DIY drink mix and real food cost a fraction of single-serve gels for exactly the same fuel. Keep your 60g-per-hour target and cut the packaging, not the carbs.
Work Out Your Real Cost Per Hour of Fuelling
The single most useful habit for budget-conscious athletes is to stop comparing prices per packet and start comparing cost per 30g of carbohydrate — roughly one "unit" of endurance fuel, since most of us aim for two units (60g) per hour.
Run the numbers on whatever is in your cupboard right now. A typical single-serve gel contains 22–25g of carbs and retails at £1.80–£2.50, which works out at £4.50–£6.50 per hour of fuelling at 60g/hour. A branded packet of chews is usually similar. Do that for a four-hour Sunday ride every week and you are spending £80–£100 a month before you have counted midweek sessions.
Now compare bulk formats. A 1kg pack of energy pastilles at around £25 with roughly 750g of usable carbohydrate costs about £1 per 30g unit — £2 per hour, less than half the single-serve price for exactly the same fuel. The product is not worse; the packaging is just less wasteful and the marketing budget smaller.
| Fuel format | Typical price | Cost per 30g carbs | Cost per hour (60g) |
| Single-serve gel (22–25g carbs) | £1.80–£2.50 each | £2.25–£3.25 | £4.50–£6.50 |
| Branded single-serve chews | Similar to gels | £2–£3 | £4–£6 |
| 1kg bulk pastilles (~750g usable carbs) | ~£25 per kg | ~£1 | ~£2 |
| DIY maltodextrin + fructose mix | Bought separately in bulk | Pennies | Well under £1 |
| Real food (bananas, malt loaf, fig rolls) | Supermarket prices | Pennies | Well under £1 |
Where Sports Nutrition on a Budget Goes Wrong
Most athletes trying to save money make one of two mistakes, and both cost more than they save.
The first is under-fuelling. Skipping fuel on a three-hour ride to save £5 is a false economy: you finish the session depleted, recover slower, eat the house down that evening, and get less adaptation from the training you did pay for in time and effort. Research consistently shows that riders and runners taking in 60–90g of carbs per hour sustain higher power and pace in the final hour of long sessions than those taking half that. If the budget is tight, cut somewhere else — not the carbs.
The second mistake is buying cheap products with the wrong carbohydrate profile. Straight glucose is cheap, but your gut can only absorb about 60g of it per hour through the SGLT1 transporter. Products that blend glucose and fructose use a second absorption pathway (GLUT5), which is why a sensible 1:1 glucose-to-fructose ratio lets you comfortably tolerate higher hourly intakes with far less risk of gut distress. A bargain fuel that leaves you doubled over at mile 18 is the most expensive thing you will ever buy.
Buy in Bulk, Portion It Yourself
The single-serve sachet is the most profitable object in sports nutrition. You are paying for the wrapper, the filling line and the brand — not the fuel. Going bulk is the biggest lever you have:
- Bulk packs of chews or pastilles. Buy a 1kg bag, then portion your hourly dose into small zip bags or straight into a jersey pocket or soft flask. Sixty seconds of prep replaces a £2 wrapper.
- Make your own drink mix. Maltodextrin and fructose bought separately cost pennies per 30g. Blend 2:1 or 1:1, add a pinch of salt (aim for 300–600mg sodium per hour in warm conditions) and a splash of squash for flavour.
- Use real food for the easy hours. Bananas (~25g carbs), jam sandwiches, malt loaf and fig rolls are superb value for steady zone 2 work. Save the engineered fuel for high-intensity sessions and racing, when chewing and digesting real food gets harder.
A sensible hybrid approach — real food early, pastilles or drink mix late — often halves your fuelling bill without changing your carb intake at all.
Bulk fuel at banana prices
Mixed Fruit Energy Pastilles in a 1kg pack — 1:1 glucose to fructose, portioned by you, not a filling line.
Spend Where It Matters, Save Where It Doesn't
Not every product deserves a place in a budget strategy. Recovery is where marketing runs furthest ahead of evidence: for most amateur athletes, a glass of milk, a bowl of porridge or last night's leftovers within an hour or two of finishing covers protein and glycogen needs at a fraction of the cost of a branded recovery shake. Aim for roughly 20–30g of protein and 1g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight in the hours after a hard session and you have done 95% of the job.
Where paying a little more is justified: fuel you will actually eat deep into a hard event (palatability matters enormously at hour four), products with a proper glucose–fructose blend, and anything you are relying on for a goal race. Test everything in training first — wasting money is annoying, but wasting a race you trained six months for is worse.
What We Use at FTP Endurance Fuel
This cost-per-carb logic is essentially why FTP Endurance Fuel exists. We got tired of paying sachet prices for what is, chemically, sugar in a smart wrapper — so we make energy pastilles in 1kg bulk packs of Mixed Fruit and Tart Cherry, with a 1:1 glucose-to-fructose ratio for efficient absorption. You portion out what you need per session, and the cost per hour of fuelling lands around the price of a banana rather than the price of a pint.
The tart cherry version pulls double duty: Montmorency tart cherry is naturally rich in anthocyanins, compounds shown in multiple studies to reduce markers of oxidative stress and muscle soreness after hard exercise — so your during-session fuel quietly contributes to recovery too, which is one less product to buy. If you want to try before committing to a kilo, there is a small taster pack for exactly that purpose.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest way to fuel cycling and running?
Buy your staple carbohydrate in bulk — 1kg packs of pastilles work out at roughly £1 per 30g of carbs versus £2–£3 for single-serve gels — use real food like bananas and malt loaf for easy sessions, and make your own drink mix from maltodextrin and fructose for pennies per serving.
Are expensive energy gels worth the money?
You are largely paying for the wrapper, the filling line and the brand rather than the fuel — your muscles cannot tell the difference between glucose from a £2.50 sachet and glucose that cost a fifth of that. What matters is the carbohydrate type, the dose and the timing, not the packaging.
Can I just use supermarket sweets or real food instead of sports nutrition?
For steady, easy-paced hours, absolutely — bananas, jam sandwiches, malt loaf and fig rolls are superb value. For high-intensity sessions and racing, a proper glucose-fructose blend earns its place, because chewing and digesting real food gets harder and absorption matters more.
Is under-fuelling a good way to save money?
No — it is the most expensive false economy in endurance sport. Skipping fuel leaves you depleted, slows recovery and reduces the adaptation from training you already paid for in time and effort. If the budget is tight, cut the packaging, not the carbs.
Sports nutrition on a budget is not about cutting corners — it is about refusing to pay packaging prices for carbohydrate. Work out your cost per 30g, buy your staple fuel in bulk, lean on real food for easy sessions, and keep your hourly carb targets exactly where they should be. Your training quality goes up, your monthly spend goes down, and the only thing you give up is the wrapper. If you want to see how far a kilo goes, have a look at our bundle deals — built for athletes who fuel every week, not just on race day.
Mixed Fruit Pastilles 1kg
A full kilo of 1:1 glucose-fructose fuel — portion it yourself and skip the wrapper tax.
£44.99
Shop now
Tart Cherry Pastilles 1kg
Fuel and recovery support in one — one less product to buy.
£42.99
Shop now
