The Good: Very healthy, Decently priced (at least on clearance!), Tastes fine
The Bad: Not the most incredible taste, Could always be healthier
The Basics: Quaker Blueberry Stila Cookie Bars are a remarkably average snack; they lack any superlative quality and thus end up as utterly unremarkable.
I like being a reviewer because, frankly, I enjoy having opinions and sharing them. I like being opinionated and being a reviewer is a very useful way for me to share what I like with the world at large. So, I am rapidly discovering that because I am so opinionated and enjoy having something to say, it is ever more frustrating to encounter products that leave me feeling more ambiguous than at all affected. That is where I am with the Quaker Stila Cookie Bars, at least my first experience with them, the Blueberry flavor!
I found the Blueberry Stila Cookie Bars on clearance for $1.00 for the box of 6. I couldn’t resist that type of value, so I decided to pick them up. Now that I have consumed (most) of them, I’m not even sure how I feel about that!
Basics
Quaker is perhaps best known for making oatmeal, but for a long time has made granola bars and other healthy snacks. Their Stila Cookie Bars come in several flavors and I chose the Blueberry Stila Cookie Bar simply because it was the only one on the clearance rack.
The Blueberry Stila Cookie Bars come in a .91 oz. bar that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and Quaker has the Stila Cookie Bar presented as 1 3/4” wide by 3/8” thick by 4 1/2” long baked cookie bar that is smooth on one side, covered in oats on the other. A box of Blueberry Stila Cookie Bar contains six bars. Not on clearance, these would be a tougher sell for a cheapskate like me.
Ease Of Preparation
Eating a Quaker Blueberry Stila Cookie Bar is simple. After removing the foil wrapper, simply pull out the bar and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating this snack; it is an entirely ready-to-eat food!
Taste
Unwrapping the Blueberry Stila Cookie Bar, there is a delightfully aromatic blueberry scent. With such things as this, I often worry that they will smell mealy or more like the grain/oats on the outside. However, the moment one opens the Blueberry Stila Cookie Bar, all that they smell is blueberry.
The taste front is a different matter! The outside of the Stila Cookie Bar is very dry and I think “cookie” puts in one’s mind the idea that this would be sweeter than it initially is. Instead, this cookie bar has an outside that is more like a cracker than a cookie and it tastes like that, as well; dry and surprisingly bland. However, the moment the grainy coating breaks away, the mouth is flooded with the strong blueberry flavor that comes from the fruity jam-like center. While there is a slight sour aftertaste, this center is very sweet and it has the distinct fruity taste of blueberries.
The Blueberry Stila Cookie Bars leave the mouth dry, though, so it is a good idea to have water available when consuming them. The sweetness wears off in about ten seconds after consumption and the consumer is just left with an overwhelmingly dry sensation in the mouth.
Nutrition
Quaker Stila Cookie Bars are intended as a snack and they are a fairly healthy snack, though the Blueberry ones are not sold on the idea of being low fat, they are actually pretty healthy. Each .91 oz. Stila Cookie Bar represent a single serving. Made primarily of fruit filling (which does contain some actual blueberry!), oat flour and enriched flour, there is nothing in the Blueberry bars that was unpronounceable (though near the end of the ingredient list the ingredients do get awfully chemical-sounding. This is a mostly-natural food product and these Stila Cookie Bar were produced on equipment that may leave the bar with traces of egg and tree nuts. There is also a dietary disclaimer that this flavor contains wheat, soy, and milk ingredients. Because it has milk, it is not Vegan-compliant.
Quaker's Blueberry Stila Cookie Bars have 100 calories, only 15 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 3% of one's RDA of saturated fat and these are cholesterol free. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 115 mg per serving and there are two grams of protein to be had by eating a full bar. These are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals, though they do 2% of the RDA of Iron and Folic Acid.
Storage/Cleanup
As a healthy snack, Quaker Blueberry Stila Cookie Bar remain fresh so long as they are kept in their wrappers. Our box had an expiration date of August 7, 2012, so I suspect they were being clearance for freshness. As long as the bars are sealed, they remain fresh and the only real clean-up for them comes from wiping up crumbs from the oat side of the bar.
If the Blueberry bars get hot, the fruit filling might stain if it is wiped into fabrics. Under those awkward circumstances, this bar would stain, but not otherwise.
Overall
I’m ultimately unsure whether or not to recommend Quaker Blueberry Stila Cookie Bars; they are utterly underwhelming, but more nutritious than most, similar, snacks. You can do far, far worse than these cookie bars, but they are nothing to get at all excited about.
For other Quaker reviews, please check out:
Original Life Cereal
Low Fat S’mores Granola Bars
Low Fat Chewy Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars
5/10
For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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