Nutrient-dense food on the go isn’t a problem if you have the foresight to hard boil eggs, make your own jerky, prepare protein-rich salads in advance, or just hire someone to cook for you. But even if you normally do all of your food prep in advance, if you’re traveling or just busy, it’s easy to get behind. That’s when many health-conscious folks will reach for a nutrition bar since it’s arguably a more nutritious choice than vending machine snacks or grab-n-go meals like bagels or donuts. But what’s actually in these bars? Are they all they’re cracked up to be? And are they tasty enough to spend hard-earned money on?
 
Obviously, looking at every bar on the market would be impractical, so I looked at some top choices that are easy to find and have a bit of hype behind them: Elemental, Perfect Bar, Primal Kitchen, Rise Bar, and RX Bar. I also threw in a Clif Builder’s Protein Bar for comparison.
 
Clif Builder’s Protein Bar: Chocolate Mint
 
Flavors offered: For this taste test, we looked at chocolate mint. Other flavors offered include chocolate, chocolate peanut butter, cookies & cream, crunchy peanut butter, vanilla almond, and cinnamon nut swirl.
 
Cost: $1.79 (or less)
 
Size: 2.4 ounces
 
Calories: 270
 
Macros: 30g carb, 20g protein, 9g fat
 
Sugar: 21g
 
Ingredients:  soy protein isolate, beet syrup, organic brown rice syrup, organic dried cane syrup, palm kernel oil, cocoa, unsweetened chocolate, organic soy protein concentrate, vegetable glycerin, organic rolled oats, natural flavors (?), organic high oleic sunflower oil, rice starch, organic oat fiber, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, salt.
 
Types of Protein: soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate
 
Taste: It’s tasty. Very filling, quite sweet, and has a nice flavor.
 
Verdict: As you can see from the ingredients, this bar is loaded with sugar in its various forms. Although 20 grams of protein sounds nice, it’s soy protein, which is filled with phytoestrogens.  This bar is inexpensive and tasty, but not at all ideal.
 
Elemental Superfood Seedbar
 
Flavors offered: For the taste test, we looked at Cranberry, Almond, & Lucuma. The three other available seedbar flavors include currant, cacao, & hemp, dark chocolate & peanut butter, and mulberry, cacao & spirulina. 
 
Cost: $2.99
 
Size: 1.8 Ounces
 
Calories: 220
 
Macros: 16g carb, 6g protein, 15g fat
 
Sugar: 8 grams
 
Ingredients: Organic buckwheat, organic almonds, raw honey, organic flaxseeds, organic coconut, organic sunflower seeds, organic pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, organic cranberries, organic sesame seeds, cacao butter, organic lucuma, organic vanilla bean, organic almond flavor, pink Himalayan salt, vitamin E
 
Type of Protein: Uh, none. While some nutrition bars boast high amounts of protein (which are not in their healthiest form), this bar is surprisingly low in it…. That’s because there hasn’t been any protein powder added; it’s all from the ingredients.
 
Taste: This bar is pretty tasty, and offers raw, gluten-free, dairy-free ingredients which can be helpful for people with food allergies or preferences. It’s got a subtle sweetness and a soft texture, unlike most overly chewy food bars.
 
Verdict: They’re good. But since there’s hardly any protein (the highest protein bar of the flavors offered only has seven grams), one could find these macros in many other grab-n-go foods.
 
Perfect Bar (formerly Perfect Foods Bar)
 
Flavors offered: For this taste test, we looked at peanut butter, which is the original flavor that started it all. Other flavors offered include almond butter, dark chocolate almond, dark chocolate chip peanut butter with sea salt (my favorite!), blueberry cashew, coconut peanut butter, maple almond, almond acai, almond coconut, carob chip, cranberry crunch, fruit & nut, and a limited-edition chocolate walnut brownie. Find these in the refrigerated section of many grocery stores and health food stores.
 
Cost: I found the bars on sale for $2 each, but have seen them as high as $3.69. Normally, we can find them available for $2.69.
 
Size: 2.5 ounces
 
Calories: 330
 
Macros: 26g carb, 17g protein, 18g fat
 
Sugars: 18 grams
 
Ingredients: Organic peanut butter, organic honey, organic nonfat dry milk, organic dried whole egg powder, organic rice protein, organic flax seed oil, organic sunflower seed oil, organic sesame seed oil, organic olive oil, organic pumpkin seed oil, dried whole food powders (organic kale, organic flax seed, organic rose hip, organic orange, organic lemon, organic papaya, organic tomato, organic apple, organic alfalfa, organic celery, organic kelp, organic dulse, organic carrot, organic spinach).
 
Type of Protein: Each of the flavors of Perfect bars ranges from 8 to 17 grams of protein and include rice protein. There are two plant-based flavors (almond coconut and chocolate walnut brownie), but the rest have additional protein in the form of nonfat milk powder and organic whole egg powder.

Taste: I won’t lie, Perfect Bars have always been my favorite. They are incredibly tasty: peanut buttery but not overly so, a smooth texture with a little crunch, sweet but not overpoweringly so, and a very satisfying flavor.
 
Verdict:  Perfect Bars are ridiculously good and don’t taste anything like the stereotype of a protein bar. 17 grams of protein is nothing to sneeze at. But at 330 calories, Perfect Bars are best as part of a meal rather than a snack for those trying to lose or maintain weight. While they’re gluten-free and soy-free, they do have peanut butter (of course) as well as dairy, so they’re not great choices for Paleo absolutists or people with allergies.
 
Rise Bar
 
Flavors offered: For this taste test, we looked at the almond honey bar. Other available flavors include mint chip, snicker doodle, chocolate almond, lemon cashew, cacao banana, sunflower cinnamon, chocolatey coconut, and organic raspberry. There are breakfast and energy bars available as well.
 
Cost: $2.79
 
Size: 2.1 ounces
 
Calories: 280
 
Macros: 20g carb, 20g protein, 16g fat
 
Sugars: 13 grams
 
Ingredients: Almonds, honey, whey protein isolate. All bars have only four or five ingredients.
 
Types of Protein: Whey protein isolate. The vegetarian flavors have pea protein isolate.
 
Taste: I usually stick food bars in the refrigerator, which made this way too chewy. Letting it defrost helped a bit. It tastes like a less sticky power bar with a pretty natural flavor…not my favorite, but not terrible.
 
Verdict: 20 grams of protein is nothing to sneeze at, and limited ingredients to sort through is a bonus. Rise bars don’t have soy, gluten, peanuts, preservatives, sugar alcohols, or artificial sweeteners, so can be a good fit for many people’s dietary needs—if you like the flavor.
 
Primal Kitchen Grass-fed Collagen Bar
 
Flavors offered: For this taste test, we sampled the dark chocolate almond bar. Other available flavors include macadamia sea salt, coconut cashew, and chocolate hazelnut.
 
Cost: $2.99
 
Size: 1.7 oz
 
Calories: 230
 
Macros: 15g protein, 14g carbs, 15g fat
Sugar: 3 grams
 
Ingredients: Almonds, pumpkin seeds, grass-fed hydrolyzed collagen, prebiotic fiber (from cassava root), coconut flakes, honey, natural flavors (?), water, coconut oil, unsweetened chocolate, organic fair trade cocoa powder, cocoa nibs, Himalayan pink salt, monk fruit extract, tocopherols, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, cashews
 
Types of protein: collagen from grass-fed cows; can’t get much better than that
 
Taste: Nutty, crunchy, but not exactly flavorful.
 
Verdict: This is the Paleo nutrition bar you’re looking for. If you’re expecting a sweet treat packed in a food bar, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re looking for something that’s low in sugar and nutritionally dense and can handle the just-okay flavor, this bar definitely hits the mark.
 
RXBAR
 
Flavors offered: For this taste test, we sampled the mint chocolate. Other flavors include chocolate sea salt, chocolate chip, peanut butter chocolate, coconut chocolate, coffee chocolate, maple sea salt, peanut butter, apple cinnamon, mixed berry, and blueberry. There are some kid’s flavors, too: berry blast, chocolate chip, and apple cinnamon raisin.
 
Cost: $2.49
 
Size: 1.83 oz.
 
Calories: 210
 
Macros: 24g carb, 12g protein, 9g fat
 
Sugar: 14g
 
Ingredients: dates, egg whites, cashews, almonds, cacao, cocoa, peppermint oil, sea salt
 
Types of protein: Egg whites
 
Taste: We found that this bar way too chewy, too sweet, and had a bitter aftertaste… enough so that we didn’t care to try the other flavors. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
 
Verdict: These bars have limited ingredients (though not as limited as the front-of-bar advertising would make it seem), have 12g of good quality protein, and are relatively low in fat. If you can stomach the taste, they might be a good choice for you.
 
Got any food bars you’d like analyzed for a future article? Interested in comparisons of something else? Send your ideas and suggestions to yael@yaelwrites.com.

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