Larabar Canada, Products Review:
How do Larabars compare to granola or protein bars and do they make a good snack?
Energy and Protein bars make a great quick snack, for school and on-the-Go. Browsing the Supermarket store this week, I picked up four different LÄRABAR products and decided to check out the ingredients and equally important give them a taste test.
In other words are they good for you and do they taste good?
Nutrition
First off, the thing I liked most is that LÄRABAR only uses natural, unsweetened fruits, nuts and flavours.
Each bar contains pure ingredients you actually know and there are no more than a total of nine ingredients in each bar.
That’s pretty much like making your own bars at home, without having to spend the time and effort.
The bars do not have added (refined) sugars and rely on the sweetness from dates and bananas.
So far, so good!
I read the nutrition labels and found the bars contain a moderate amount of protein 5g-7g per bar. (coming from nuts and seeds)
Compared to protein bars that range from 15 -25 grams that’s
on the low end. If you are looking a protein bar, I would recommend checking out the Larabar ALT bar instead, which contains 10g of pea protein. Still not a significant amount, but twice as much, as regular Larabar products.
Larabars have a fair quantity of fibre, ranging from 3g to 5g of fibre.
example:Chocolate Brownie bar
Cost
Another bonus was the cost of buying these bars. For this trial, I paid about $12 for a box of 5.
But you can buy them in bulk, as they come in boxes of 16 Bars and these
boxes are often found on sale.
Coupons & Discounts
On the www.larabar.ca site, I noticed a coupon offer you may enjoy.
SAVE $1.00 off Any Product, when you visit the www.save.ca/larabar page
Taste and Flavours
We tried all four of them and decided that Chocolate Brownie bar was the definite winner.
The Chocolate Brownie bar contains six ingredients, cocoa, chocolate chips, dates, walnuts and almonds.
The texture is light, and it’s deliciously chocolatey and satisfying.
I could easily replace the Larabar Chocolate Brownie for any. Sugary full fat baked brownies.
Some of the other bars we tasted did not fare as well.
The date paste in some of the bars did not blend as well for example in
the Coco Coconut Chew bars and I felt a little “musty” aftertaste.
These were my least favourite ones.
Another bar had an artificial aftertaste, which was surprising since all ingredients are natural.
I would buy the Chocolate Brownie bars again anytime.
Summary
In summary, Larabars do make a healthy and filling snack for on the go.
The ingredients are nutritious, tasty and filling.
It’s not a sugar-free snack, as the bars contain natural sugars, but
the dates do supply a good source of iron and fibre and the nuts add extra Vitamin E and healthy fats.
If you suffer from gluten and dairy allergies, the bars are suitable
as they are grain and dairy free.
For this reason, they can also be part of the Paleo diet.
If you are looking for an alternative to homemade snack bars, I am giving Larabars thumbs up, but recommend you taste test a few of them to find your favourite one.