Like Alpen Without the Washing UP? (Weetabix Alpen Cereal Bars)

Name: coolcam7

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Product:	Weetabix Alpen Cereal Bars
Date:	04/05/04 (654 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: no preparation required

Disadvantages: bland, not filling, not as healthy as they'd have us believe

These days the manufacturers have us believe that we are constantly in a hurry with no time to do simple everyday tasks anymore. Even breakfast has supposedly become something we must do in a hurry and that is why we all must eat cereal bars instead of actually going to all the trouble of preparing a breakfast (shock, horror). Many companies have latched onto this area of the market offering us a faster yet ?healthy? breakfast.

The manufacturers would like to have us believe that this product is ?like alpen without the washing up? but the reality is that it is just another cereal bar with more fat and sugar than cereal with less fibre and vitamins.

The name cereal bar suggests that the product is just that our favourite cereal conveniently packaged up for us into a little bar that we can eat on the move. However look at the second and third main ingredients of Alpen Fruit and Nut with milk chocolate cereal bars and you will find chocolate and glucose syrup hardly a healthy breakfast option I?m thinking.

I purchased a box of 6 cereal bars for £1.59 so each 29g bar worked out at 26.5p not to bad I thought for what I had been led to believe was a substantial breakfast. The box has a picture of the cereal bar on the front with a picture of a mountain and the Alpen logo above it. Each bar is individually foil wrapped for freshness.

My initial impression was of an unappetising bar with nuts on top (though the chocolate part did appeal!) But then I thought how good can a cereal bar look? so I tucked in. The bar was very sweet far more so than the cereal itself. Despite the fact that it contained a lot of glucose syrup to bind it together the bar still crumbled everywhere.

They describe the product as ?A moist and chewy combination of crispy rice and wheat flakes and juicy raisins, topped with chopped roast hazelnuts and almonds,
and dipped in smooth milk chocolate.? But all is not so I?m afraid. I found the product dry and crumbly but very sweet. Too sweet for breakfast, but I suppose it would be suitable for a mid-morning snack. I would also urge you to drink plenty of water as these dry you out!

The cereal bar is 30% cereals; wheat, rice and oats. Not much for a CEREAL bar. I found that after eating the bar at 6:30am I was starving again by about 8:00am. So what happened to all that promised energy?

The product provides 125kcal per 29g bar with 4.2g fat- quite a lot compared to most breakfast cereals. But quite frankly I think I?d need about 4 of these to constitute a proper breakfast.

The product would be unsuitable for may people with intolerances as it contains gluten, cow?s milk, Soya and nuts but don?t worry you really are not missing out on much!

Basically this cereal bar would be fine for a snack but definitely not an adequate breakfast. I hardly think it is a huge sacrifice to get up a little earlier in order to eat a healthy ands substantial breakfast so this is what I will continue to do from now on.

This cereal bar is certainly not as good for you as a bowl of cereal as it has a higher sugar and fat content and much lower fibre and vitamin content. I personally prefer a bowl of cereal to a bar plus you get calcium from the milk which is essential for both growing children and adults. This cereal bar is more like a substitute for a sweet snack than a breakfast.

There are other alpen bars in the range but personally I do not think I will buy this product again as it did not appeal to me

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