The kids eat a LOT of granola bars and while I bake more than the average person I definitely can’t keep up with the demand for granola bars. Both kids take a granola bar in their lunches and usually will have one with breakfast as well. Since I’m a mom who cares about the quality of the food that my family eats I regularly check labels. I was dismayed to find sorbitol as an ingredient in the previously favored Quaker chewy granola bars as well as in the Special K Pretzel bars that my son likes. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to teach the kids about checking ingredients and about how to make good decisions about the food we choose.
Introducing our first product comparison review on Chocolate Chip Granola Bars… my daughter will take it from here writing about our experience.
The first granola bar we tried was the Annie’s Organic Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bar. I thought it needed to be a little bit sweeter so, I gave it a 2 out of 5. The texture wasn’t that great either. It was very tough and not so chewy for a chewy granola bar. The wrapper was kind of boring; it was purple and white with a yellow trim around the purple. The taste was boring as well. The bar was bland and it tasted like what I imagined fake oats would taste like. It also needed a little more chocolate chips to make it a little sweeter. This granola bar was ranked in third place out of the four we tried. My overall rating was 2 out 5.
The second granola bar that we tried was Cascadian Farm Organic Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola bar. The amount of sweetness in this granola bar was just right. The texture was chewy, but not too chewy. The wrapper of this bar is a little boring but it looks like a product from a local farm. Cascadian Farm added just enough chocolate chips, and it tastes natural. My mom liked the mild flavor of this one. I love these granola bars so I gave it a 5 for my overall rating. Cascadian Farm ranked number one on our granola bar chart.
Thirdly, we tried the Plum Go Bar Chocolate Chip soft baked oat bar with veggies. This granola bar was ok but not my favorite. It was a little sweet so I gave it a 4. It felt weird in my mouth; kind of like there were little tiny chunks of something in the bar. I thought the wrapper was cool. They used a very vivid, bright purple that really popped. When you took it out of the wrapper it smelled funny like a Zbar. This granola bar didn’t have a great aftertaste, and it said it had veggies in it and I don’t know what that’s all about. My overall rating was a 3. These ranked number two on the granola bar chart.
The last granola bar we tried was the Plum Organic Go Bar Chocolate Brownie. It was really sweet so I gave it a 5. It also had a funny texture, hard to explain. The only thing I liked about these was the wrapper which was bright blue and very vibrant, a lot like the other Plum one. The taste was bittersweet and had a bad aftertaste. I thought this were going to be the best because it said brownie on the box, but I was wrong and these turned out to be the worst of these four options. I rated these a 1 and they ranked in last place.
Our winner was Cascadian Farm Organic Chocolate Chip Granola Bars. Notice that all the options I chose were organic varieties. I figure that for something that the kids each so often it should have organic ingredients. One lesson that I learned from this activity was that my kids were much more eager to try some new foods for the sake of comparison. My daughter would have normally declined the Go Bars because of the vegetable additions (that’s why she commented “I don’t know what that’s all about”) but for this activity it was just another option to be evaluated. Each option was rated for sweetness, texture, wrapper, and taste. We had so much fun doing the taste testing and writing out our notes that we are already planning what we should review next.
Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for this review. All granola bars were purchased by me at Target.
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Loved reading about granola bar comparisons! I always bought Quaker brand granola bars but now plan on switching brands. Since you did the hard work of shopping, picking a few brands, taste testing and sharing… we will have the easy job of just picking out your winning bar and trying them out. Thank you for such an informative blog!! You made me laugh this time. Looks like your daughter is as talented as you are!!! Watch out mom😄
She is very talented. Thank you Valerie!