Greenbelly’s Meal Bar is massive, but it packs a third of your daily calories into a deliciously soft, moist brick of a bar. They’re almost too big for a jersey pocket, crowding out anything else you may have planned on taking with you, but they’ll provide a few pitstops worth of gnoshing to keep you going through longer rides. Heck, there might even be enough to share…
Compare size to an iPhone 5.
Yes, that’s right. One hundred delicious grams of carbs with a healthy serving of fat and protein that actually kept me pleasantly full after just half a bar without ending up as a gut bomb. Good stuff. They’re just under $4 each, available in 3-, 12- and 36-packs of mixed or single flavors. Considering they pack the nutritional equivalent of two or three competing bars, it’s not a bad price.
Purefit bars pack 18g of protein from U.S.-grown, non-GMO soy. Other ingredients include things like almonds, agave syrup, chicory fiber, beet syrup and sea salt. They’re relatively low in sugar and low glycemic, too, and come in a variety of mostly nutty, peanut buttery and chocolately flavors, plus one berry and one granola option. They retail for about $37 for a box of 15. They’re available to U.S. bike shops at wholesale through Torcano Industries.
I found Ally’s Bar at a ‘cross race and didn’t get a chance to try one, but the ingredients look solid…and they’re made with one of our favorite carb sources: sweet potatoes! The company was founded by Ally Stacher, a pro cyclist, and the company has attracted a number of other top level cyclists and industry folks to help it grow.
This one’s a bit more carb heavy, but the sources are pretty decent: Dates, quinoa, banana and cranberries. Really wishing I would have grabbed a couple…
This pic was left over from my Interbike snapshots and missed that nutrition roundup. Hammer Nutrition has a new Hazelnut gel flavor called Nocciola, available in their bulk bottle for filling your own flasks on the cheap.
I did spot Clif Bar’s new Nuts & Seeds and Berry Pomegranate Chia flavors at Interbike, but now I’ve had a chance to try them and they’re tasty. They join the usual holiday season limited edition flavors of Spiced Pumpkin Pie, Iced Gingerbread and Pecan Pie. All also delicious.
Hungry yet?
