ProBar Sweet & Savory Maple Pecan Bar

Source

I got some free bars, courtesy of ProBar, that came in the mail the other day, and was quite excited. I’ve heard about these bars and seen them in WHole Foods, but never actually bought one. One of them I was sent was Maple Pecan. First off, I hope you all know my great love for maple flavored things and how much I also looooove Pecans. Strangely, I love them more than I love peanuts, and yet peanut butter is one of my favorite things. Anyway, that’s off topic. Moving on… =)

This was called a “Whole Food Meal Replacement”, along with being vegan and organic. Knowing that it was a “Whole Food Meal Replacement” bar made sense after looking at the nutrition. This bar, which is bigger than most bars I have eaten, but not incredibly large (85 grams), was 390 calories, 23 grams of fat, 43 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar and 10 grams of protein.

So I certainly wouldn’t call this a snack. Although a little low in the protein department in my opinion for a “meal” it was overall pretty good. But how did it taste?

Well, the first thing I noticed was it was a brownish colored bar with several things, such as chocolate chips, pecan pieces, raisins, some flaxseeds I believe, and a bunch of other things all mushed together. It was rather sticky and chewy, but with some crunchy consistency from all the pieces of things in there. The flavor was quite bizarre, actually. I didn’t quite pick up a “maple pecan” flavor, but more of a sweet, fruity tasting bar, with maple-orangey flavor, with a toasted nut taste, and just a teeny bit salty. I know, a lot going on. I would have preferred a bit more of a salty flavor, but that’s just me. The raisins were plump and pretty good, and the pieces of nuts were OK, if found them to have a kind of off flavor.

One of the things I really did not like was the chocolate chips. I looked at the ingredients and saw “unsweetened dark chocolate”. Now, I’m not a fan of dark chocolate to begin with as I find it kind of bitter, but especially when it’s not sweetened, I found it extremely bitter. In other words, I would have totally been fine with this bar had it not been for the chocolate chips.

So, summing it all up, I think these bars are convenient for when times when I’m on the go and don’t have time for a sit-down meal. The fact that it has a high fat content I think makes up for the low protein content as fat from nuts and such helps me stay satisfied. If the chocolate chips were omitted or swapped for something else, I would have liked it much more. Otherwise, this gets 3 stars.

Question- What do you eat when you dont have time for a “sit down meal” on the go?