Review: Nature Valley Sweet & Spicy Chili Dark Chocolate Bars

I've been getting a lot of products from Marsh recently in the clearance section.  I don't think it is because the products are terrible but instead because Marsh has a real problem controlling their expiration dates and keeping food fresh.  So, I guess I bring this up because you should just ignore the clearance sticker on these products going forward and instead focus on the product itself.  Today, I'm adding to my Nature Valley review collection with this review of a box of six Nature Valley Sweet & Spicy Chili Dark Chocolate Bars.  Each bar in the box is 1.24 ounces and has 160 calories with three grams of protein.

Dry bags

Review: Nature Valley Almond Crunch Roasted Nut Crunch Bars

I already went into a long, drawn out spiel about how I loved nuts.  It was a crude and ridiculous attempt at humor, so I'll spare going through that again.  It was armed with that pre-existing nut love that I decided to grab a box of six of these Nature Valley Almond Crunch Roasted Nut Crunch Bars Close off the shelves of Meijer for $2.50 to add to my growing Nature Valley review collection.  Each bar in the box is 1.2 ounces and has 190 calories and six grams of protein.  It's also gluten free, so that should apply to our gluten sensitive readers as well.  Judging by the number of people that I hear talking about how they are gluten free now, that's probably a pretty large portion of this blog's readership.

Review: Nature Valley Almond Dark Chocolate Nut Crisp Bars

Crazy Food Dude likes nuts.  Wait...that didn't come out right.  Crazy Food Dude likes eating things with lots of nuts.  Wait...shoot, I can't win.  Anyway, when I saw that General Mills and Nature Valley had put out yet another new product with nuts as a primary ingredient, I knew that I had to add to my gigantic review catalog.  Of course, I wouldn't have bought these had they not been on sale and fortunately I saw them on sale at Meijer for $2.50 per box, which is kind of a steal for Nature Valley products.  Each box of Nature Valley Almond Dark Chocolate Nut Crisp Bars has six bars and each bar in the box comes in at 0.89 ounces and has 130 calories and three grams of protein.  These are also gluten free for all the gluten-less dieters out there.

Review: Nature Valley Salted Caramel Peanut Nut Crisp Bars

I love me some coupons.  Digital, cut out of the paper, whatever...just give me my savings.  It's that undying love of savings that giddily caused me to "clip" a digital coupon to buy today's review subject to add to my constantly growing Nature Valley review collection.  This digital coupon was "clipped" via the Meijer iPhone app and I grabbed this box of six Nature Valley Salted Caramel Peanut Nut Crisp Bars on sale for $2.99 (plus a coupon for an additional $0.50 off).  It's a new product, so of course I was doubly giddy to mix that with a coupon (yeah, I'm a dork).  Anyway, each bar in this box is 0.89 ounces and comes in at 140 calories with four grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Blueberry Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares

I've covered in a recent review how Quaker Oats is a product producing machine and is actually the source of the second most amount of reviews on this blog.  Another big time, although not as big, producer in this blog's history is General Mills, of which Nature Valley is one of their products that I've hit many times on this blog.  Today, I've got another Nature Valley hit with a review of one of their new products as I take a look at this box of six Nature Valley Blueberry Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares that I was able to pick up in a crazy sale at my local Meijer for $1.88.  Each of the six bars in the box is 1.24 ounces and has 150 calories and two grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Salted Caramel Nut Protein Chewy Bar

Have you ever been to Nature Valley?  Yeah, neither have I and yes, that was probably one of the worst introductions that you've ever read and I apologize.  When the megacompany General Mills keeps spurning out products for it's Nature Valley bar line, it becomes difficult to think of new and creative ways to start off one of these seemingly countless reviews.  So, I'll just dive right into this review of the Nature Valley Salted Caramel Nut Protein Chewy Bar that was mailed to me as part of a free promo.  The bar is 1.42 ounces and has 190 calories with ten grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Greek Yogurt Mixed Berry Protein Bars

Mega monster producer General Mills keeps churning them out, eh?  This time, they've added to their already expansive product review catalog with an attempt at the Greek yogurt crazy (in bar form) with this box of Nature Valley Greek Yogurt Mixed Berry Protein Bars that I picked up on sale at Kroger for $2.50.  Within that box are five bars and each bar is 1.42 ounces and has 190 calories and ten grams of protein.  According to them, it's a "chewy bar with naturally flavored yogurt coating" but I guess that I will be the judge of that!

Review: Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Chocolate Pretzel Nut Granola Bars

I was trolling through my local Kroger and it seems as if mega-conglomerate General Mills has sneakily released another new bar variety through it's Nature Valley granola bar line with this Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Chocolate Pretzel Nut Granola Bars product.  Like I said, I picked a box of six of these at Kroger and got them on sale for $2.99.  Each bar in the box is 1.2 ounces and has 150 calories and a minimal two grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Crunchy Roasted Almond Granola Bars

Nature Valley granola bars are amusing to me.  The are just about the most basic granola bar you can find, but that should be expected due to the fact that they are mass produced for wide audiences by General Mills.  What I also find amusing about them is that when you look at the box, there are two things that stand out, especially on this box of twelve Nature Valley Crunchy Roasted Almond Granola Bars (six two-bar pouches) that I picked up on clearance at Kroger for $1.15.  The first amusing thing is that Nature Valley seemingly sponsors everything including the PGA, Olympic sports, etc.  The second amusing thing is that since these bars come in pouches of two bars, Nature Valley has decided to put nutritional information on the box that includes columns for both a one bar serving and for a two bar serving.  Is their confidence in America's math skills so low that the feel the need to add information for just one bar, despite the fact that you could just divide the one number by two?  As someone that does math constantly all day, that is just mind boggling to me, but maybe that's necessary for people that only do math sporadically.  I don't know.  Regardless, I won't do the math for anyone and I'll just go ahead and say that each two bar pouch clocks in at 1.5 ounces with 190 calories and four grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Cinnamon Brown Sugar Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares

It's not exactly a dirty little secret that companies like to copy each other, especially in the food industry.  If one company finds a recipe for success, so to speak, then another company will copy it and market it under their own label.  It appears as if that is what General Mills is doing with this Nature Valley Cinnamon Brown Sugar Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares obviously being a clone of the Quaker line of soft-baked oatmeal squares.  It's funny actually, because who knew that oatmeal squares were something that the market was just so desperate for?  Clearly I didn't, but the snack time people at my work must have known as this was another free product offering.  This square bar itself comes in at 1.24 ounces and has 150 calories and two grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Vanilla Yogurt Chewy Granola Bar

I admit, the thought of doing another Nature Valley review and especially one on this product seemed kind of boring to me. You might even say that it sounded vanilla. Okay, I admit, that was a HORRIBLE attempt at humor. Anyway, my bad humor aside, let's get crackin' on this review if the Nature Valley Vanilla Yogurt Chewy Granola Bar. I got this one at work so it was free, but I know that a box of these runs in the $3.00-$4.00 range at my local stores. This bar measures up at 1.2 ounces and has 140 calories with a minute two grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Crunchy Apple Crisp Granola Bars

For the most part, Nature Valley granola products are very simple.  They take their standard granola mix, add in a few different flavor components and call it a day.  Some might think that makes their products all the same, but there are subtle differences and that's why I do reviews on them, which leads me to this review of the Nature Valley Crunchy Apple Crisp Granola Bars.  I picked up a box of these for $2.99 on sale at Meijer and each box contains six packs of bars, in which there are two bars per pack.  Each pack is 1.5 ounces, 160 calories and has three grams of protein and sixteen grams of whole grain, so you can do the math to figure out the specifics per each individual bar if you are so inclined.

Review: Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Roasted Mixed Nut Bar

As I was getting my iPhone camera ready to take the picture above, I realized that I eat a TON of snack bars.  Yes, I should have already known that but sometimes I'm oblivious to my surroundings.  After my so-called revelation, I went ahead got this Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Roasted Mixed Nut Bar ready for the review.  I picked up a box of six of these bars on sale at Kroger for $2.49 and each bar is 1.2 ounces, 160 calories and has three grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Thins

I've been hit by a mad flurry of Nature Valley product recently for some reason, so adding to my already expansive review collection is another one of those reviews as I take a look at this Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Thins single bar.  I got this during the hilarious snack time at work, but having bought these at the store before, I know that they ordinarily come in a box of ten for around $3.00 to $4.00.  Each Granola Thin is 0.6 ounces, 80 calories and has a barely perceptible one gram of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Cranberry & Pomegranate Bar

I'm beginning to think that the person responsible for buying the snacks for snack time in my office has stock in General Mills and is trying to get us addicted to their products by putting out snacks such as this Nature Valley Chew Trail Mix Cranberry & Pomegranate Bar to add to my collection of Nature Valley reviews.  I've already mentioned that I didn't pay for this, so I don't have a price, but what I do know is that this bar is 1.1 ounces and has 130 calories with a barely there two grams of protein.  It's a snack bar though and not a protein bar, so I guess I shouldn't be so derogatory when describing the protein level.  My bad.

Review: Nature Valley Protein Peanut, Almond & Dark Chocolate Chewy Bar

I've had good experiences with Nature Valley bars on this blog, but that shouldn't really be all that surprising.  Nature Valley is a product of a monster conglomerate (General Mills), so it's only natural that their products would not be offensive to the general public.  It's the same situation as Quaker Oats...nothing truly horrible is going to make it to the store shelves because it has already been through hundreds of iterations of product testing before it even gets there.  Large corporations like to hedge their bets that way, unless their name is Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers.  Oops.  Anyway, I grabbed this Nature Valley Protein Peanut, Almond & Dark Chocolate Chewy Bar at snack time at work (LOL) and it's 1.42 ounces and 190 calories.  It's also Nature Valley's attempt at the protein market, so they've amped up the customary minimal amount of protein that their bars usually have to a larger ten grams of protein in this case.

Site News: General Mills Week

I've been noticing recently as I've been burrowing through reviews that I have been typing up a lot of reviews of General Mills products, specifically Nature Valley and Fiber One products.  Because of that backlog of General Mills products that I've built up, I'm going to spend the next week posting a review everyday from Monday through Saturday of a General Mills product.

Hopefully you enjoy and thanks again for reading!

Review: Nature Valley Peanut Butter Granola Thins Crispy Squares

Not sure why, but my local Dollar Tree has been stocking a lot of Nature Valley products lately.  I've already reviewed one of those products that I picked up there but since they had multiple variations, I picked up a box of these Nature Valley Peanut Butter Granola Thins Crispy Squares for $1.00, naturally.  Obviously these are not $1.00 in the "wild" of the grocery store, so I would anticipate that you could grab these in the $3.00 range typically.  Each box contains 10 individually wrapped squares and each square is 0.6 ounces has 90 calories with a one lone gram of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Almond Granola Bar

I haven't talked about it in a while, so I'll bring it up here again...I LOVE The Dollar Tree.  If you are bored and looking for something to do, it is definitely an amusing way to waste thirty minutes as you can meander through the aisles looking at all the stupid and funny stuff that they have in stock.  Most of the time, the stuff that you see is trash, but occasionally you encounter a treasure and a recent trip, I encountered one of those treasures to add to my Nature Valley product review catalog with this review of the Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Almond Granola Bar.  Since I was at the The Dollar Tree, this obviously cost me a $1.00, but I'd imagine that it would go in the $3.00 range in a normal store.  Each box contains five 1.2 ounce bars and each bar has 160 calories and a minimal three grams of protein.

Review: Nature Valley Strawberry Yogurt Granola Bar

Being that is a General Mills product and is trying to compete with Quaker Oats, Nature Valley has a lot of varieties of products, some of which I've already reviewed.  When snack time (ha, ha) came up at work the other day, they were passing out these Nature Valley Strawberry Yogurt Granola Bars as the snack for the day, so I grabbed one for a nice little treat.  I never knew that they had these yogurt bars available, but since Quaker recently introduced a version, I'm not surprised that Nature Valley has a version as well.  Nature Valley's version comes in at 1.2 ounces and has 140 calories with two grams of protein.