What mandatory items do YOU carry in your pack?

Swedish fish are a chewy candy - sort of like gummy bears. I think of them as "Ballard Gu".

Bananas are good, but raw ones fail the "100+ calories per ounce" test, I think. Some of the dried bananas are really good, but not available where I usually buy groceries.

I'm constantly trying different bars and candy and things, getting tired of them, and moving on to something else. Lately its Nutri-Grain bars, Nature Valley "Sweet & Salty" bars, Swedish fish, Hershey's Special Dark Nuggets, mixed nuts, and summer sausage. Very important, that sausage. My stomach likes some fat when I'm in the hills. Granola bars, nuts and candy get old pretty quickly.

I've had pretty good luck on long backcountry trips with a mixture of trail mix (get the kind w/ lots of large nuts & small chocolates), dried apricots, a Cliff bar, a couple of pepporoni sticks (from the local store Farmer's Helper) & gummi worms.  The pepporoni sticks are the most savored of all.  They're made with local beef & pork & are very flavorful - they come in a large pack of about 20 sticks that can be put in the freezer.  This combination can keep me going all day long.  Summer sausage works well too - though I usually leave it in camp and make cold sandwiches with it when get back from a long day!

I grew up on Ballard Gu and now that you mention them I might just have to return to my youth. Red ones!

I agree with you about fat. I always find myself craving it in the mountains - paddling trips as well.

Snickers? Payday bars? Swedish fish? I'm still on the lookout for the perfect energy food for cheapskates.

I can't stand energy bars, I can choke down the energy gels, so what I use to bring was was gummy bears. However, my new favorite is Sharkies ( www.sharkiesinc.com/index2.cfm ), they taste like gummy bears and get get stuck in your teeth like swedish fish. The interesting part is that sharkies claim to be a healthy energy food.

And although you can't get sharkies at the Ballard Safeway, they do have them at the Ballard Market 

Continuing with the drift, I don't use performance foods either. They're generally both expensive and unappetizing.

How about the Reese's Big Cup? I've taken a serious shine to these babies recently. It's the same radius as a normal Cup, with twice as much PB filling. YEAH. "PACKS SOME SERIOUS PEANUT BUTTER!"

(Edit because the excamation point is crucial.)

I too have a Dakine Blade Pack and carry pretty much the same items as Alpymarr but with one exception: I've found that if I plan well enough I can find the time to slip several nice microbrews (insulated in my extra gloves, hats and balaclava) in my partners packs and they never know it until we find that choice time to savor them. Usually they are so stoked to have 'em that they let the little fact that I put 'em in their pack go.
You should see the look on their face when someone says "a cold beer would sure be nice right now" and I say "hey, check out what I put in your pack." As mastercard would say "Priceless."