Get "Heart Smart" & Satisfy Your Cravings, Snack on PowerBar’s "Harvest Whole Grain Energy Bars"
Written: Feb 20 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice taste, kids love the peanut butter and chocolate chip flavor combination.
Cons: Not for those on low carb diets.
The Bottom Line: Worried about what you are snacking on? Don't think you are getting enough whole grains in your diet? Then check out PowerBar's Harvest Whole Grain line of nutritional energy bars!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Power Bar Harvest Whole Grain Energy Bar Peanut Bu... |
When I saw the PowerBar Harvest bars at the grocery store I was interested in checking them out. The brood are die hard lovers of Nature Valley granola bars and generally go for anything that has a granola base to it [this has whole oats so it isn’t technically granola]. I checked out the pictures of the bars to try and see what the texture was like; were they soft and chewy or hard and crunchy? At $1.49 a pop I wasn’t go to go crazy buying them to see if they liked them but I came across some $1.00 off coupons in the Sunday newspaper. As luck would have it, the following week they were on sale for $1.15 so I grabbed a few of each flavor to see which they liked the best. Without a doubt the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip variety was the one that they really fell in love with. They liked the chewiness of the oats and the crunch that came from the soy crisps and crisped rice but in the end it was the peanut butter and chocolate combination that won them over.
PowerBar Harvest Whole Grain Energy Bars
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
whole oats, brown rice syrup, cane juice, soy crisps, barley malt, salt, peanut flour, honey, chocolate chips, rice crisps, soy protein isolate, peanut butter, almond butter
When you first break open a package of these the first thing you’ll notice is that it isn’t as light as some of the other flavors. The first bar I tried in this series was the Apple Cinnamon Crisp and that was pretty ‘fluffy’ [for lack of a better word]. This is made up of soy clusters and crisped rice so you are getting something that you really have to chew before you swallow it. It’s all held together with a peanut butter blend so you have a lot of different taste sensations at once. Some people complained about the small amount of chocolate chips in the bar; I think this was when they were first working on the formulation because all the ones that we’ve purchased have had a good bit of chips in them. This is one of the flavors that the brood really flipped over and asked me to get more of them when I went to the store. It might not be the absolute best thing for them but it is a lot better than some of the other ‘snack food’ on the market.
Since I am almost always on a low carbohydrate diet I can’t indulge in these very often but it is hard to resist grabbing a piece of it when they open one. To me it was a great tasting bar but I don’t think I would be able to finish a whole one even if I were on a diet. This is just my opinion of it and you may have a completely different take on it if you try it but it’s just too much at one time. You have the peanut butter through the whole bar, chocolate chips here and there, crisped rice and soy nuggets competing for the crunch factor and the whole oats. I know, I know ... if they didn’t have all these things then I would complain about it lacking any kind of zip to it. The bottom line here is that the kids love these and I would rather have these around the house than having them doing the microwave popcorn routine [and the smell that goes along with it] or grabbing the chips when they want a snack between meals.
The Stats
Calories: 240 grams
Serving: 1 bar / 2.29 ounces
Fat: 4.5 grams
Protein: 10 grams
Carbohydrates: 42 grams
Sugar: 18 grams
Fiber 5 grams
Flavor Options
The PowerBar Harvest Whole Grain Energy Bars come in variety of flavor combinations like Apple Cinnamon Crisp, Chunky Cherry Crunch, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Strawberry Crunch and 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. PowerBar is always playing around with new flavors so be sure to check their website at www.powerbar.com for the newest additions to their line up. If you want even more flavor from your PowerBar’s be sure to look for the ‘bottom dipped’ ones; these are a little higher in carbohydrates but they are sure to satisfy your craving for something sweet. If you are having trouble finding these in your local stores call their toll free number to ask about locations that do carry them. [800] 58-POWER
Price
The 2.29 ounce bars are about $1.50 a piece but you can find them for less at places like Wal-Mart and Target stores. Generally you have to shop at one of the larger stores to find the different flavors; most carry the basic ones because of limited space. From time to time there are coupons in the Sunday newspaper as well as online that you can use to cut the price. Regardless of the price you are paying, you really have to pay attention to the ‘best by’ date that is stamped on the back of the wrapper near the UPC code. It doesn’t matter if you are getting them for next to nothing if they are old, hard and lack flavor. Would I pay $1.50 a piece for these? I doubt it. I know that I can get coupons for them as well as waiting for them to go on sale.
The Bottom Line
I really like the taste of these but they aren’t something that I can indulge in all that often. If one of the brood have a bar open I’ll break off a small piece but in order to have an entire bar I have to be off my diet. These are a great source of vitamins and minerals and are a lot better for kids to snack on then candy bars, potato chips or frozen treats. You can find them at most larger grocery stores, Wal-Mart and Target in the diet foods or nutritional sections. Be sure to check the back panel of the wrapper for the ‘best by’ date to ensure that you are getting a fresh bar that tastes great and won’t make your gums bleed. On a side note, this bar is not vegan friendly since it contains trace amounts of milk as well as honey. Also, PowerBar notes that this bar contains almonds, peanut and soy ingredients and is manufactured on equipment that also processes wheat.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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