You Bar Review and Trail Mix Giveaway
This is the longest review ever. I do promise there is a (self-sponsored) giveaway at the end though!
You Bar was kind enough to send me some sample premade bars, mixes and shake mixes to review!
You Bar is a neat company – you get to choose and create your own protein bar! What goes in, how big it is, even the protein bar name. They make it fresh and ship it to you. You can also make your own shake and trail mix!
I was initially interested in the trail mix, when Jen recommended You Bar to me after I wrote about making my own trail mix in the beginning of February.
I think it’s pretty cool that they have so many options on what to put in your trail mix on their site, and you can even say you want more or less of a certain type of item (less nuts, normal nuts, more nuts, etc.). They have a lot of options for the bars and shakes too (and even call out what is “most popular” and “recommended”). But I think I would feel more comfortable making a trail mix – if it goes wrong I can always pick out the things I don’t like, ha ha.
Anyway, I digress. Let’s get on with the review.
Only one of the bars sent to me was almost vegan (the Cookie Dough bar which actually had honey in it so it’s not technically vegan), and there were things I could pick out of the mixes to try, but all of the bars and shakes had dairy products in them. So, I recruited some people to help me review the products!!! Thank you, reviewers!
And please, readers, keep in mind that there are a variety of opinions since there were a variety of reviewers!
Honey Cashew Bar – reviewed by Julie (my mom)
Ingredients: Cashew Butter, Honey, Whey Protein, Crunchy Rice Cereal.
Pros: Easy to open, smells good and tastes good. High source of protein (10g per bar).
Cons: Crumbly, lots of calories for a “snack” (220 per bar) and for not being delicious, sticks in your teeth.
Chocolate Trails Trail Mix – reviewed by Julie (and some bits by me)
Ingredients: Pecans, Dried Cherries, Peanuts, Milk Chocolate Raisins, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Mini Pretzels.
Pros: Easy to open, everything had great flavor, especially the chocolate chips (which were vegan).
Cons: The pretzels were a bit stale, but still had great flavor.
Mix Up Your Day Trail Mix – reviewed by Julie (and some bits by me)
Ingredients: Oat Bran Sesame Sticks, Organic Cashews, Almonds, Dried Pineapple, Goji Berries, Shredded Coconut.
Pros: Easy to open, the nuts were good quality, everything was tasty.
Cons: Some things were a bit stale and not crisp – maybe from the moisture of the mix?
Wondering: About the dried pineapple vs. chunks. Maybe chunks would have been better!
Training 33 Bar – reviewed by Erin
Ingredients: Whey Protein Isolate, Organic Dates, Almond Butter, Walnuts, Organic Black Mission Figs, Organic Clover Honey, Organic Goji Berries, Organic Cacao Nibs, Organic Flaxseed, All One Vitamin Infusion, Oat Bran, Cinnamon
I feel bad for giving this one to Erin. It did not turn out to be so good and she said she only finished it because she was so hungry and that was all she brought to work! I just copied and pasted what she sent to me because I thought her passionate review was very honest.
The ingredients sounded amazing. Dates? Almond Butter? Figs? Honey? YUM! Don’t really know what Goji berries are but, hey, berries are berries, right? Well, when I opened the bar I noticed right away that it didn’t look that appetizing. There was kind of this gray/white film and the ingredients didn’t seem evenly disbursed.
I like to break off pieces of bars and eat them bits at a time. When I did that with this bar it was kind of crumbly yet it stuck to my fingers and felt kind of slimy/oily.
And the taste? It tasted like chemicals! I’m not sure what it was but it tasted kind of fermented. Not quite bitter but definitely not sweet. And it kept getting stuck in my teeth. I was trying to eat it in a meeting and I’m pretty sure I was unconsciously digging bits of bar out of my molars with my fingernail.
It left a pretty nasty aftertaste in my mouth, too. I’m not sure if it was one of the ingredients that I didn’t like or if it was the combination of one or more things. Overall, NOT a fan even though the ingredient list showed promise.
Vanilla Dream Shake Mix – reviewed by Erin
Ingredients: Soy Protein, Organic Cane Juice, Organic Vanilla Powder.
Pros: Okay flavor – not too sweet and not too bland.
Cons: A bit gritty – may taste better in a smoothie mixed with other flavors to offset it.
Recommendation: Would probably be great with Soymilk.
The Breakfast Shake Shake Mix – reviewed by Erin
Ingredients: Whey Protein, Egg White Powder, Organic Cane Juice, Cocoa Powder, Organic Bananas.
From Erin:
After drinking the Vanilla Dream shake “pure” I decided to add a few things to the Breakfast Shake. I made it into a smoothie with one frozen banana, one cup of baby spinach leaves, and about half a cup of cow milk. It dissolved much better in the shake and mostly just became a protein powder additive with a hint of chocolate flavor. The chocolate flavor wasn’t very strong, though. And even though it claimed to have banana in it I didn’t notice any “extra” banana taste on top of the banana I added.
I liked that it had additional egg protein in it and it didn’t taste any different from my regular protein powder. That’s a plus! Also, the calorie content was decent for the amount of powder and the ingredient list was all things I recognized. However, I’d rather just buy a can of protein powder and get more for my money since I didn’t think this tasted all that different. But, if you’re really into no extraneous ingredients then maybe this shake mix is for you.
Great Date with Chocolate Bar – reviewed by Steven
Ingredients: Organic Dates, Whey Protein Isolate, Organic Honey, Cocoa.
Pros: Decent flavor.
Cons: Like eating a bar of clay. A bit too dense and chewy.
Cookie Dough Bar – reviewed by ME!
Ingredients: Organic Dates, Cashew Butter, Cashews, Clover Honey, Semisweet Chocola Chips, Vanilla Extract.
Pros: Actually tastes like cookie dough! Well, a healthy version of it.
Cons: A bit crumbly.
Thank you You Bar, for sending me these items to review!!! (I still have one bar left, but I wanted to get this review out!)
Since I was originally interested in You Bar for their custom mix, I would like to sponsor a custom mix giveaway!
You Bar Trail Mix Giveaway Rules
- One reader will receive one custom trail mix (13 packages per box) from You Bar.
- Required to enter the giveaway: go to the site and tell me what you are going to put in your mix!
- This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Friday April 6. I will use random.org to select the winner. I will announce the winner on Saturday April 7.
- This giveaway is open to readers in the US.
Themocracy
Awesome!
I love how helpful the friends and fam are with your reviews! Sometimes I have my friends try whatever was sent to me and I get either a “good” or “bad”. Not much else…
If I got to make my own, they would definitely include chocolate chips and coconut. Because I feel the need to always add those two things into pretty much everything…
THIS IS SO COOL!
My bar: almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, figs, coconut, chia seeds, granola.
i want that bar right now.
What a fun company. Based on the reviews, sounds like the trail mix got the best reviews anyway! My trail mix would include almonds, cashews, peanuts, goji berries, raisins, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, galaxy granola, candied ginger and chocolate drop candies. Yummmmmm!
LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!! Thanks for hosting this giveaway!!!
Too bad you can’t put every single ingredient they offer into one giant mix. =D But since I have to make choices, I would want:
Almonds, Macadamias, Hazelnuts, Goji Berries, Apricots, Blueberries, Chia Seeds, Flaxseed, Galaxy Granola, and Dark Chocolate-Covered Raisins!
OK, now I’m getting hungry…!
I really like the idea of having multiple people reviewing the same set of products.
I am really liking dried cherries in my trail mix lately. So, I would make a cherry, dark chocolate chips and walnut mix. Yep, it sounds perfect to me!
would it be weird to do pineapple and licorice and pistacios? I’m kind of a weirdo.
Mine is simple:
Nuts:
Pecans
Crunchy Grains:
Galaxy Granola
Tasty Additions:
Dark Chocolate Covered Raisins
mmm i would do:
Dried Fruit:
Apples
Dried Apricots
Dried Cherries
Organic Goji Berries
Seeds:
Chia Seeds (Raw)
Organic Flaxseeds
Organic Pumpkin Seeds (Raw)
Organic Sesame Seeds
Sunflower Seeds
Crunchy Grains:
Sesame Sticks
Tasty Additions:
Dark Chocolate Covered Raisins
Mmmm, chocolate protein, for sure, maybe some dark chocolate chips, most certainly peanut butter and maybe pretzels? Salty + Sweet + Peanut butter is the best combination known to man.
Almonds (Raw), Cashews (Raw) Hazelnuts (Raw, Pistachio Nuts, Walnuts (Raw), figs, raisins, apricots, pineapple, goji, chia, flax, sesame, sunflower, pretzels, granoola, sesame sticks, cacao, ginger, dark choc raisins
OMg there are so many choices! I love all the fruits! I would definitely do walnuts and cashews and peanuts and almonds. And the pineapple and dried cherries and apricots and sweetened blueberries! And mini pretzels!! OMG and milk chocolate covered raisins!
And I just saw that there is a limit to fruit and nuts. Good thing I didn’t go over! That stuff looks so good – its 330pm here and I could totally go for that for a snack!
Oh, that’s pretty neat! Let’s see…
Peanuts, cashews, raisins, cranberries, pretzels, chocolate drops, licorice, and chocolate covered raisins!
So on my first attempt I went a little nuts and basically had everything, which probably would have been a little too much. So my second attempt is a perfect balance…
Nuts:
Hazelnuts (Raw)
Pecans (Raw)
Dried Fruit:
Organic Black Mission Figs
Seeds:
Crunchy Grains:
Galaxy Granola
Sesame Sticks
Tasty Additions:
Natural Sunspire Chocolate Drops Candies
Uncrystalized Candied Ginger
I would do chia seeds, almonds, galaxy granola, dried apricots, cacao nibs!
Here’s my list:
Nuts:
Macadamia Nuts (Raw)
Pecans (Raw)
Walnuts (Raw)
Dried Fruit:
Apples
Dried Apricots
Organic Raisins
Seeds:
Chia Seeds (Raw)
Crunchy Grains:
Mini Pretzels
Tasty Additions:
Dark Chocolate Covered Raisins
Milk Chocolate Covered Raisins
Back to check it out some more!
Wow! This is so cool!!! I’m definitley going to head back to this site and make my trail mix – regardless of whether I win or not! I think this combo would be tasty:
Almonds
Pistachios
Dried Fruit:
Apples
Sweetened blueberries
Seeds:
Chia Seeds (Raw)
Tasty Additions:
Milk Chocolate Covered Raisins
Very cool – I’d probably do almonds, cashews, dried apricots and galaxy granola.
Neat idea. Didn’t I see the company on a recent Vistaprint biz card commerical? Been meaning to look them up and see if they were for real. Guess they are. Interesting (better not tell Clif Bar)
OK I’d put in bananas, walnuts and non dairy chocolate chips. Be like a banana loaf.
I love the multiple reviewers with photos and pro/con reviews. But I have to say they didn’t totally sell me on the stale, crumbly snacks that stick to your teeth.
But if I was going to give this stuff a try, I’d go with: almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, dried cherries, dried blueberries, granola, and chocolate covered raisins.
I’m kind of a nut freak, so mine would have: almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts and pistachios, dried cherries, blueberries, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, granola, and dark chocolate raisins.