Zing: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

Zing’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bar is a really well executed product, starting with the bar’s smooth cashew butter base.  From there, the product has a light amount of crunch, a very pleasant oatmeal note, and a touch of salt and an almost fruity note to the finish.  Chocolate chips are visibly present, but don’t play a big role in the bar’s flavor.  That’s fine by us, since the bar complex flavor is very enjoyable even without chocolate chip flavor in every bite.  Nutritionally, the 1.76 ounce all natural bar has 210 calories, 10g of protein, 9g of fat, 4g of fiber, 6% RDA calcium, and 10% iron.  We’d classify this as a product that’s good for a light breakfast or for a pick me up.  Packaging is colorful and attractive to the eye.  We like the wholesome look of the Zing logo, but we’re distracted by the gold colored strip down the front of the wrapper that features the bar’s tagline (“Deliciously Different”).    Nit picking aside, this is a very enjoyable product that successfully blends great taste and packaging together.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Clif Bar Crunch: Chocolate Chip

Clif Crunch is Clif’s granola bar line, which is very similar to what you’d get from the likes of Nature Valley – two thin granola bars stacked on top of one another.  Fortunately, this bar does have its own identity, with a slightly softer consistency that doesn’t crunch as much as the competition.  The flavor is heavy on the oats and rice crisps, while added sugar gives the bar a relatively sweet taste.  They weren’t stingy with the chocolate chips, which makes for a nice complement to the oat flavor at the base of the bar.  Nutritionally, this bar is basically an enhanced snack product, with 180 calories, 1g of fat, 3g of fiber, 4g of protein, potassium, iron, and calcium present in the product.  The wrapper is colorful and clean and makes good use of Clif’s branding to the point where it should be easily identifiable to most consumers.  Overall, Clif’s first entry into the granola bar market is a good one.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Penny Protein Plan: Chocolate Chip Oat Square

The Penny Protein Plan’s Chocolate Oat Square bar is a very well rounded bar that has something for everyone. Designed to be a high protein “treat” for the owner’s (Penny) “no-crave” diet program, this bar has a solid 18g of protein per package, which is derived from added whey protein concentrate).   But unlike many other protein laden bars on the market today, this bar also has loads of wholesome flavor, with oats, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, flax, and even the occasional chocolate chip.  All of these ingredients are easily distinguished from the soft and chewy bar, making for something that truly exceeded our expectations.  Packaging is clean and simple, with a clear plastic wrap that’s held in place by the bar’s wrapper, which is nothing more than a sticker that keeps the wrapper closed.  Unlike other bars that are shaped like candy bars, this one goes for a square approach, making it look more like a brownie than a bar.  That’s okay by us, especially since this helps give the bar an even more handcrafted vibe.  Overall, an extremely well executed bar that we’d love to have more of.

Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

NoNuttin’ Granola Bar: Chocolate Chip

Compared to their Double Chocolate Chunk flavored bar, NoNuttin’s Chocolate Chip bar has far less chocolate flavor. However, it’s still plenty to satisfy and it also leaves more oat flavor in the mix. Plus, there’s a note of what tastes like brown sugar and/or brown rice syrup (kind of earthy, hint of molasses). All of these flavors combine to give the bar just the right amount of each flavor, with a mild level of sweetness to complement the oats and chocolate. It has a definite high quality feeling to it, which is definitely a plus for this bar. From a portion point of view, this bar is definitely on the lighter side, having only 130 calories and 5g of fat per bar. However, being a gluten and nut free formulation is something that should definitely give this bar some added marketability. On the packaging front, this 1.06 ounce bar has a pastel green wrapper that’s pretty busy as far as text elements are concerned. While the name itself is clever, we’re not huge fans of the logo (they’ve got a yellow character blocking the “o”), plus something just feels disjointed about the way that things have been arranged. Our eye was circling around looking for the focal point and trying to absorb everything that’s on there. Still, the flavor is great and if they can tweak the label we think this bar would be perfect.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Clif Bar: Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch

While there’s not a ton of crunch to the bar, there’s a nice dose of peanut butter flavor to this bar. The addition of peanut butter also adds a fair amount of chew to the bar, while oats, soy crisps, and a touch of chocolate chips give the bar some crunch on the way out. We can’t help but feel as though there should be more to the chocolate flavor – it’s really muted in its current form. So really, this bar is like a more chewy version of your typical Clif Bar. That’s not a bad thing, but more a question of preference. In terms of substance and nutrition, this bar has 260 calories, 6g of fat, 11g of protein, 5g of fiber, and a bevy of vitamins and minerals. Plus, it does a nice job of satisfying hunger and a sweet tooth craving all in one shot. On the outside, it looks just like every other Clif Bar wrapper, which, in our opinion, could use a few more visual differences than just a color change in the mountain graphic. Overall, another solid bar from Clif – but not one that’s going to get anyone overly excited.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Chocolate and Coffee Unite! Odwalla® Combines Best of the Beans in New Mocha-walla™ Bar

With luscious chocolate chips and a touch of the java jive, this decadent delight will get you going Read more