Crunchy Whole Grain Goodness That's Guaranteed To Please Even The Pickiest of People
Written: Mar 07 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice flavor combination, holds you over between meals, kids love them.
Cons: High in carbohydrates, food allergies, expensive if not on sale.
The Bottom Line: Looking for a bar that has great taste, a full serving of grain and will hold you over between meals? Look no further than PowerBar's Toffee Chocolate Chip Energy Bar!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Power Bar Harvest Whole Grain Dipped Energy Bar To... |
There are some bars that I just can’t eat, this is one of them. It has nothing to do with the taste or flavor combination, it’s the carbohydrates. Still, that doesn’t stop me from buying them for the brood and when I have a cheat day. I picked these up when they were on sale and I had some awesome coupons for them and ended paying almost nothing for them. Out of all the flavors, this is the most dangerous for me to have around. The blend of granola, soy crisps, toffee and mini chocolate chips is deadly to my diet so I have to eat small portions of them at any given time. To me it’s like a Wachamacallit bar and Skor bar; if you took those two candy bars and smashed them together, you’d get something that tastes almost like one of these. Marketed as an energy bar, it’s something that is better for you than most snacks but has a high calorie and carbohydrate count. These shouldn’t be used as a meal replacement bar or something to take the place of having a well balanced meal but if you are hungry, they will make a dent in your appetite.
PowerBar Harvest Whole Grain Energy Bars
Toffee Chocolate Chip
whole oats, brown rice syrup, cane juice, soy and rice crisps, barley malt, salt, peanut flour, honey, chocolate chips, soy protein isolate, almond butter
As I said, out of all the flavors, this is the one that tempts me the most. A lot of that can be chalked up to the flavor combination of it; you get chocolate and toffee but at the same time that crunchy and chewy mouthfeel from the granola and soy crisps. PowerBar says that this is an energy bar but what most people fail to realize is that a lot of that energy is coming from sugar [cane juice, honey] and while it might not have a lot straight sugar in it, the byproducts of it are present. Because this has a lot of ‘good’ things in it [granola, soy, oats] it’s a hell of a lot better than a regular candy bar or greasy potato chips but you can’t sit there and eat one after the other without it screwing with your insulin levels. For me, I eat about a fifth of it at a time, maybe that amount every three hours, just enough to give me a little bit of a chocolate fix but not enough to spin me completely out of ketosis.
Chances are you won’t get an awful or nasty after taste from this bar however if you experienced this from other products that contain soy, it might happen with this one. The ultimate test of how good a bar is in this house is how quickly they are consumed. You already know how I feel about them but would the brood agree? For the most part they really liked these, the only time they complained was when they ate them right after I got them home and they were ice cold from being in the SUV for a few hours. After they came to room temperature they were a lot easier to chew through. I’d rather have these around for them when they are rooting around for something to eat than to have them do the microwave popcorn routine or grab the potato chips. They aren’t huge junk food eaters but if it is there, they’ll sniff it out and eat it. Be sure to check the flap for the ‘best by’ date to ensure that you are getting fresh bars and if you are going to buy them by the box, look on the bottom of it.
Price
As I mentioned in the review of the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip flavor, I grabbed these when they were on sale for $1.15 and used a one dollar off coupon so I ended up paying fifteen cents for them. Most of the time these sell for anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 a piece; grocery stores, Wal-Mart and Target usually have them in the $1.50 range but gyms and convenience stores jack up the price. Are they worth it? Well, it all depends on what you are looking for from a bar; this isn’t low in carbohydrates so it isn’t something that I can have all the time but I will have one when I am off my diet or when one of the brood grab one. If you shop online you can check to see what the case price is but you should try one of these first before you blindly order one or you might get stuck with a case of twelve or twenty four bars that you don’t really care for.
The Stats
Calories: 250
Serving: 1 bar / 2.29 ounces
Fat: 5 grams
Protein: 10 grams
Carbohydrates: 42 grams
Sugar: 22 grams
Fiber 5 grams
Flavor Choices
The PowerBar Harvest Whole Grain Energy Bars come in variety of flavor combinations like Chunky Cherry Crunch, Apple Cinnamon Crisp, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Strawberry Crunch and this one, Toffee Chocolate Chip. Most of them are extremely tasty but aren’t the best pick if you are on a low carbohydrate diet because they are high in sugar. Be sure to read the nutritional panel to see the total amount of carbohydrates and the amount that comes directly from sugar. You can check the website [www.powerbar.com] to see if they have added new flavors. They also have dipped versions of some of these flavors however they aren’t the easiest to track down in retail stores. If you have trouble finding these bars, call their customer service team for help. [800] 58-POWER
The Bottom Line
If you like the Skor candy bar [the toffee and chocolate combination] then chances are you might like these too. These aren’t something that you are going to be able to eat more of one at a time because they are pretty filling and take some time to consume. In a way that is a great thing because you feel like you actually ate something instead of feeling like you are still hungry and reaching for something else to snack on. For kids these are a nice alternative to potato chips and ice cream between meals and they will give them a nice boost of energy without having them crash a half hour later. On a side note, This product contains trace amounts of milk, almonds [almond butter], peanuts and sot ingredients. Per PowerBar’s label, it is made on equipment that also processes wheat. On a side note this is not a vegan friendly product since it contains honey as well as trace amounts of milk.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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