I regularly find that I have a need for some kind of densely packed nutritious calorie object that is not a handful of trail mix. Hiking or horseback riding or snowshoeing, I run out of calories far from home. But I have not found any commercial product that tastes good.
Periodically I buy a sampler of the offerings of my local hippie coop grocery store – Power Bars, Larabars, Tigers Milk, and others I can’t remember. They are all nasty.
I’ve even tried making my own but it’s harder than it looks; mainly it’s hard to get the ingredients to stick together.
Anyone have a favorite brand or a favorite recipe?
I rode ten miles today over difficult steep ground, took almost three hours (plus the half hour to tack up and 45 minutes to wash off my horse and clean everything afterward). I did okay with chocolate chip oatmeal cookies my husband made, and an apple and water, in my saddlebag.
Think I should just stick with cookies? They sure taste better!
Seconding the Kind bars. Also, Trader Joe’s has a bunch of similar products, i.e. dried fruits and nuts glued together with some chocolate or peanut butter, as opposed to the solidified puree that you don’t seem to like. It’s basically trail mix in bar form. Personally, though, I think you’re crazy for not liking Power Bars. I wish they were as healthy as they pretend to be; I would live on them.
As long as they work for you, no problem. Though they’re likely high in fat, depending on the recipe. Which would also lead to possibly consuming more calories than you’re burning off.
The ones I’ve been eating (dark chocolate nuts & sea salt) have as the first ingredients almonds, peanuts and chicory root fiber, followed by honey, palm kernel oil, sugar, glucose syrup, rice flour, etc. Does that sound like a candy bar?
Hell, yes! Life’s too short to eat crumbly, tasteless protein bars.
Now, given that, I do like Kind bars and Clif bars (their chocolate brownie flavor has a nice dark chocolate taste, but eat 'em while they’re fresh, they’re doorstops after a month or so). And they are cheap at TJ’s!
I’m not a huge fan of protein bars. I’ll eat one as a bedtime snack once in a while. Most of them have mediocre taste and texture. I think the best ones are made by, and sold at Costco. They are moderately tasty and also high in fibre.
But if you are burning a lot of calories and feeling sluggish, this is actually a good time to eat something sugary. Perhaps you want your body to build muscle. Consuming some sugar during strenuous exercise is unlikely to be stored as fat. So a few cookies or even a chocolate bar is fine. Add some fruit, a small bag of almonds and some beef jerky or a cheese stick and you are getting (mostly) healthy protein and needed energy.
I’m partial to the Rx bars, which have 3 egg whites, some nuts and dates. They’re a bit dense and chewy, but when I have no time to make eggs (I try to avoid carbs in the morning) they stick with me most of the day. They come in multiple flavors.
Yes. It’s sugar and fat, kind of the definition of candy bar. Nuts do have protein but they are proportionately high in fat and calories.
BTW, I like Kind bars too. Trader Joe’s also does carry some good trail mixes and fruit/nut/energy bars, in a wide enough range to keep me from boredom. I also endorse the Rx bars mentioned directly above, tasty and a fair bit of protein also. You do need to like dates though, as that forms their base. Lots of variety and flavors with them also.
I get Nature Valley Fruit & Nut bars. They’re not crumbly granola, but kind of chewy, with almonds and cranberries. They have more protein and few calories than all the other bars at Costco. They’re also cheap, which is nice.
There are at least three separate sweeteners listed (I don’t know what’s in your “etc.”) If the honey (ingredient #4), sugar (ingredient #6), and glucose syrup (ingredient #7) were all rolled in together, I bet they’d be ingredient #1 or #2.
Nearly all these things are too sweet for me. If I want a candy bar, then I want a candy bar (sometimes I do.) If I want a fast lunch-substitute out in the field, then I don’t want a candy bar. Cascadian Farms are better than most, but they’ve taken to adding a layer of chocolate to everything and aren’t as good as they used to be (for my purposes.)
Quest Bars are very good. High protein, low net carbs. They vary by flavor, but are typically 20g of protein, and 20g of carbs with around 15g of the carbs being fiber. Some of the flavors are better than others, and they cost a bit under $3 a bar.
Peanut butter crackers are a great on the go snack imo. You could make a relatively healthy version yourself with whole grain crackers, or of course there are many commercially made ones.
Kind bars are great. Think Thin bars are very good.