Wednesday, January 29, 2014

REVIEW: Quaker Banana Nut Bread Soft Baked Bars

I like a nice hunk of banana bread every now and again, so it'd make sense for me to buy these Banana Nut Bread Bars from Quaker, right? That's what I thought, but it really was more of an impulsive buy. I mean, I like banana bread, but I like the homemade stuff, not some manufactured junk. Homemade banana bread tastes better and is real easy to make. So I guess I wasn't really thinking. But then again, if you asked me if I felt like making banana bread RIGHT NOW, I'd probably respond with a, "Gee.... I'd LOVE to, butttttt..... I kinda have stuff to do. Like watching videos. About video games. On Youtube."
So as you can see, I have a lot on my plate, and I suppose in the end, it WOULD make sense for me to buy manufactured banana bread!!!
...Ohhhhhh, who am I kidding? I'm just trying to reassure myself...
A 7.4 oz. box with five 1.48 bars costs around $2.69.
A 42g bar contains 140 calories, 3.5g of total fat, 0.5g of saturated fat, 0g of trans fat, 1g of polyunsaturated fat, 1.5g of monounsaturated fat, 10mg of cholesterol, 140mg of sodium, 26g of total carbohydrates, 5g of dietary fiber, 10g of sugar, 1g of glycerin, and 6g of protein. Also contains up to 20% of various vitamins and minerals.
5 grams of fiber and 6g of protein? Not bad for a lowly Quakers bar! But what the heck is glycerin? Ima look it up... WHAT? Pharmaceutical and personal care applications? Like... soap??? WAAAAA! I'm not so sure I wanna eat this anymore...

Well, looks like I'm gonna eat this anyway. (Which I guess is okay, since I am technically writing this review after I ate the whole lot of these bars. Which means five grams of glycerin, aka soap, have entered my bloodstream. Yaaaaay.) Anyway, what we have here is a seemingly smaller bar- smaller than one might expect -especially since 42 grams is actually slightly larger than most snack bars one might consume, but this bar's small size packs in a lot of density, I kid you not. The "bread" part, if you want to call it that, is made up mostly of rolled oats and soy crisp rice, which would explain the high protein content. The chopped almonds on top probably also pack a protein punch of their own.

First off, this bar was much more banana-y than I anticipated. I was really surprised. There was also a hint of butteriness to the bar, which may come from the "shortening" listed in the ingredients. It was a very sweet and hearty taste that actually reminded me a lot of real banana bread. The texture was also similar to banana bread in that is very soft, dense, and somewhat sticky. The only major difference was that the soy crisps added a bit of unexpected crunch you wouldn't get from regular banana bread.

Overall, this Quaker Bar may not have been as awesome as banana bread you could make at home, but when you're stretched for time and just feel like some good ol'  banana bread on the go, this is a nice choice. There is a surprising amount of protein and fiber in one of these little snack bars too, which is very much appreciated. The taste was that of banana bread, and that's enough to color me impressed! I could certainly see myself buying these again.
I'd give Quaker's Banana Nut Bread Soft Baked Bars an 8/10,

What Quaker Soft Baked Bar should be reviewed NEXT? Let us know in the comments below!

Till' then, this has been RiRi ri-porting!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...