Moving on, many of the channels and personalities that I am subscribed to live in California, so a lot of times when they mention certain foods or drinks that they've been loving, I haven't heard of them. A lot of the people I watch regularly eat really healthy and mention a lot of healthy or organic snacks, one of them being Clif energy bars. They rave about these things anytime they're mentioned, so I wanted to try one and see what the hype was all about. I hadn't found any in the stores near my house, so I just figured we didn't have them. Today though, I was at the Wally World pharmacy and a Clif bar was in the bin right next to me, so I figured why not try it out. I ended up getting four, so I wanted to do a quick review of the ones I got in case you were like me and hadn't tried them either. Each of these were 98 cents in the health and fitness section of the store. Here are the four I purchased:
This is probably my least favorite of the bunch. It does have a nutty flavor and does taste like peanut butter, but it is otherwise rather bland. On the flipside, I found that the first few bites I took didn't have the heavy aftertaste that I usually associate with peanut butter, didn't dry out my throat, and didn't have a gummy or soggy texture. It also wasn't overly crunchy, which I was relieved about because I've been having some dental problems (lol) and can't really accommodate food with rougher textures. I'm not a lover of peanut butter myself so I'm sure I'd like this more if I was more partial to peanut butter, but even though I'm not I still didn't hate it. Unless you love peanut butter, this particular bar won't be for you.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut
This was the first bar that I tried. I like this one quite a bit, although I'm not crazy about it. I wanted something pretty different from the other ones that I got, and while it didn't taste like either macadamia or white chocolate, it still somehow wasn't nasty. It was slightly nutty (I hate that word but it applied lol), slightly sweet, but otherwise wasn't much of anything. lol All I remember about the taste was that it grew on me and I liked it. It wasn't too hard of a bar but was pretty thick from what I remember.
Chocolate Brownie
This one was rather heavy on the chocolate. This seems like a bitter dark chocolate rather than a milk or otherwise manufactured chocolate, and since I'm not a big fan of bitter or dark chocolate this obviously wasn't one of my favorites of the bunch. Those who are trying to eat healthy snacks but don't want to be reminded that this is an energy bar would probably prefer something like this. It's heavy on the chocolate, but the bitterness throws me off. I had to mix it with the chocolate chip bar in order to finish it. Now that was good. lol Because of the different kinds of chocolate, this was one of the more crunchy bars.
Chocolate Chip
This bar was my favorite. It was a very clean tasting chocolate if that makes sense, nothing too sticky at the back of the throat or too syrupy. It didn't overwhelm the rest of the bar, didn't have a strong aftertaste, and answered my chocolate craving quite nicely. Like the peanut butter, this didn't have a strong texture even with the chocolate chips (which I believe were milk chocolate, but don't quote me) and when I started mixing bars so I could finish them lol, I think the chocolate chip bar made them taste even better. The chocolate chip is one of the softer bars.
Overall:
Overall, for me Clif bars were an acquired taste. I didn't love them at first. I didn't even like them very much, but the more I ate the more I enjoyed them. I didn't feel like I had any more energy than usual eating them either, so if that was the intended benefit then unfortunately I have to say that it failed...for me, anyway. However, these are definitely not your typical granola bar. These bars are larger and more filling than regular energy or granola bars and they'll make for great mid-day snacks. When I'm out and about during the day, one of these would hold me over between meals because they're thick and rich enough for me to not need to eat the entire bar at once. That could simply be my appetite and the fact that I don't need large snacks between meals, but I still found these to be filling and quite tasty. And even though they're filling, their taste isn't heavy, they're not overly sweet, and the oats don't dry out the mouth or the throat. I like that I've finally been able to find a more nutritious snack than what I usually go for, and I love that they're only 98 cents apiece. It's a beautiful price, if you ask me. But I'm also cheap as hell and find Target to be on the cusp of too expensive. I digress. I intend to work my way through more of these and see what else Clif bars have to offer, but I liked the ones I tried a lot. Didn't love them, but they're affordable, good for me, and still give me a bit of sweet, a very important factor in a Mandy-approved snack.
Rating:
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