I've been eating granola type bars for years, since I was around 12 years old, and I love them. They're handy to keep available for when you don't feel like cooking, or just want a lighter meal or snack. There are plenty of not so healthy versions on the market, and I consider the sweeter and less healthy types to be more of a dessert than a healthy meal, and I don't buy them very often nowadays. I really enjoy the healthier types of bars. I've started buying Kind Bars and Kashi Bars. Since I'm on a tight budget, there's no way I could invest in buying the wide variety of healthful and sometimes difficult to find ingredients these two brands pack into their bars, and by shopping around, I can usually get good deals on them. Both Kroger and Walmart Supercenter (at least the ones where I shop) carry these, and the prices are reasonable. The bars aren't huge, but they're very tasty, and I tend to eat them with a piece of fruit and a cup of tea, usually for lunch. Do you have a favorite snack/health bar?
My go to are usually the Quaker Chewy Granola Bars .... chocolate chip, peanut butter. And they have a chocolate Dipps bar w/peanut butter that I really like. For their size, these bars are really filling.
I have tried several. My wife buys them, and I'll sometimes eat one if I can't find another handier snack, but I don't care too much for them, or the granola-type cereals either.
Granola bars are okay; but I usually like to get the protein bars (the low-carb ones) and I often have one, or part of one along with my morning coffee, and sometimes a nibble at night if I want a snack before bedtime. I forget who makes it; but there is a protein breakfast bar that has chocolate chips and cranberries in it, and now and then I have one of those with my coffee. On the days when we go to the fitness center, I want something to eat before we go; but not a regular breakfat because then I lose some of my energy. If I have the protein bar with my coffee, that seems to be perfect, and keeps me going until we get back home again. My most favorite ones are the "caveman bars" which are dark, dark chocolate with nuts and cherries, or sometimes coconut, no grains of any kind. They work with paleo eating, and are totally delicious !
I don't like granola bars, but the one Yvonne describes with nuts, cherries and chocolate sound delicious.
They are delicious, @Ruby Begonia ! We get them when we make our monthly shopping trip to Sam's Club; but I am pretty sure that you can also get them at places like Costco, and Amazon. They have several different flavors; but the ones we get at Sam's come in a box with two flavors (both of which are totally delicious !). My favorite is the dark chocolate cherry nut; but the dark chocolate almond coconut is wonderful, too. The cherry one reminds me of those chocolate covered maraschino cherries that my daddy used to buy when I was a little girl, and the coconut one is something like a Mounds bar. These are also fairly low carb, and all made with that super-healthy dark, dark chocolate.
My wife buys the chewy chocolate chip granola bars at ALDI. She eats one for breakfast every morning. Personally, I'm not a fan of them.
I love homemade fruit leather. During the summer months, when fruit is cheap and in season, I make up batches of it, and dried fruit in my dehydrator. It lasts for months. Yummy!
Yvonne, those look like "Kind Bars". I've eaten a few at my daughter's....her boys like them, they're okay. Chewy, so it takes awhile to eat which is good. I wouldn't say they have the best nutrition but better than a kit kat.
Oops. Just realised that my medicine head short circuited re the original topic of the thread. Fruit leather is obviously not a granola bar. Mea culpa! While not a fan of commercial granola bars, I have experimented with making my own. Current favourite contains rolled oats, cocoa powder, raisins, cashews, peanuts, sunflower seeds, peanuts, cranberries, and cherries-dried of course, bonded together with honey. Delicious.
I don't much care for granola bars and from what I've read they are no healthier than regular candy bars, so I'll just have a baby ruth or a snickers.
I put 'type' in the title to include the types of bars people are mentioning here. I'm not sure what category the Kind and Kashi bars fall into, they seem more like the protein bars, but since they're not all protein, I said Granola type. @Sacheen BrightEagle I actually meant health type bars/food, so fruit leather's definitely appropriate, and even if it wasn't, that'd be o.k. . I've always wanted to make fruit leather, but I don't have a dehydrator, and my current oven is a mess and doesn't fully shut, so I'm not sure I'd be able to use that to make the leather. I like that the Kind and Kashi bars have lots of healthy ingredients such as nuts, seeds, fruit, dark chocolate, etc. They taste healthier than the old style breakfast/granola or others that are basically glorified candy bars.