Review - Exo Cricket Flour Protein Bars

Brand:  Exo

Flavor:  Apple Cinnamon Protein Bar

Where to get it: here @ ExoProtein.com

                Let's talk about bugs ba-by, let's talk about you and me-e, let's talk about all the good things and the bad thing that we eeeeeeeeeeaaaat...

Have you heard of these Exo protein bars? If not, the thing that makes them noteworthy (and somewhat newsworthy), is that the protein source is crickets. *Gasp* BUGS?!?!? Amigawd, how like, totally disgusting, right?? Well...perhaps a little perspective will help with this one:

I'm guessing that a lot of the treats you eat semi-regularly, or have at least tried a time or two without repulsion of any sort, contain bugs. Not bugs like accidental bugs-fell-into-the-vat-at-the-warehouse bugs, but bugs, as an ingredient, on purpose. Don't believe me? Junior Mints, Birthday Cake Oreos, Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, Mike & Ike's, Hot Tamales and many other products contain Confectioner's Glaze. Confectioner's Glaze is almost always made from beetles. (There is a plant-based alternative, but it's much more expensive, and is rarely used in the US.) These little ground up (female) Lac Beetles are what make those movie-time treats shiny.

So, now that we've hopefully established a path of logic that won't make you disregard a sustainable protein bar because it's made out of bugs, and you don't eat bugs (except when you do), let's talk about the actual product at hand, sans the bug issue.

Crickets have kind of a nutty flavor, so it's smart that the first ingredient in this bar is almonds, which helps to harmonize any weird trigger your brain might start to attach to being "bug-flavored". The bar itself tasted kind of like a nut bread...maybe if you made banana nut bread and left out the bananas. It's soft and has a good texture, but is high in fat 14g (almonds, flax, coconut), and you can actually see it leave your fingers shiny. There are also 26g carbs - 16 of which are sugar (honey and fruits). At 290 calories, 16g sugar & 14g fat...that's a lot of macro-fudging for just 10g protein.

Don't get me wrong, I love this idea. There's no nasty, chalky protein cloud swirling around ruining your mouth for 10 minutes after you've finished the bar. Sustainable cricket flour is a great idea, and this bar is full of all natural ingredients. I can live with the fat, because it adds up in a hurry when you're dealing with nuts, but I feel like there is something that could be done about the sugar content here. Swap the honey for some Stevia? Ditch the plum paste for applesauce (the apple flavor wasn't very strong)? I don't know what works and what doesn't, but there's gotta be a way here without affecting the taste too much.

At any rate, I think this is a great idea, and I hope Exo keeps growing and expanding. You're eating bugs anyway, at least Exo has the balls to tell you about it up front.

               

Tastes like:  Nutty bread

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Made in the USA

What's in it:

Chipz Happen, and they're freakin' awesome!

                A short while ago I wrote this review about some chips (Chipz, as it were) that had me over the moon. Well, the nice people who make these Chipz noticed, and were just heartbroken that I had only been able to try one of the four flavors that they make, so they sent me a big ol’ delicious box of their Chipz! Alright, maaaaaaaaybe heartbroken is a stretch and they didn’t use those exact words, but the end result was the same – Chipz have happened to me!

                The three flavors that I hadn’t tried are Himalayan Pink Salt, Spice-z Parmesan Garlic, and Cinnful  Sweet Heat. They also included the Parmesan Garlic which I had tried, and honestly I’m pretty thrilled to have more of. The Himalayan Pink Salt and Cinnful Sweet Heat are vegan, so there’s really no reason for anyone to have to miss out on these snacks.

                Something else these fine folks have done is start the Kidz Happen Foundation - kidzHappen.org. This foundation awards scholarships to kids who might not be able to attend college without financial assistance. Chipz Happen donates a percent of their sales to these kids. As a small business, this isn’t something they’re obligated to do for PR reasons, or to get a big tax break at the end of the year, this is something that they have wanted to do for the sake of the kids. That’s a big deal.

                Thanks again for the love, Chipz Happen. Small businesses with fantastic products are the reason I’m here, eating my way through the best snacks I can get my grabby little hands on. Not only are these chipz totally delicious (which I said even before they sent me goodies, so don’t accuse me of taking bribes!), but they sure do care about their product, their reputation, and their customers.

                Have Chipz Happen-ed to you yet? Don’t pass them up if you get the chance!

The site!

Buy the Chipz!

And don't forget kidzHappen!

Review - Good Kid Bar

Brand:  Good Kid Bar

Flavor:  Apple Cinnamon

Where to get it: here @ goodkidfoods.com

                 I’ve tried a few nut-free bars now that are created specifically for kids with nut allergies, and also for school-safeness, I assume, and none of them are very good. I’m not really getting the correlation of how nuts have to be present in a granola or snack bar to make it taste good, but apparently that is the case. This is another example of a very meh nut-free bar. Texture…just sort of “there”. Taste…alright, but has a weird aftertaste that I have no idea how to place. There are just too many other bars to choose from to choose this one, sadly.

               

Tastes like: 

Taste rating:  5/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Non-GMO, vegetarian

What’s in it:

Review - Supreme Protein Bar

Brand:  Supreme Protein

Flavor:  Apple Cinnamon Morning Protein Bar

Where to get it: here @ BodyBuilding.com

                Well hello, adorable little oats stapled all over the top of this bar! I like you. You make me feel like I’m eating a bar where some of the ingredients might actually exist outside of a lab. This is a great little bar, especially if you eat it for breakfast, as the package recommends. 180 calories is very reasonable, and the apple cinnamon taste is pretty good. Additionally, you get 15g of protein. If you’re a person who eats Nutrigrain bars or any kind of granola bars with your breakfast, you should definitely try this and get a little extra protein for your buck.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Just shy of natural apple cinnamon (I’ll take it though)

Taste rating:  6.5/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review - Kay's Naturals Protein Pretzels

Brand:  Kay’s Naturals

Flavor:  Cinnamon Toast Protein Pretzels

Where to get it: here @ KaysNaturals.com

                When I was in grade school we were often served this strange-looking blob of sticky rice with our lunches. As far as I could tell, it was just cinnamon, sugar, and rice, but I have been unsuccessful at recreating the concoction in my adulthood. Enter these protein pretzels from Kay’s Naturals, and BOOM! I’m right back to being a happy, porky 4^th grader. Now, obviously pretzels are not rice, but the flavor is so much the same that I absolutely squealed with glee, to the surprise of most of my coworkers. I didn’t even both to try to explain to them why a bag of seemingly ordinary pretzels was giving me such delight, I don’t think they’d get it.

                Oh and before I get too carried away (too late…), I should mention that if you want to eat pretzels, these are CRAZY full of protein – 12g in the 120 calorie-size bag. They only have 15g of carbs – I say “only” because they are PRETZELS and they have almost as many grams of protein as they do carbs. That’s pretty kickass.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Cinnamon sugar rice from the lunch lady

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Vegetarian, Kosher, Gluten free

What’s in it:

Christmas Eve Review: Bananinha

Brand:  Nutryvitta

Flavor:  Bananinha

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                I’ve had a lot of snacks that have, in some way, involved dried, pureed, or dehydrated bananas. I really like bananas, but I haven’t found a lot of snacks that incorporate it in a palatable manner. Until now! These little bars come from Brazil, where this is (apparently?) a pretty common snack. The bar I tried was the cinnamon & sugar version (you can get them without), and I really feel like the cinnamon is what set this bar off. It almost tastes like chewy gingerbread, and it actually doesn’t taste as strongly of banana. This is a very unique snack and I really enjoyed it. I know I’m not doing a very good job of explaining why this is good. Just eat one and forgive me for failing you.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Chewy banana chai tea (in a good way)

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  All-natural, Gluten-free

I am also assuming this is vegetarian and vegan, although the label doesn't say so.

What’s in it: I could only find it in Portuguese (Calories, Fat, Carbohydrates, Protein)

Review: Enjoy Life Cinnamon Bun Bar

Brand:  Enjoy Life

Flavor:  Cinnamon Bun Bar

Where to get it: here @ Abe's Market

                Cinnamon? Yes! Cinnamon bun? Not so much. Enjoy Life does such a good job marketing their products that I was pretty much convinced that I would think eating one of these soft-baked bars would be 90% as good as eating an actual cinnamon roll. I think I set my expectations a little too high, so let’s just disregard all that madness and talk like rational snackers. The bars are soft, chewy, and very cinnamon-y. If you have Celiac disease I would think that these bars are probably pretty exceptional given some of the other snack choices out there for you. I found myself wanting them to be oat-y, which of course they are not, and I can eat all the gluten I want. If you like cinnamon and you like that quinoa/rice texture common to these bars, these are certainly for you.

                 

               

Tastes like:  Cinnamon quinoa

Taste rating:  6/10

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

What’s in it:

Review: Skeeter Nut-Free Cinnamon Grahams

Brand:  Skeeter Nut Free

Flavor:  Cinnamon Grahams

Where to get it: here @ Amazon

                I don’t have a nut allergy of any kind, so the nut-free aspect of this snack isn’t really important to me, but I know it certainly is to a lot of people and their children, since peanut allergies are serious business. So, all that aside, these are delicious! There is a goodly amount of cinnamon in them, which I love. I much prefer these to Teddy Grahams, it could be my imagination, but they taste a lot more like “real” food to me. Maybe it’s a real thing, maybe it’s the “all natural” marketing worming its way into my brain. I don’t care. And of course, I love the 1 oz. bag size. EVERYTHING SHOULD BE AVAILABLE IN SINGLE-SERVINGS, without costing 50x more than a 1 lb. sack. Rant over. If you like graham snacks, eat these!

               

Tastes like:  A crunchy cinnamon dream

Taste rating:  9/10

What’s in it: