Nature Valley Protein Salted Caramel Review

I used to really enjoy Nature Valley bars back in the day and bought them all the time. A nice, crunchy texture, pleasantly sweet and flavours I really like such as coconut, almond or maple syrup. However, with all the new bars and breakfast biscuits that came out, they fell off my radar completely and with over 10g sugar a bar, healthier alternatives also came out.

Since then they’ve launched new lighter popcorn bars and also protein bars, which I never tried. The protein bars seem to have undergone a rebranding with more protein per (10g) and are now gluten free and they have introduced a salted caramel version, which I decided to try.

Opening it up, it looked promising – it’s a big dense, heavy bar with a very high nut content (38% peanuts and 9% almonds) and an attractive yogurt type bottom layer. It tastes really good with a sweet, salty flavour although it doesn’t really taste of salted caramel per se and the caramel didn’t really come through for me. The texture was very firm and a bit of a jawbreaker, which wasn’t a deal breaker as it made the bar feel satisfying and substantial although it is quite a dry eat so a hot drink does help.

I have mixed feelings about its healthiness. Its gluten free, 10g protein and actually a really good fibre content too at over 5g a bar and actually it’s low in sugar too at just over5g bar so significantly less than other bars and with high protein, fibre, it feels like an all round better snack.

But then I look at the ingredients and it just uses too many things which seem a bit odd like fructose, palm fat, maltodextrin and put me off but then again they use a lot of nuts so I don’t understand why they would then compromise on quality here.

If I felt more reassured that these were healthier, I’d rate them a little higher. However, it is filling and tasty and certainly better than anything from the likes of Kelloggs or things like Alpen bars.

Price: £2.89

Bought at: Waitrose

Nutrition per bar: 200 calories, 12.3g fat, 3.1g  sat fat, 5.4g sugars, 5.1g fibre, 10.3g protein, 0.43g salt

Score: 7.5/10

Fage Total Apple and Blackberry Yogurt

After really enjoying the new cherry Total splitpot from Fage, I also managed to get my hand on the new apple and blackberry version. I am obsessed with these at the moment. They’re super pricey but I don’t feel too bad because I really enjoy them and I think it’s better to buy what you really like. It’s the usual story here – Fage Total’s plain super thick authentically Greek yogurt that’s low sugar and high protein with a side helping of fruity compote.

As always the yogurt is sublimely thick and so satisfying so there’s not a lot more to say here. I loved the cherry compote version so much I thought this would not be as good but still had very high expectations. I’ll get right to the point, it’s sublime. The cherry one is delicious and this is as every bit as good; I couldn’t pick a favourite.

It has all the flavour of a perfect apple and blackberry crumble with the perfect balance of sweet and tang and refreshing apple and the depth of blackberry. The juicy real blackberries in it are plentifiul and it’s so easy to swirl through the yogurt giving a pleasing dark inky colour and tastes wonderful against the creamy richness of the yogurt. Yes, they’re expensive but I  just love the taste of these  and I don’t want to compromise with anything else.

Price: £1.10

Bought at: Waitrose

Nutrition per 100g: 81 calories, 0g fat, 0g sat fat, 11.4g sugars, 8.3g protein, 0.09g salt

Score: 9/10

Barny ABC Bears Vanilla Review

Although a fully functioning adult, I will occasionally buy snacks clearly aimed at less mature people such as these Barny ABC bears from Mondelez. I actually quite enjy the sponge bears with their madeleine like texture and they're a fairly light little snack and although it's never going to be a particularly nutritious option, there are probably worse things out there and sometimes we all tastes that are probably a bit guilty - Cadbury Mini Animals being another one of my weaknesses.

Barny have expanded the range moving into biscuits. The individual 25g packs come in boxes of 6 in either chocolate or vanilla and I decided to go for vanilla. At 6g sugars per bag and 113 calories, I felt it was a relatively less naughty sweet treat.

Pouring the bag out you get some fairly cool little bear shaped snacks each with an individual letter on. If you were so inclined I'm sure you could amuse yourself trying to make some words although I must admit I couldn't get a lot out of the letters I ended up with. Needless to say I wouldn't be great on countdown.

The texture of the bears was good - crunchy and satisfying with a wholemeal, cereal type grittiness which I enojyed. Unfortunately the flavour and sweetness let them down. Although not overly sgary in terms of amount in the biscuits, they just tasted sickly sweet. The vanilla bears were a bit overpowering and the white chocolate chips in them just meant the whole thing was very one dimensional and lacked any depth.

Maybe my tastes have become more adult but they just let me down when I wanted a simple treat.

Price: £1.69
Bought at: Tesco
Nutrition per 25g bag: 113 calories, 3.7g fat, 0.5g sat fat, 6.1g sugars, 0.15g salt

Score: 5/10

Marks and Spencer Hot Chilli Con Carne Sauce

I really don't like cooking. Assembling meals is fine and I'm happy to put the time in prepping a salad or noodle bowl or stir fry but making sauces and anything involving a lot of spices....not for me so I tend to stick to classic fish or meat done in the oven with some carbs and some steamed veg. I do make chilli today but today I had a hankering for it but also wasn't in the mood to do it from scratch.

This all sounds terribly lazy and I bet most people are crying out that chilli is one of the easiest things to make. That's true but I was in the M&S food hall and they had a stand with Mexican stuff on that looked so attractive I ended up buying a ready made chilli sauce. What's more it cost me £2. I'm sure I'm pretty the type of person you get on Eat Well For Less who needlessly wastes money on the grocery shop. But time is also pretty important and this is a real doddle. Literally all you need to do is fry your beef in a pan and then add the sauce, bring to the boil and cook. That's it. I did go one step further and fried some diced red onion before adding the meat to at least feel I was doing something!

At least with an M&S product, the ingredients list is pretty safe and you can see by the order of ingredients that it's fairly generous with the kidney beans, onion and peppers and as well as the usual spices it's got ancho chilli and cocoa for depth. It's a very thick sauce and not in the least bit watery.

Now I purposefully picked this hot one over the mild one and I can safely safe this is not hot in any way. That's not to say it's not tasty. The balance of flavours is really good, not one spice is overpowering and it all syncs wonderfully creating a rich, deep, comforting chilli. It actually tastes fairly similar to the M&S chilli ready meal, which I really like.

Whilst tasty, it's not radically interesting or different and I guess it's pretty pricey for what it is. But it did the job in providing a quick and tasty meal on a summer evening when I'd rather be doing other things.

Price: £2
Bought at: Marks and Spencer
Nutrition per half jar: 117 calories

Score: 6.5/10

Graze Herby Bread Basket

I don't think I've ever had a bad Graze box. They always tick the box of being both enjoyable to eat and are a relatively guilt free snack. I do tend to stick to my favourites though so decided to branch out with this herby bread baskeet, which contains a mix of garlic crostini, sweet basil breadsticks and oregano rice crackers. The idea behind it is inspired by Italian classic flavours but with a modern twist. Visually, it's a very attractive little snack and I think they've got the mix spot on with an even amount of all the different elements as some Graze boxes can be a bit one sided.

Every piece in this box tasted great and it's really hard to pick what the stand out bit of the punnet is. The breadsticks were nice and crunchy but also easy to eat with a nice mild sweetness and savoury tomato and herb flavour. The oregano rice cakes offered a completely different texture - light but also crisp with a good umami kick and a good balance of salt with mild sticky sweetness. The garlic crostini were liked nice little mini bites of bruschetta with that crunchy, baguette texture and a good decent strength garlic flavour - although not in any way overly pungent.

Eaten individually they were all delicious and equally nice in any combination. Usually with these types of mixes I work my way around, meticulously planning the order of each bite to get the best tastes at the end but it's impossible here as every element is as good as the last. And at just 90 calories for the punnet, anyone looking for a light munch can get stuck in without any guilt and it certainly is a lot more interesting than a couple of ricecakes

Price: £1.29
Bought at: Boots
Nutrition per punnet: 90 calories, 4.4g fat, 1.8g sat fat, 1.1g sugars, 0.33g salt

Score: 7/10

Nutribrex Coconut and Crispy Rice

After adding Nutribix to my ever increasing cereal repertoire (I just love the stuff and tend to eat it twice a day!), they've added a new coconut and crispy rice variant to the range and also renamed themselves as Nutri-brex. Slightly odd choice of name I must admit and at first I thought it was some kind of temporary PR thing in relation to Brexit but apparently they're actually sticking with this.

Like the regular Nutribrex it's a sorghum based breakfast cereal in biscuit form and is gluten free as sorghum does not contain gluten like wheat so I imagine very nice for coeliacs who miss their Weetabix or Shredded Wheat. What I liked about the original Nutribrex was how simple it was, allowing you to top it and customise each day however you want.

With crispy rice, coconut and cinnamon in this, this has a flavour all of its own. It's not super strongly flavoured so actually still works very well with whatever you choose to throw at it but because of the coconut and cinnamon it's also very nice just as it is. You can definitely get the tropical taste of coconut, which partners surprisingly well with the warmth of cinnamon. It's a cereal that would equally for breakfast in summer or winter.

The crisped rice doesn't add a huge amount and for me gets a bit lost but does add a little bit of crunch and textural interest. Like the regular Nutribrex these need a serious amount of milk and soaking time to soften them but it's worth it in the end.

I think I probably prefer it to the original overall and now I've got another cereal to feed my addiction to the stuff

Bought at: Asda
Nutrition per 3 biscuit serving: 201 calories, 4.2g fat, 2.2 sat fat, 4.1g sugars, 4.9g protein, 3.8g fibre, 0.22g salt

Score: 8/10

Eat Real Hummus Chips Sea Salt

It's the penny sale at Holland and Barrett at the moment and whilst it can be a bit pricey, this is always a good chance to stock up on some nice little snacks. I bought these Hummus chips by Eat Natural in the penny sale, getting 2 bags for £0.86, which is pretty reasonable.

These are crisps made from chickpea flour mostly and then also some rice, potato starch, rapeseed oil, corn flour and sea salt. And that's it so pretty natural, simple ingredients. As a result of the chickpea flour, they are a little higher in protein than normal crisps and they also have 30% less fat than standard crisps as well. They are also suitable for vegans and gluten free.

The 45g bag is pretty large and you get a lot in here. Although it's worth noting when looking at the nutritional information it is per 28g as the bag apparently contains one and a half servings, which is a bit cheeky! What's the point of half a serving. Either make it one serving or two!

Inside all the chips were whole and intact and in attractive cone shaped shells. They have a nice firm texture and a really good crunch. They're fairly hard but I really enjoyed texture. The taste is fairly neutral and plain with a nice salty flavour but one that would work very well in any kind of dip. Because of the shell shape I imagine they would be great for scooping up salsa or even houmous if you want some chickpea in your snack. The crisps actually have a fairly, nutty chickpea background taste as well but I imagine no one would guess these aren't potato chips unless you told them.

The salt content is maybe a little high but these are a pretty healthy little snack and one that are very tasty to boot. Nice and light with a clean, natural flavour and excellent crunch, I might have to stock up on them.

Price: £0.85
Bought at: Holland and Barrett

Score: 7.5/10