Review - Balance Bar, Lemon Meringue Crunch

Brand:  Balance

Flavor:  Lemon Meringue Crunch

Where to get it: here @ Bodybuilding.com

                Lemon is my very favorite “sweet thing” flavor. I found this bar to be rock solid on the lemon, but there really wasn’t much crunch to it. It wasn’t a bad bar, but it did have that sort of chalky protein feel to it, and a little bit of an aftertaste as well. It’s also a 200-calorie bar, and to me it isn’t good enough knowing what other snacks I could wheedle into my face for that amount – an apple sauce, a light string cheese, and a 100-calorie pack of Nilla wafers! All in all it wasn’t bad, but there are better bars out there for the calories, in my opinion. And look at all those ingredients. Yikes.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Lemon-y protein powder

Taste rating:  6.5/10

What’s in it:

Review - Yum Earth Organics Fruit Snacks

Brand:  Yum Earth Organics

Flavor:  Fruit Snacks

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                I was intrigued by these little guys because they weren’t conventionally flavored. Raspberry, mango and pineapple – yes please! Sadly, this bag contained exactly one mango and one pineapple gummy with the rest being raspberry. Not sadly, the raspberry was my 2^nd favorite flavor, behind the pineapple. The fruit flavors are true to form, and the texture was actually more like Dots than your standard gummy bear product. This lead to quite a bit of I CAN’T GET THEM OUT OF MY TEETH, but they were tasty, nonetheless.

               

Tastes like:  Fruit gummies, go figure

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Organic, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Vegan, all-natural

What’s in it:

Review - Simply 7 Pomegranate Chips

Brand:  Simply 7

Flavor:  Pomegranate Chips

Where to get it: here @ Simply 7

                Ohhhhhh salty! Yes. I like it. Disclaimer, these are not chips made of pomegranates, nor are they pomegranates that have been chipped. They are potato chips that have pomegranate powder added to them. You can taste it, a little bit. If you want a delicious salty snack , buy these. If you want a fruit snack, or a snack made of fruit, these are not the chips you seek. But they sure are pretty! Personally, I’ll be sticking with Simply 7’s quinoa chips when I need a fix – less calories, and a decent amount of protein. But these were fun to try!

               

Tastes like:  Salty potato chips with a little extra

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Kosher, Gluten free, all natural, Made in the USA, Non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan

What’s in it:

Review - Labrada Peanut Butter & Jelly Lean Body Gold Protein Bar

Brand:  Labrada Nutrition

Flavor:  Peanut Butter & Jelly Lean Body Gold Protein Bar

Where to get it: here @ Bodybuilding.com

                It has gotten to the point where if I have a bro bar to review, I put it off as long as possible. They are just always so bad! And when they aren’t completely repulsive, they are never something I would eat again on purpose. I feel like the addition of the peanuts on top of this bar made all the difference. I can’t lie, it was totally delicious. The cross-section shows a clear separation of peanut butter, jelly, and peanut/chocolate topping. There is no strong sugar alcohol taste, and there is also no weird whey protein taste. That being said, this IS a bro bar - 350 calories in the whole thing, so this is a whole meal (not a snack) if you’re trying to lose weight. This is the best of the bunch I've tried, for sure.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Chocolate & peanuts!

Taste rating:  8/10

What’s in it:

Review - Trader Joe's Apple Bars

Brand:  Trader Joe’s

Flavor:  Apple + assorted

Where to get it: In all Trader's Joe's stores

                When I first opened one of these bars I thought there were oats in it - it was so crumbly. It’s all fruit though, which is a little strange on the mouth-feels. If you like dehydrated apples, you will love these bars. The flavor is true to the fruits listed on the front, it’s just texturally a little weird and dry. I popped the second one that I tried in the fridge and it was a bit better cold.

               

Tastes like:  Dried apples & crumbly bits

Taste rating:  6/10

Qualities:  Vegan, Vegetarian

What’s in it: Apple and (Banana, or Mango, or Strawberry, or Coconut).

Review - Element Rice Cakes

Brand:  Element

Flavor:  Sweet Orange Rice Cakes

Where to get it: here @ Element Snacks

                I’m not hardcore enough to just eat a rice cake. As a child, I ate them with peanut butter and BUTTER slathered on them. While they tasted delicious, that kind of defeats the purpose of choosing a rice cake as a snack in the first place. I was VERY intrigued by these Element rice cakes, already slathered in a rich and fruity yogurt coating, and much better for me than a peanut butter, butter bomb. I did more experimenting with these rice cakes than you would think might be possible – I took bites rice cake-side down, I took bites yogurt-side down, I even dipped a bite in my tea. I'm so out of control sometimes. The verdict is – they are super good. If you’re looking for a different snack because you’re burning out on your ol’ faithfuls, definitely get a pack or 5 of these.

                 

               

Tastes like:  A puffy-sweet-rice-fruit punch to the face

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, Gluten-free, all natural, Vegetarian

What’s in it:

Review - Positive Energy Caffeinated Orange Juice

Brand:  Positive Energy

Flavor:  Caffeinated Orange Juice (!)

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                WHY HAS NO ONE THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE?? I just want to bask in the glory of this genius-ness for a minute. I don’t like coffee. I’m like, the worst at being a Washingtonian. Full disclosure:  I usually drink a bottle of Diet Coke in the morning. Then I drink iced tea all day. But, juice with caffeine in it?? I feel like people would judge me a lot less if I had this in my hand at 7 am. Yes, I see your stares, Judgey McJudgersons. Anyway, this tastes mostly like any standard orange juice, but there’s a little bit of a burn. Kind of an after-burn situation, but it’s not unpleasant. I really see no reason to ever drink regular orange juice again. Does anyone have any vodka?

                 

               

Tastes like:  OJ & cayenne

Taste rating:  9/10

Qualities:   Gluten-free, Kosher, Non-GMO

What’s in it:

Review: Goldbaum's Pop Potato Chips

Brand:  Goldbaum’s

Flavor:  Pop Potato Onion & Garlic

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                Goldbaum’s has so many “chip alternative” products…I’m becoming kind of fascinated with them all. Great packaging, great natural-ness, and I feel like the serving sizes are really good for the small amount of calories. These dudes have 70 calories in a bag, whereas we’d be looking at over 150 for any of the mass-market “o’s” chips for the same amount. I can dig it like a grave. (Don’t.) Plus, the amount of flavor in these little guys is off the charts! I hate it when flavored chips have a “hint” of something. If I didn’t want flavor, I’d buy plain. You get these, you’re all about that onion.

               

Tastes like:  Sour cream & onion Pringles without the oil

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  Kosher, Gluten free

What’s in it: