Planters NUT-rition Cranberry Almond Peanut

Planters NUT-rition Cranberry Almond Peanut

1.23 oz / 35g (5 for $3.29, Harris Teeter)

Ingredients: peanuts, whole grain rolled oats, almonds, corn syrup, crisped rice, evaporated cane juice invert syrup, peanut butter, dried cranberries, sugar, brown sugar, soy lecithin, oligofructose, salt, vegetable oil, malic acid, TBHQ.

Calories: 160
Cals from fat: 70
Total Fat: 8g (12%)
Sat Fat: 1g (5%)
Sodium: 130mg (5%)
Total Carb: 19g (6%)
Fiber: 3g (12%)
Sugar: 9g
Protein: 5g 

This is a really standard, generic chewy granola bar. Fruits, nuts, granola all stuck together and lopped into rectangles. If you dig cranberries you'll dig this bar. Very little chemical taste, but something about the cranberries sort of reminded me of it. Not terribly exciting, but you can taste everything which is good and it has a totally "standard" chewy/slightly dry texture that is totally uncontroversial. Totally decent. 

Nature Valley Protein Peanut, Almond & Dark Chocolate

Nature Valley Protein Peanut, Almond & Dark Chocolate

1.42 oz / 40g (5 for $3.49, Harris Teeter)

Ingredients: roasted peanuts, almonds, soy protein isolate, chicory root extract, sugar, vegetable oils, roasted sunflower seeds, toasted coconut, whey protein concentrate, tapioca syrup, high maltose corn syrup, fructose, cocoa, vegetable glycerin, rice starch, rice maltodextrin, salt, soy lecithin, dextrose, baking soda, natural flavor. 

Calories: 190
Cals from fat: 110
Total Fat: 12g (19%)
Sat Fat: 3.5g (18%)
Sodium: 180mg (7%)
Total Carb: 14g (5%)
Fiber: 5g (20%)
Sugar: 6g
Protein: 10g 

You ever feel like we might have reached a deconstructionist ideal with these ingredient lists? Everything has been reduced to a single facet: not rice, just rice starch; not soy, soy protein isolate, and so on. Disheartening to say the least. More disheartening news to follow too as this bar, despite being a pretty standard looking bar with chocolate icing on the bottom is really fairly bland. There is a faint nutty taste but the bar overall is neither sweet nor salty, which makes you wonder what that "chocolate" icing really is. It was so disconcerting I actually turned the bar icing side up to eat it which actually improved the experience a bit. In some ways this is actually good; at least it doesn't taste like a batch of chemicals. The space-age has arrived, ladies and gentlemen; our food is made of food broken down into its basest elements and is nutritious but has little taste. The future! Here today!

 

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Cashew

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Cashew
1.2 oz / 35g (6 for $3.00, Walmart)

Ingredients: cashews roasted in safflower oil, high maltose corn syrup, whole grain oats, sugar, rice flour, high fructose corn syrup, palm kernel oil, whole grain wheat, fructose, cashew butter, canola oil, nonfat milk, maltodextrin, salt, whey, reduced minerals whey, soy lecithin, malt extract, color, natural flavor, baking soda, malt, mixed tocopherols. 

Calories: 160
Cals from fat: 60
Total Fat: 7g (10%)
Sat Fat: 2.5g (13%)
Sodium: 135mg (6%)
Total Carb: 23g (8%)
Fiber: 1g (4%)
Sugar: 12g
Protein: 2g 


Another basic granola bar with icing on the bottom. Not quite as exciting as the peanut / chocolate variety. Why is it that cashews are so exciting in the mixed nuts can but not that exciting in a granola bar? In this case it might be because they were hard to notice over the sweet icing. If you take the joy out of eating cashews for me, you have failed. I hate to harsh on this bar as it is a good bar overall, but maybe it should be called "cashew butter" or something that doesn't belie its true flavor. 

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Dark Chocolate, Peanut & Almond

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Dark Chocolate, Peanut & Almond
1.24 oz / 35g (6 for $3.00, Walmart)

Ingredients: roasted peanuts, high maltose corn syrup, sugar, dark chocolate chunks, whole grain oats, high fructose corn syrup, rice flour, palm kernel oil, almonds, whole grain wheat, fructose, canola oil, nonfat milk, salt, maltodextrin, peanut butter, whey, reduced minerals whey, soy lecithin, malt extract, color, natural flavor, baking soda, malt, mixed tocopherols. 

Calories: 170
Cals from fat: 70
Total Fat: 8g (13%)
Sat Fat: 3.5g (17%)
Sodium: 120mg (5%)
Total Carb: 21g (7%)
Fiber: 2g (8%)
Sugar: 12g
Protein: 3g 


The most striking thing about the ingredients list for this bar is how much worse they are for you than the crunchy kind. The ingredients list is twice as long and full of sugar and chemicals, they are higher in fat and lower in fiber, etc. Still in the grand scheme of things I think this bar is still mostly ok. It has a peanut butter icing on the bottom, and is otherwise a pretty standard chewy granola bar. It tastes really good; the chocolate chunks and the peanut butter icing really make this pretty sweet, like a candy bar. I would rather eat this than a lot of candy bars out there, as a matter of fact. Perhaps that is its calling; for breakfast it is a bit sweet. 

Nature Valley Crunchy Oats 'n Dark Chocolate

Nature Valley Crunchy Oats 'n Dark Chocolate
1.49 oz / 42g (6 for $3.00, Publix)

Ingredients: whole grain oats, sugar, canola oil, dark chocolate pieces, honey, yellow corn flour, soy flour, brown sugar syrup, cocoa, salt, natural flavor, soy lecithin, baking soda

Calories: 190
Cals from fat: 70
Total Fat: 8g (12%)
Sat Fat: 1.5g (7%)
Sodium: 140mg (6%)
Total Carb: 28g (9%)
Fiber: 3g (11%)
Sugar: 12g
Protein: 4g 


Ah, it always warms my heart to find a new variety of the tried and true Nature Valley Crunchy bar, the brickle we were all raised on and what started all this granola bar foolishness in the first place. It is a little strange that they say this has dark chocolate pieces - it is actually as if the entire bar has had some cocoa stirred in; I didn't really notice any chocolate pieces. The addition of the cocoa is good but can be a tad overwhelming; if you thought the old bars were dry this bar might be classified as actually removing moisture from your mouth as you eat it. Pairs well with a cup of coffee, and really does deserve to stand alongside the classics of my youth, if perhaps on the second stair. 

Kellogg's Fiber Plus Antioxidants Chocolatey Peanut Butter

Kellogg's Fiber Plus Antioxidants Chocolatey Peanut Butter
1.2 oz / 36g (5 for $3.79, Publix)

Ingredients: chicory root extract, rolled oats, crisp rice, sugar, peanuts with TBHQ, inulin from chicory root, hydrogenated and/or partially hydrogenated palm kernel, palm, and/or coconut oils, fructose, peanut butter, canola oil, cocoa, glycerin, partially defatted peanut flour, honey, whey, tricalcium phosphate, salt, nonfat dry milk, soy lecithin, baking soda, BHT, dextrose, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, vitamin e acetate, zinc oxide, artificial flavor, soy protein isolate, almond flour, wheat starch. 

Calories: 130
Cals from fat: 45
Total Fat: 5g (8%)
Sat Fat: 2.5g (13%)
Sodium: 95mg (4%)
Total Carb: 24g (8%)
Fiber: 9g (35%)
Sugar: 7g
Protein: 3g (6%)


Man, leave it to Kellogg's to have the expertise to handle sunscreen as a food ingredient. Zinc Oxide! Wow! Despite chocolate not being an ingredient (ok, they have cocoa) they've managed to make a granola bar that looks like sort of like a rice krispie treat with peanut butter chips sitting in a thin bed of chocolate. Despite how scary the ingredient list is, this really does taste pretty great. Sort of a caramel / peanut butter / chocolate mix, like a candy bar but lighter. So the advertising on the box indeed rings true: "tastes better than fiber one!" I cannot deny it. 

Eat Think Smile Rich Cocoa

Eat Think Smile Rich Cocoa
1.4 oz / 39g

Ingredients: whole grain rolled oats, brown rice syrup, crisp rice, cocoa, soy nuts, almonds, sugar, evaporated cane juice, sunflower oil, invert sugar, glycerin, natural flavor, salt, soy lecithin

Calories: 160
Cals from fat: 40
Total Fat: 4.5g (7%)
Sat Fat: 0.5g (3%)
Sodium: 60mg (3%)
Total Carb: 26g (9%)
Fiber: 3g (12%)
Sugar: 7g
Protein: 4g (8%)

I don't have a price on this because I swiped it from my mom's cupboard while visiting last weekend. This sort of looks like a thin crisp rice treat but made with the chocolate cereal instead of the regular. it has what look like peanuts on top, but note in the ingredients no peanuts. i've never seen soy nuts before but they look like peanuts. It is disconcerting; are they just raw soybeans or are they engineered somehow? The bar is quite dry, with an almost tangy cocoa flavor. Crumbly, as bars go and the nuts are more a distraction than they are helpful. Still, not bad overall. The ingredient list is pretty healthy looking (though i don't know how you invert sugar). If I had to rate this I'd probably give it a 7 of 10 or so; it is the same size but lighter than a clif bar, the cocoa is slightly overwhelming but not bad, and the texture is dry but ok with a beverage. Good, but not great.