Hello, friends!

My recent posts have revealed the findings that my sister-in-law & I have made conducting the Ultimate Energy/Snack Bar Experiment.  In short, we’re comparing the time, taste, and cost of making energy bars at home, versus buying them at the store!

Yesterday I shared the Maca Energy Bar recipe we made and how it compared to store-bought brands.  Our findings:

• Time:  about 30 min.
• Taste Comparison:  Pretty close to Nature Valley’s Sweet & Salty Nut Mix.
• Cost:  $1.49/bar, a total savings of:
• 35% savings, or $12.90 per 16 bars.

Not bad!

The day before that we listed our findings about Kamut Dark Chocolate Energy Bars.

But today’s experiment was our absolute favorite…  yummy, yummy No-Bake Protein Bars!

Experiment #3:  No-Bake Protein Bars, (by Angela Liddon).

Mm, mm, these were a hit!  (Especially with the husbands).

True to the original recipe name, these bars were the quickest & easiest of the three recipes we experimented with.

Uncharacteristically, we pretty much stuck to the recipe.  In addition to doubling all ingredients, we ended up using local, all-natural honey as the sweetener and throwing in a couple teaspoons of maca powder for the added nutritional aspects. ;)

After popping them out of the freezer, our husbands lost no time in eating them!  I managed to count how many bars we made before they disappeared:  20 bars.

The Verdict

• Time:  15 min.  Can’t beat that!  The add’l 15 min in the freezer felt like forever, though. ;)
• Taste Comparison:  Just like a Larabar.  The cookie dough one.
• Cost:  Larabars that come in a pack of 16 cost an average of $19.99 a box. That’s $1.25/bar.  Our homemade bars:  $0.78/bar.  That’s a savings of:
• 38%, or $9.39 per 20 bars!

Wahoo!  A definite winner.

You can bet that these will be popping up frequently on this blog!