Review - Amrita Energy Bar

Brand:  Amrita

Flavor:  Energy Bar, Protein Bar

Where to get it: here @ AmritaHealthFoods.com

                I have such a hard time with raw bars. Is it me? Someone please let me know. I feel like if I was on a raw diet, I would only be able to eat fruit, veggies, and nuts. The presence of sesame in the Apple Cinnamon Energy Bar just killed this for me. I like sesame, and I also like apples. I guess together…not so much. I was actually surprised to see that there was no flax in the bar, it was that “seedily bitter”. I’ll keep trying the raw products, but for now I’m solidly in the “please cook my food” camp.

               

Tastes like:   Cinnamon and sesame

Taste rating:  3/10

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

What’s in it:

Review - Naturalia Fruit Wich

Brand:  Naturalia

Flavor:  Pineapple Mango Fruit Wich

Where to get it: Looks to be available in HEB stores, I couldn't find anywhere online. 

                Another super creative fruit snack! It really does surprise me that a company can take literally just fruit and turn it into a unique snack. This snack contains pineapple and mango – nothing else, and it’s still super unique. It’s not a bar or leather, it’s crispy little chippies that taste like fruit, but don’t disintegrate like an actual chip. More than once, I’ve eaten so much pineapple that my mouth has taken on that weird-acid-pain-uh-oh feeling. The presence of the mango tempers that acidic pineapple situation quite a bit, which makes it really nice while still having the pineapple taste.

               

Tastes like:   Less acidic pineapple

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:   Gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, all-natural, raw, Non-GMO

What’s in it:

Review - Bite Fuel Power Bites

Brand:  Bite Fuel

Flavor:  Power Bites Protein Cookies

Where to get it: here @ BiteFuel.com

                I’ve had some pretty good luck with protein cookies lately, so I was really interested in trying these little dudes. They’re smaller, almost like you’re eating a “real” mass-produced grocery store cookie out of the delicious rows in their cellophane packaging. Unfortunately, I hated the taste on these guys. They’re as sweet as a Quest bar, with that overwhelming weird protein powder taste and aftertaste. I suppose if you were STARVING and hadn’t had anything but bland chicken and unsalted green beans for a couple of weeks, these might hit the spot…but otherwise, take a pass.

               

Tastes like:   Protein powder and sugar alcohol

Taste rating:  2/10

Qualities:   Non-GMO, Gluten free

What’s in it:

Review - Rise Bar

Brand:  Rise Bar

Flavor:  Almond Honey Mini Protein Bar

Where to get it: here @ RiseBar.com

I really enjoy a true-honey taste, and this bar provides that really nicely. It’s literally made of almonds, honey, and whey protein isolate. I don’t think you’ll find a more straight-forward protein bar on the market, anywhere.

Imagine taking a scoop of your favorite protein powder. Now, smash up some almonds, and then glob it all together with a nice dollop of honey. Gross right? Rise Bar takes the dirty work out of the process, but gives you exactly that. The blueberry coconut energy bar has more ingredients, but they’re all whole ingredients – no weird stuff.

               

If you’re into simplicity that tastes pretty good to boot – Rise Bar is YOUR bar.

               

Tastes like:   Subdued Honey

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:   Non-GMO, Gluten free, Kosher

What’s in it:

Review - Freeyumm Apple Oat Bar

Brand:  Freeyumm

Flavor:  Honey Apple Oat Bar

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                It’s a good thing this bar was snack-size, because it was gone before I even realized I was chewing. It’s like a cross between a cereal bar (think Nutrigrain with the apple goo in the middle) and a chewy granola bar…and it’s about 100x better than either of those. Oat-y, apple-y, cinnamon-y, and really just all together a great little snack. The ingredients aren’t scary, either – all normal, easily-recognizable-as-food ingredients. They’re also pretty much allergen-free, so they’re safe for all the kiddos at school…if you can bear to part with them.        

Tastes like:   Apples n’ oats!

Taste rating:  10/10

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

What’s in it:

Review - Brami Beans

Brand:  Brami

Flavor:  Snacking Lupini Beans

Where to get it: here @ BramiBeans.com

                Everything about these beans is ADORABLE. The packaging, the little bean dressed up as a Trojan warrior, the other little bean on the back who’s naked; I die. Small size, delicious taste, great package, nutrition on point, all the yes. 50 calories per little vacuum pack, which includes 6g of protein. Plus, they’re DELICIOUS. A little bit salty, and like edamame, but less nutty. Eating them out of the package is completely permissible. I put these on a salad (after I knicked two of them to eat plain), and that was also delicious.

I went to Palm Springs for Spring Break one year in high school. I went to a restaurant with my grandmother, and their little house salads came with garbanzo beans in them. 16-year old small town me was FASCINATED by this, so I’ve been a big bean-on-salad fan ever since. I actually liked these better than the garbanzos that I typically use, because there’s not such an overpowering “earthy dirt” taste with these. With the garbanzos, I feel like I really have to use a vinegar-based dressing to make it work; with these I think I could really use anything at all and be happy with the addition.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Slightly salty snacky beans

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan, Gluten free

What’s in it:

Review - Health Warrior Chia Protein Bars

Brand:  Health Warrior

Flavor:  Chia Protein Bars

Where to get it: here @ HealthWarrior.com

                I really like chia seeds. They don’t taste like much, but I kind of love how they get stuck in my teeth and then turn just a teensy bit gummy. Don’t judge me, sometimes it’s the little things in a day that make me happy. I am really starting to dig it when companies don’t try to go overboard with their protein products. Your body can really only absorb so much protein at a time before it turns into fat like everything else, anyway.10g of protein in these bars, and all plant-based, so everyone can enjoy it. No weird protein taste like those bars that pack in 20+ grams. They are flavored, but I found the flavors to be totally mellow, just enough to keep them from tasting too plain or too savory. Grams of sugar are totally realistic as well, just 10, same as the protein. This is a great-tasting and super well-rounded bar.

               

Tastes like:   A mellow bar for everyone

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:   Gluten-free, vegan*, vegetarian, Kosher, Non-GMO

*The bars are labeled as 100% vegan, but the Honey Almond flavor contains organic honey, so I don’t see how that could be true in the case of that flavor. Honey does not appear to be present in the other flavors.

What’s in it:

Reiew - Kutoa Bars

Brand:  Kutoa

Flavor:  Various

Where to get it: here @ Kutoa.com

                 I love the packaging, I love the flavor variety, I love that for every bar that they sell, Kutoa donates a meal to a child in need. Unfortunately, I didn’t love the taste. They weren’t terrible - they were just rather bland with an unexciting look, texture, and smell. The Cherry Cashew tasted a little like coffee to me, for no discernible reason. I decided that wasn’t going to give me a fair assessment of the whole product line, so I then tried the Peanut Butter & Jelly bar. It was better, and didn’t taste like anything that wasn’t in the ingredients list, but it was pretty bland.  

               

Tastes like:  Lightly flavored grains  

Taste rating:  4/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan

What’s in it

Review - Protings

Brand:  Pro Tings

Flavor:  Sea Salt

Where to get it: here @ Protings.com

                Finally, a crisp that’s not just a potato product marketed as health food. This is a legitimately healthy alternative to potato chips. 130 calories in the 1 oz. bag, and a whopping 15 g of (vegan!) protein. To me, the taste was just alright though. The chips are extremely brittle, leaving very few intact chips in the bag, and many, many tiny pieces. Additionally, the picture on the cover looks nothing like the actual product. The cover looks like pita chips. The actual chips are darker brown, studded with flax seeds, and kind of curled up around the edge. As I mentioned before, they’re really brittle, but kind of sog up in your mouth quickly. I think these are probably best eaten with a yogurt dip or pico de gallo of some kind, rather than straight from the bag.

               

Tastes like:  Brittle bean board

Taste rating:  5/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Non-GMO, Kosher, Vegetarian, Vegan, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review - Yes Bar

Brand:  Yes Bar

Flavor:  Macadamia Chocolate Chip

Where to get it: here @ TheYesBar.com

                 200 calories and 140 of them are from fat, so I guess saying it tastes “seedy” is kind of stating the obvious here. Keep in mind that “low fat” usually really means “high carb” before you start putting your eyebrows up at a stick of anything that isn’t butter with that high of a percentage of calories from fat. Nuts and seeds are our friends, remember? Weirdly enough, I don’t remember ever having a nuts and seeds bar that also had a good dark chocolate presence in it like this one does. The texture is nice and soft without being crumbly, and the bold chocolate flavor is a really nice complement to the nuttiness of it all.

               

Tastes like:  Dark chocolate & seeds  

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Non-GMO, vegetarian

What’s in it:

Review - Nutiva O'Coconut

Brand:  Nutiva

Flavor:  O’Coconut Classic

Where to get it: here @ Nutiva.com

                O’Coconut, O’Coconut, I wish you were more than twoooooooo biiiiiiiites. Have you guys tried some of those raw macaroons that are on the market now? The ones that are really super delicious? These little treats make those delicious macaroons seem just average. They are softer, chewier, and every bit as coconutty. If they come in a bigger bag, I don’t think I want to know about it. If they come in more flavors, I don’t think I want to know about that either. Although I bet they’d be good covered in chocolate, or peanut butter…or raspberry jam….Phew. Thanks, Nutiva, these are great little treats, I tell you what.

               

Tastes like:  The guts from an Almond Joy  

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, USDA Organic, vegetarian, vegan

What’s in it:

Review - Bare Deelights BOA Bar

Brand:  Bare Deelights

Flavor:  Chocolate BOA Bar

Where to get it: here @ TheBOABar.com

                 I think this bar had a more distinct “banana bread” flavor than many other products that I’ve tried that claimed to be “banana bread” flavor. The bananas and oats are a really nice complement to each other there, and this bar doesn’t add a bunch of unnecessary junk to complicate the matter. No pumpkin seeds, no flax (barf), and no weird soy crisp chunks. THANK GOODNESS. I think I would have liked this bar a little better without the chocolate, just because I’m not a chocolate person, but it wasn’t an overpowering presence. That’s not a knock against the bar in any manner, that’s just me. The nutrition is just right for a good little snack, too – 160 calories, 8g fat, 7g protein, and only 4g sugars.

               

Tastes like:  Oaty banana

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan, Kosher, Gluten free, Made in the USA, USDA Organic

What’s in it:

Review - Nuts About Granola Forager Nut & Seed

Brand:  Nuts About Granola

Flavor:  Forager Original Nut & Seed

Where to get it: here @ NutsAboutGranola.com

                I appreciate people trying to be low carb, or Paleo, or Primal, or whatever you want to call it…I really do. But that means there are some things you are just going to have to live without. Potatoes, bread, even granola. I don’t really care if you make an oatless granola, but you can’t just throw nuts and seeds in a bag and call it granola. The presence of raisins in this bag makes this trail mix at best. Dried quinoa, millet, amaranth, I don’t really care if your granola is “untraditional”, but you have to have something in there.

                This is literally nuts, seeds, and raisins. This is not granola in any form. I’m not saying nuts and seeds are bad, but THEY ARE NOT GRANOLA. If you want granola, this won’t do. If you want to use this for anything you have traditionally used granola for in the past, this will also definitely not do. Also, it wasn’t even remarkable in any manner when evaluated on a “nuts & seeds” platform, rather than a granola one. Sorry guys, this is a big miss no matter what you call it.

               

Tastes like:  Nuts & seeds and not granola

Taste rating:  0 if you wanted granola, still just a 5 if you wanted nuts & seeds

Qualities:  Vegetarian, Kosher, Gluten free, Non-GMO

What’s in it:     

Review - Fly Joy Snack Bars

Brand:  Fly Joy

Flavor:  Cashew Cookie Dough Snack Bar

Where to get it: here @ FlyJoy.com

                 So good so good so good!! With all of the nutritional boxes that this bar checks, I really can’t believe how good it is! I have four flavors, but so far I have only eaten the Cashew Cookie Dough bar, and man, it’s (as I mentioned) SO GOOD. I really can’t explain the flavor much more than, it tastes exactly like chocolate chip cookie dough, but soft and chewy. It’s definitely on the sweet side, but what a fantastic treat. I would eat this over a traditional candy bar ten times out of ten. That includes Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which are my all-time bad girl favorite. The fat content is a really reasonable 8g, and I’m okay with the 24g of carbs (including 11g) of sugar, because darn it, sometimes you just need a treat – and there are much worse treats that you could choose. Caloric content under 200, and vegan to boot, this is one that you will want to buy by the box.

               

Tastes like:  Chocolate chip cookie dough

Taste rating:  10/10

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

What’s in it:

Review - Boundless Nutrition Perfect Cookie

Brand:  Boundless Nutrition

Flavor:  Perfect Cookie, Chocolate Chip

Where to get it: here @ VitaCost.com

                Protein cookies are just ALL the rage lately. To the uneducated, a lot of these cookies seem to be beckoning with a promise of cookie taste, but muscle-building protein shake nutrition. While they all definitely have more protein in them than a standard cookie, they should all be carefully evaluated for other nutritional factors as well, lest we fall into the trap of lying to ourselves. Oh and also, some of them just taste like absolute crap.

                The reason I really like these Perfect Cookie cookies is twofold. One:  they taste delicious. Not too much chocolate, not too much protein…honestly the taste is really just like eating a blob of delicious chocolate chip cookie dough. Who doesn’t love that?

                The second reason I really liked this cookie is because it’s small. Most of the other protein cookies I’ve tried seem to be obsessed with cramming 25g+ protein into them, which typically leads to a huge, gut busting 300+ calorie cookie that makes me feel super blah. These little guys are perfectly wonderful with just 10g of protein in them, and 150 calories – making them a snack, not a meal. They also donate a portion of their sales to cancer research. Can’t beat that, on any level.

               

Tastes like:   Cookie dough

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:   Gluten-free, Made in the USA, Non-GMO, All natural

What’s in it

Review - Dipperz

Brand:  Wonderfully Raw

Flavor:  Dipperz Cheezy

Where to get it: here @ mycocoroons.com

                I’ve had kale prepared like this, but I was super intrigued to see this 3-veggie mix coated in cashew cheese. Also, broccoli is one of my most favorite things, so this was even more exciting for me. Dipperz really earns the “z” in “cheezy” with these guys. The cheese presence is a heavy one, which is pretty exciting considering that these are vegan (so there’s no actual cheese in them). I liked the broccoli pieces best, they remained fluffier and held more of the coating, I found. The carrots and cauliflower kind of got all mixed up into a cheezy pile of stuff, but that’s alright, just tip the bag up into your face. Hands-free fun!         

               

Tastes like:  Cheezy veggies, but crunchy  

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Organic, Gluten free, Non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan, raw

What’s in it:

Review - Go Veggie! Dairy Free Parmesan

Brand:  Go Veggie

Flavor:  Grated Parmesan-Style Topping

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                I have quite a few vegan friends, and almost unanimously they will tell you that the hardest thing to stop eating is cheese. Fortunately there are a ton of dairy-free cheese alternatives on the market now – some pretty good, some terrible, but none completely indistinguishable from their milky counterparts.

                This parmesan alternative is thisclose. If you put on a pile of noodles with red sauce, I bet most people wouldn’t know the difference between this and the parmesan that comes in that green can. It’s just a teensy bit less salty, but to me that was really the only difference. Plus, I knew going into it that this wasn’t traditional parmesan. I wonder if I would have been able to tell if I hadn’t have known ahead of time? Maybe…but maybe not.

               

Tastes like:  Less salty parmesan cheese

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  vegetarian, vegan, Non-GMO, gluten free

What’s in it:    

Review - Funley's Super Crackers

Brand:  Funley’s

Flavor:  Pizza N Stuff Super Crackers

Where to get it: here @ Funleys.com

                I think that I expected these crackers to be more of a Cheez-It-type situation, and I may have done them a disservice coming in with this mindset. They really aren’t anything like those – they’re less flaky & fairly dense. They also don’t have a ton of flavor to them, which I was definitely expecting since I tried their pizza version. I actually ended up eating them with some carrot sriracha hummus because hey, a cracker is still a cracker, no need to toss the bag just because they don’t taste like the utter junk food you were expecting them to be. I am a little wary of the claim on the front of the package that they contain “superfood carrots in every bite”. Are carrots a superfood? Is there a hard-standard for what IS a “superfood”? I’m not sure, but if there is, I don’t think carrots really meet the criteria. They’re better than potato chips for you, sure, but they aren’t exactly kale…

               

Tastes like:   Mostly thick cracker with a little bit of seasoning

Taste rating:  5/10

Qualities:   Non-GMO, Kosher, all natural

What’s in it:

Review - Toosum Bar

Brand:  Toosum

Flavor:  Yogurt & Blueberries

Where to get it: here @ Toosum.com

                 You’re made in Seattle! You’re only 100 calories per bar! Please come here and let me love you! Awwww man, I don’t love you. Sad face. The bar does have a great blueberry presence, but that’s about the only thing worth mentioning. The texture is dry and sawdust-y, and the blueberry flavor isn’t enough to overpower the rest of the flavors in this bar. This bar is definitely not what you’re expecting from a “fruit and yogurt” bar.

               

Tastes like: 

Taste rating:  3/10

Qualities:  Non-GMO, Gluten-free, Made in the USA

What’s in it: