The Quest to Quest: A Protein Bar Review

Here it is.  Yet another exciting review.  Or as I like to call it “Things-I-Am-Willing-To-Throw-My-Money-At-Or-Subject-Myself-To-So-You-Don’t-Have-To.”  

Food = Fuel.  And if you want to battle the bulge, stay energized for workouts, have any sort of brain function or energy, then food is a necessary tool for all the aforementioned.  And the right foods at that…  

And I am willing to bet, like some of the participants in my Facebook-based fitness challenge groups, that sometimes eating right is hard – because you have to plan ahead, have a limited budget, can’t seem to bunk the craving for sugar, are always on the go, go to dinner with friends who aren’t on the same page, or have to take your kids to Chik Fil A and can’t seem to let their waffle fries and nuggets go to waste – take your pick of reasons, eating right is hard at times.

That is why I usually have protein bars stuffed somewhere in our pantry, away from the prying eyes and drooling lips of my 4 children, that I can just grab and go.  

Up until a few weeks ago, I was sorta addicted to Luna Peanut Butter Protein Bars.  Why? Because they taste like a candy bar and are full of deliciousness.  Why did I kick my addiction?  Well, in recent weeks, I have wanted to decrease the amount of soy I’m taking in, and as Luna Bars use a soy protein isolate as their main protein source, I had to go on the hunt for another pantry-hidden friend.  

And I found one.

Protein-seeking Ladies and Gents, meet the Quest Bar family.  

A little tidbit about Quest Bars straight from their website:

Yikes.  Take THAT, Luna!

The great thing about these bars that drew me to them is that they are sugar-free, gluten-free, soy-free and contain 20gram of protein.  

 Anyway, I wandered down to my local GNC to pick a few of these bars up … you know… for y’all.  I chose 4 bars in a variety of flavors I thought I might enjoy.  And ultimately walked out with the following:

• Chocolate Brownie
• Strawberry Cheesecake
• Cinnamon Roll
• Apple Pie

First up, Chocolate Brownie.  I was really looking forward to this one… and then came along the reason I hide my food in the pantry.  This man:

Dangerous, this one. Protein-bar smuggling bandit.

He ate it right out from underneath my pantry-watchful-eye.  It didn’t stand a chance.  But, in his remorse of consuming it ninja-style, this is his personal just-quoted-to-me review:

Pros:  Great flavor.  No weird aftertaste. Wasn’t grainy like some protein bars are.

Cons:  Hard to chew.  Felt my jaw pop once or twice.  Reminded me of that one time that we had to pull fresh tar off of our tire.  

Thank you Mr. Farmer for sacrificing your jaw for the good of this review post.

Next up, Strawberry Cheesecake:

SUPER Yum…

Pros:  DELICIOUS.  This was my fave of all of the bars I tried.  Great flavor and -again- no weird aftertaste

Cons:  Consistency, as Mr. Farmer said, is something to get used to.  But I would describe it as taffy-like.  And I love me some taffy…but that’s not really a “con”

And then we have, Cinnamon Roll:

Yum…

Pros:  Again, good.  Not an overwhelming cinnamon flavor, filling for sure and had me almost convinced I was eating a cinnamon roll.  If they were made out of taffy.

Cons:  Again, hard to chew.  I feel like I just might need to get over this feature since I like it for every other reason than this one.

 And lastly, and only because I have to, Apple Pie: 

Nahasty. Ew ew ew…

Pros:  Um, I got it down?  And it stayed down?

Cons:  Flavor brought back a psychological memory that I was obviously suppressing regarding my old Sunday School teacher’s love of powdered “apple drink mix.”  And then suddenly, there was a chunk of semi-dehydrated apple in my mouth, and I had to muscle it down the rest of the way and then sit there and contemplate whether or not that had just taken some moments off of my life and stolen my momentary joy.  

Translation: Ew.

Note:  I know, as I know of my own Shakeology customers, that everyone’s taste buds aren’t always on the same page.  I absolutely loathe their vegan Strawberry flavor, whereas my mother-in-law loves it.  So by all means get the Apple Pie one and tell me I’m wrong!

In conclusion, I do love these bars.  I will be more careful in my selection of flavors, but these are going to be my new go-to on-the-go snack.  

An added bonus, how could you not love a protein bar that has its own Pinterest following of recipes you can make FROM THE ACTUAL BAR?  So cool…

And then, when they couldn’t possibly make it any better, they went and made this:

Quest Peanut Butter Cups

Clever clever people… 

Try one… today!