09 | March | 2013 | Better With Sprinkles

Happy Saturday!

So, if you’ve been reading blogs at all lately, chances are, you’ve noticed Quest protein bars floating around. They’re certainly popular right now! It is with good reason; these bars are:

between 160 – 210 calories each
high protein (20 grams per bar)
high fibre (at least 16 grams per bar)
low carb
low in sugar
gluten free
with an incredibly short ingredient list.

Luckily for me, Quest Nutrition was kind enough to send me a sample pack so I could throw my two cents in there.

So nice Smile

The pack they sent me included twelve flavours, plus their new peanut butter protein cups. Overall, I enjoyed these bars. I like the fact that the ingredient lists are full of short, pronounceable ingredients. Their regular line is sweetened with sucralose, while their all-natural line is sweetened with stevia. While it didn’t bother me, the bars did have a bit of that ‘sweetener’ aftertaste. I noticed it with all the bars, but it was more obvious with the original line.

It took me a little while to get used to the texture of these bars. I usually prefer my protein bars to have a bit of crunch to them, while these were very dense and chewy – almost taffy-like. It was actually a bit of work for my jar to chew them!

But that issue was quickly solved with a quick ten second zap in the microwave. It made them a little bit melty and much easier on my jaw.

So, let’s get down to the individual flavours!

Banana Nut Muffin

I had heard really good things about this flavour, so it was the first one I broke into.

Yea. It was amazing! I expected it to have a banana and walnut flavour to it, but somehow they managed to actually make it taste like a muffin. I don’t even understand how they did it. One of the best flavours, for sure!

Strawberry Cheesecake

The first thing I noticed when I opened the package – an overwhelming smell of strawberries. Not a bad thing, right? While I don’t think they quite got the cheesecake flavour down, I loved the freeze dried strawberries spread throughout.

Vanilla Almond Crunch

I’m not huge into vanilla, but the flavour was nice. I thought it could have used a few more almonds for a bit more crunch and almond flavour.

Cinnamon Roll

I was pretty underwhelmed with this flavour. I ate it while I was walking to class so I didn’t get a chance to heat it up, but I have a feeling I would have been happier with it that way.

Protein Peanut Butter Cups

If you’re looking for a Reese’s replacement, you’re probably going to a tad disappointed – the chocolate was chalky and it wasn’t anywhere sweet enough. I liked it, but if I reached for this while I was craving a Reese’s, it would not satisfy.

It was pretty good crumbled into vanilla Greek yogurt though!

Chocolate Brownie

Dense, fudge-y deliciousness. This one reminded me of chocolate milk, in a weird way. Especially amazing after being heated up!

Mixed Berry Bliss

This one didn’t excite me at all. I’ve seen people make the comparison to a fruit and grain bar, but I didn’t see it. Not my favourite.

Coconut Cashew

Fan fact about me: Cashews are easily my favourite type of nut. So I was happy to see it included in one of my Quest Bars. This one had a tropical feel to it with a great coconut flavour. One of my favourites!

Lemon Cream Pie

I’m picky about my lemon-flavoured things (I absolutely adore lemon meringue pie, but anything else I’m a little weary of) so I wasn’t sure what I was going to think about this one. It was amazing! Enough lemon flavour that you noticed it, but not too much as to be overwhelming.

Apple Pie

P.S. I love how you can see my manicure slowly degrading through the pictures…

Ohmygod the Apple Pie bar. I adored this one! The cinnamon was nice (I actually noticed it more in this bar than I did the Cinnamon Roll flavour) and the big, chewy apply chunks throughout only improved. I threw this one in the microwave and topping it with peanut butter, and it was absolutely fabulous.

Peanut Butter Supreme

Eaten on my break in class, so I couldn’t heat it up. It was still fabulous – basically, slightly sweetened peanut butter in bar form. Delicious.

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Had the chewy, fudginess similar to the brownie flavour, but I wasn’t actually picking up on the peanut butter too much. Good, but Quest has better flavours.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Had high hopes for this one – it tasted like the peanut butter supreme, but with a slight fruity flavour. Tasty, but I would have liked to see a little bit more of a fruit flavour.

So overall – I did like these bars and I would purchase them. I would probably pick certain flavours instead of the variety box though, because some of the flavours I loved, and others were just ok.

So if I were putting together my own variety box, I would include: