The Good: Very healthy, Filling
The Bad: Very expensive, Pretty lousy flavor
The Basics: PowerBar ProteinPlus Chocolate Crisp Bars smell bad, taste bad, and are dramatically overpriced . . . but at least they fill one up.
Given how I was not at all impressed by the PowerBar Chocolate Brownie Bars (reviewed here!), it may surprise my readers that I went back so quickly to try their Chocolate Crisp ProteinPlus Bars. What can I say? I’m a sucker for clearance and I picked the Chocolate Crisp ProteinPlus PowerBars up at the same time I got the Chocolate Brownie Bars.
I picked the PowerBar ProteinPlus Chocolate Crisp bar up on clearance for a little over a dollar and knowing that they are usually at least twice that much would have made this a value, were it not almost as bad as the Chocolate Brownie Bars.
Basics
PowerBar is the company that merchandises its specialized diet plan for those who are trying to lose weight or put on muscle or just stop eating full meals, I suppose. The PowerBar ProteinPlus Chocolate Crisp Bars are part of their standard line marketed towards dieters, outdoors enthusiasts and fitness-minded individuals, none of whom are supposed to use their tastebuds (based on how these taste under their chocolate shell!).
The ProteinPlus Chocolate Crisp Bars come in a 90 gram, 3.17 oz. chocolate bar that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and PowerBars are 1 3/4" wide by 4 5/8” long 5/8” high chocolate-coated bars that are smooth. One bar is one portion, so this is very easy to get into on the portion front! These snack bars come individually wrapped, though some places sell them by the box.
Ease Of Preparation
Eating PowerBar ProteinPlus Chocolate Crisp Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull out the bar and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating this chocolate bar. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food!
Taste
The Chocolate Crisp bar smells oddly medicinal. When I opened up the wrapper, my stomach actually did a little turn because it has a strangely chemical smell to it. After it has had a chance to breathe, the bar starts smelling a bit more like chocolate, with a hint of mint, but for the most part, this smells like something manufactured and not in a pleasant way.
On the tongue, the Chocolate Crisp PowerBar has a flavor that tastes like a fruit-infused chocolate. The milk chocolate flavored coating on the Chocolate Crisp PowerBar is not terribly sweet and there is a slight bitter, almost citrus infusion to the flavor. After the first two bites, the citrus hints are lost to the taste of the center. The center of this bar tastes moist and bland, with an oddly dry flavor. In fact, the center tastes like ground cardboard that has been compressed. It is bland and the crispy rice inside it does nothing to alter the taste, only the texture.
The Chocolate Crisp has a strong, dry aftertaste. The Chocolate Crisp PowerBar is also seriously dense, so it does leave the consumer feeling full. This is actually quite annoying in that the mouth is left so dry that one wants to drink a lot to get the aftertaste out of the mouth, but they feel too full to want to put anything else into their body!
Nutrition
PowerBars Chocolate Crisp ProteinPlus Bars are intended as meal replacement. These 2.75 oz. bars represent a single serving and are surprisingly filling. Made primarily of PowerBar Trisource Protein Blen, glucose syrup, and chocolate coating the ingredient list is supplemented by a separate list of vitamins and minerals pumped into the bar for added nutrition and density. This is not an all-natural food product and these snack bars were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about milk, soy, wheat, almonds, and peanuts.
PowerBar's ProteinPlus Chocolate Crisp Bars have a hefty 290 calories, 50 of which are from fat. A bar represents 18% of one's RDA of saturated fat, though they have only 5 mg cholesterol. As well, they are comparatively low in sodium, having only 190 mg (8% RDA) per serving. They also have 23 grams of protein, which represents 46% of the RDA.
Storage/Cleanup
PowerBar ProteinPlus Chocolate Crisp Bars are amazingly bland regardless of when they are eaten or how they are stored. Unopened, they have a decent shelf life around eight months. We purchased ours in mid-November (2012) and they had an expiration date of January 9, 2013. If they melt, they will stain, so consult your fabric guide if that happens. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate bar.
Overall
PowerBar Chocolate Crisp ProteinPlus Bars are bland and mealy, but nutritious and filling, but for the expense I would want more to buy them regularly.
For other reviews of healthy snacks, please check out:
Nature Valley Granola Thins Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter crispy squares
Peeled Organic Apricot-a-lot
Quaker Chocolate Crunch Rice Cakes
3.5/10
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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