Sweet, satisfying, and oh so delicious! (Eat Natural Almond, Apricot and Yoghurt Bars)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Eat Natural Almond, Apricot and Yoghurt Bars
Date:	22/02/09 (231 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A most substantial snack. Natural ingredients.

Disadvantages: more expensive than a bar of chocolate.

I am training for the London Marathon in a few weeks time, and in the build up to it have entered some shorter distance races. At the end of one of these such races last week, I received a goody bag along with my much deserved medal, and in amongst the bits and pieces that the bag contained was a sample size (half size) bar of Eat Natural Almond Apricot and Yoghurt bar. I have to admit, that at that time, due to having just run a good number of miles during the middle of the day, I was really really hungry, and so wolfed down the said cereal bar without taking too much notice of it - I don't think it even had time to touch the sides, but it was sweet and delicious, and didn't require any effort on my part, so that was all that mattered to me then!

A couple of days later, I found myself nipping out of the office to the newsagent opposite for a chocolate fix, and noticed that they sell the full size bars of this. So instead of reaching for a bar of chocolate, I picked up one of these - at 89p for a single bar, it was more expensive, but I wanted to give it another try.

The bar comes in a plastic see-through wrapper, so you are under no illusions about what you are buying. I have bought the "healthy option" cereal bars many times in the past, thinking they will be much better for me than a bar of chocolate, but have generally been disappointed with them once I open the pack to eat them, because they are so small, or the "chocolate coating" is almost non-existant. However, what you see is what you get with this bar - a substantial eat!

The bar is packed with nuts and fruit and is coated with a deliciously sweet yoghurty layer. This version is Almond and Apricot, and there is no danger of not being able to identify these - the almonds are, in some cases, whole, and are certainly in decent chunks, and the apricot pieces again are a good size - deliciously moist and sticky with that lovely orange colour. In fact the almonds make up 12% of the bar, and the apricots a whopping 17%. That, for me, is pretty good. There is also 12% of the bar made up of coconut - now that is quite a lot, and is not apparent from the title. In fact I don't think I really registered the coconut as I ate the bar, I just knew it was packed full of sweetness, and I expect that the coconut has a good part to play in this. The other "filler" is puffed rice. Bind this all together with some good old sugar, and coat it with a deliciously thick (30% of the ingredients) layer of sweet yoghurt, and you have a snack bar that is far more filling and delicious than any Special K bar will EVER be.

I thoroughly enjoyed this "cereal bar" although "cereal bar" doesn't seem to do it justice as a description......it was far more than that - punchy, sweet, delicous, and most importantly satisfying! I didn't sit there looking at the empty packet wondering what I was going to eat next to make up for it.

There are no artificial flavours, or hydrogenated vegetable oils, and they are suitable for those who are vegetarian or following a gluten free diet. Of course, they are not suitable for nut allergy sufferers.

The packet does not, unless I am blind, give you the calories etc, which did bother me a little - perhaps something that professed to be so good was actually so bad, but a peek at the website says that a bar has 228 calories and 8.2 grammes of saturated fats. Now, whilst that is not great, I feel that these calories and fats are coming from ingredients slightly better for me than a mars bar or a tub of pringles, so I will not be bothered.

There are a number of flavours of these bars, and I have since sampled a couple more and a visit to their website www.eatnatural.co.uk will give you all the information you need. (the website is very user friendly too!)

Although at 89p in the newsagent, this was quite expensive, they are cheaper in the supermarkets. At the moment (although not for long) tescos have 2 bars for 99p........

Summary: Give it a try - you might be surprised!