Gel alternative

No its called organic fruit smash.  Its nearly a liquid and comes in a little pouch similar to a gel.  the package is a little bigger than a gel but looks portable. 

Kind of.  Its apple based but the one I got has blueberries and strawberries too.  They had a bunch of different flavors

Its 100% organic and the ONLY ingredients are apples, blueberries and strawberries

Yes, my son eats and loves these.

Basically, think applesauce with a small amount of other fruit/veggie puree in a squeezable foil pouch about 2x-3x as big as a gel pack.  Very portable, very tasty.  gram for gram cheaper than "rapid energy sports gels"

For example, my 4 year old son loves the trader joe's apple carrot, apple banana, and apple strawberry "crushers". They are each 3.17 oz (90g) and come in a 4 pack for 2.99 ($0.75 each).  Each pouch is 60 calories and the ingredients are just fruit, fruit juice concentrate and ascorbic acid (vitamin C as preservative)

The Hammer Gel is 32.9 grams for usually about $1.00 and 90 calories and contains sugar, water, fruit puree, fruit juice, amino acids, ascorbic acid, and salt (electrolytes) 

That works out to be $0.008 per gram trader joes vs. hammer $0.03 per gram or roughly 4x more expensive per gram.  

Calorie for calorie the Trader Joes is $0.75 for 60cal or 0.0125 per calorie or $1.25 per 100 calories.  The Hammer is 1.00 for 90 calories so 0.0111 per calorie or $1.11 per 100 calories.

so clearly, the Hammer Gel is more calorie dense and contains more electrolytes and other additives and is also more expensive per unit. I figure I could carry about 2 Hammer gels in the same space I could carrry 1 trader joe's fruit crusher getting about 180 calories vs. 60 calories but spending about $2.00 vs $0.75.

Basically, it comes down to a question between space and money.  If you have more money than space  get the gel.  If you have more space and less money, go with the fruit puree pouches.

Exactly.  Personally I hate the taste of most gels (too sweet) and their consistency (too slimy).  These pouches are a bit bigger but smaller than some others I have seen.  the one I got has 70 calories and came in a 6 pack.  Also I know there are a lot of people out there with food allergies/food sensitivities who have troube finding gels they can use and since the one I got has ONLY fruit I thought I would share an alternative. 

It also gets metabolized by your liver, which is slower.

If you want natural complex carbs, look for some of the Allen Lim videos on youtube.  Potatoes, rice bars, things like that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwt-DUpKPYA

Add me to the group that loves those things for training!  I'm not sure I would race with them, but for a 2 hour trainer workout I really enjoy the applesauce squeezes.  I love the taste and don't eat much fruit so it's more nutritious than a Gu. 

(and Apple-Carrot from trader joe's is my fave!  I have some knockoffs from el cheapo supermarket in my fridge now and they're not nearly as delicious.