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protein bars from NTBM.
- Thread starter stevesmi
- Start date
DeathMetal
New member
I wish...seriously.
If I have a chance today, I'll note my specific likes/dislikes about them (I want to give a detailed write-up, but I am heading to Spain for a business trip and running around taking care of last minute errands). I honestly think it's great that so many people have found a strong liking with Mr.Spellwin's product, and please, for anyone else, don't hesitate to try them! They're just not for me.
^^^i can't imagine why you did not like them. I had a bunch of guys at the gym over to shoot pool and the whole batch of 12 of them was gone within minutes.
and for a 1.20 per bar I can't imagine that price would be an issue.
maybe you had trouble mixing the ingredients or you did not use the right amount of water and they came out too runny or hard?
and for a 1.20 per bar I can't imagine that price would be an issue.
maybe you had trouble mixing the ingredients or you did not use the right amount of water and they came out too runny or hard?
DeathMetal
New member
FOREWARD
I'd like to thank Mr.Spellwin for coming out with such an innovative product that so many helpful members of this site have found to be nothing short of 'win'. As we all know, taste is SUBJECTIVE, and it just wasn't to my liking. This is NOT a stab at the product, just one man's review. Please don't turn this in to a flame-fest, I respect the integrity of the board and hope that open, constructive dialogue can be preserved when matters such as this arise.
BUT, over a long enough timeline, as we all know, data will normalize and there will be feedback on both ends of the curve. That being said, I am writing from the lamenting left-hand side and probably am the third, forth, or fifth sigma and obviously represent a VERY small portion of the population who wasn't a big fan of this product. Here's the breakdown:
PROS
- Fresh, DIY protein. If you're serious about your shape, you know the importance of FRESH food, and this fits the bill nicely
- Quality - the bars a super-compact for the nutrients that it provides, and left me asking: "WTF are all other protein bar manufactures adding to their bars if it's 3x the size at the SAME macros?!"
- Customizable to your liking, so you can be creative in catering the flavor to your taste
CONS
MIXING
I followed the directions PRECISELY as listed. 3/4cup honey, 1cup PB, mix by hand. What a massive mistake that was. Unless you have a teflon-lined skin, these things are a nightmare to mix. After a few frustrating sticky-handed minutes I sprayed by hands down with PAM and things went much better. EXCEPT...that even after a THOROUGH mixing, the wet ingredients were far insufficient to properly suspend all of the mix. I came close with the Choco Nanner mix...NO WHERE CLOSE ENOUGH for the PB mix, so I have to add water.
So, IMHO, the wet ingredients for the recipe, made in the manner described on the package, and mixed as recommended, took significantly more effort and time than I could have ever anticipated.
FLAVOR
Good. BUT the flavor of the packaged goodness easily gets lost and overpowered by the PB and honey.
MACROS
Ok, this was the one that really bit my ass. The package details, AS MADE, is 414-cal/21F/26P/36C. Seriously? You couldn't just give me the 'as-is' and let me do the rest (or are people that bad at calculating their own macros?) Curiosity then got the best of me...so let's walk through a rough estimation of what's "really" in the bag: (NOTE: I'm using the values obtained from calories count.com)
NATTY PB: 1 cup / 12bars = 1.33tbsp per bar: 133cal/10.5F/6.5P/ 4C
NATTY CLOVE HONEY: 3/4 cup / 12 bars = 1tbsp per bar: 60cal / 17C
Calculating it all out
CALORIES: 414 - 133 - 60 = 221calories
FAT: 21 - 10.5 = 10.5g
PROTEIN: 26 - 6.5 = 19.5g
CARBS: 36g - 4g -17g = 15g
"ESTIMATED MACROS IN BAG (per Bar,. assuming 1 dzn"
221cal
10.g Fat
19.5g Protein
15g Carbohyrates
$1.50 / 19.5g per bar for mix, assuming free shipping
...damn. And that's assuming FREE shipping and not even factoring the cost of my natty PB, and Honey. So almost HALF of all macros are dreived from the PB and honey.
TASTE
Finally, the taste. When I was a child my mother used to make this amazing snack by rolling oats with PB and honey and lil bit 'o flour. The taste brought my back to eagerly standing on my tippy-toes awaiting the tasty goodness she used to prepare, which is great for nastalgic purposes, not so much for an adult looking for some diverse texture/flavor in a protein bar.
CONCLUSION
Given the cost, effort, and overall flavor of the bars, it's just not my thing.
DeathMetal
New member
Awesome! I really wish for the success of this product and many happy customers!
AMAZON = $17.99 / 12 = $1.50 per bar, for 19.g protein...not even factoring in the cost of PB, honey, shipping, and time to prepare. Still, not a bad deal, but I'd much rather whip up a shit-ton of chicken and store it for later use when factoring the aforementioned.
I wouldn't rule it out...but for a '5 minute' recipe, I shouldn't be required to dick around with varying levels of the raw ingredients.
I am very kitchen challenged and I hate putting things together but come on man.... mixing honey, water, PB and the bar ingredients into a bowl was not at all difficult for me.
the fact that I get to add raw ingredients that are not procesed is very appealing to someone health consious.
