Do It Yourself Food Bars

Convenience food bars have become very popular over the years.  Energy bars, breakfast bars, protein bars and meal replacement bars line the shelves of supermarkets as well as health food stores.  Most of these bars are not good for you.  Sure, there may be a few awesome raw, organic bars in the health food store, but the majority of them contain some pretty undesirable ingredients.

It just takes a few minutes to throw together really tasty and healthy food bars. Not only will they be much healthier, but you will save yourself money making your own.

Why You Don’t Want to Buy Food Bars

Just in case you are feeling lazy, here are a few reasons to avoid many of the food bars you find in stores.   Most processed food bars have all, or some of the following:

GMO Ingredients – Soy, ingredients from corn (i.e. corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin), sugar (most sugar in the US comes from GMO sugar beets)

Natural Flavors – I have a few words (or a lot) to say about these food additives.  “Natural flavors” may include anal glands from beavers.  I don’t know about you but I never found an apple with beaver butt  in it before.

Bad oils – Hydrogenated oils, soy, canola

Dairy – From cows fed GMO grains, antibiotics and hormones

Bars with some, or all of the above ingredients – Power Bars, Promax, Luna, Pure Protein, Zone Perfect, Tiger’s Milk, Think Thin, Balance…..(this is just a partial list)

Making Your Own Protein / Energy Bars

I am going to give you some tips on how to make great bars.  I am not a recipe person and practically worship anyone smart enough to figure out all the perfect ingredients and their measurements  to make a finished food.  I could never do that.  I never follow a recipe, but have lots of recipe books to give me ideas.  If you ask me for exact measurements for a dish I have made I will not be able to give them to you. I will probably ask you –  How long have you been preparing food?  Can’t you figure it out after xxxx (fill in the blank) years of cooking?

Shopping List

I definitely recommend you use raw, organic ingredients whenever possible.  But that is up to you.  Here are some suggested ingredients:

Nut butters, dried fruit (i.e. coconut, dates, raisins, cherries, cranberries, apricots, etc) , nuts and seeds, raw cacao powder, carob powder, vanilla or other flavorings, stevia, raw honey or any other sweetener of your choice.

Food processor and/or coffee grinder

Instructions

Now, remember I don’t do measurements.  But this will give you a pretty good idea how to make your bars.

1.  Process the drier ingredients like nuts or coconut first.   Ground nuts and coconut are good for  the base of the bars.  For an even  finer powder, use a coffee grinder.

2.  Remove the nuts from the processor and add the combination of fruit you desire.  Process the fruit until mixed and then then gradually add the nut mixture to give you the desired consistency.  Add sweetener if desired.

3.  Form into balls or bars and roll into ground nuts or flaked coconut.

Low Carb Bars – If you don’t want to use fruit,  grind your nuts/seeds and gradually add in your favorite nut butter and stevia if desired.

Have fun.  They are very easy to make and SO yummy!

To your Health!

Peter Gillham