Biographical Information
Name	Jennifer Pope
Age	24
Gender	Female
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Weight	140 lbs (64 kg)
Email address	Jennifer dot Pope at gmail dot com
Location	Los Angeles, CA
Backpacking Background Newbie. I’ve been a car-camper as long as I can remember and started backpacking in Northern California when I was 16. I'm starting to get back into backpacking after a hiatus during college. I recently moved to Southern California and so far I've only backpacked in the Angeles National Forest but I'm planning on branching out to other Southern California mountain areas; the California desert; and the Sierra in the summer months. I'm a tent camper leaning towards lightweight; but I am a fan of gadgets and I like being comfortable. I also do a mix of short and long day hikes in and around Los Angeles.

Product Information (back to top)
Manufacturer	ProBar
Manufacturer URL	www.theprobar.com
Year of Manufacture	2005
Listed Weight (I assume this is the bar only)	3 oz (85 g)
Average Actual Weight (29 bars weighed together and divided by 29 - including packaging)	3.2 oz (91 g) range of 2.6 - 3.7 oz (74 - 105 g)
Wrapper weight	less than .1 oz (3 g)
Servings	2 servings per bar
Dimensions (in package) Dimensions (bar only)	4.25" x 6" (11 cm x 15 cm) 3" x 3"(8 cm x 8 cm)
Expiration Date	none listed (website mentions "naturally long shelf life")
MSRP	none listed (approx. $3.50 US per bar based on several online distributors)
Product Description (from website)	The ProBar is the only bar to provide the combined nutrition and delicious flavor of 17 whole foods and is 100% vegan. The ingredients are blended, not baked, in order to retain the highest level of vital nutrients possible. This means that you finally get a sports nutrition bar that tastes like real food!

Initial Impressions (back to top)

The product arrived at my workplace right before lunch. I immediately opened the box to find 3 cases of ProBars with 12 bars in each box. All the bars appeared to be unbroken and in edible condition. Of course I had to try one out right away. My first impression is that it tasted more like a granola bar than an energy bar (which was a good thing for me). I could immediately pick out the flavors of peanut butter, raisins, and carob chips right away. Honestly, I didn't even realize that it wasn't chocolate. I'm not sure if I've ever eaten carob chips, but it tasted exactly like semi-sweet chocolate to me. I could also pick out the texture of coconut, although coconut doesn't really taste like anything to me. Overall, I really like the product. Only time will tell if I still like them after eating 3 boxes over the next 2 months.

The bars are a little sticky. I solved this problem by holding the bar through the wrapper. Although, if I just licked my fingers they weren't sticky anymore. Unlike some products; where even after I try to lick it off I still feel sticky all day. The bars are also chewy, not hard. I even left an open bar (re-wrapped in the original package only) on my desk for 2 days and when I went back to eat it, it was still moist and chewy. It didn't taste any different than when I first opened it. The foil wrappers are a little tricky to open though. They tend to rip easily, so if I want to save the wrapper to store a partially-eaten ProBar I have to be careful not to rip the wrapper to shreds.

I tried one of these bars as a meal replacement, like a full bar is touted to be. It definitely satisfied my hunger. I ate one for lunch and just ate a few snap peas and drank water with it. It was definitely enough to hold off my hunger until my regular dinner time. The next morning I ate another bar for breakfast with orange juice. This time it was too much and I couldn't finish it. The promotional materials that came with the bars says that you should eat it with a piece of fruit and soy milk for a full meal. I never noticed being particularly thirsty when I was eating the bars. I usually drink something when I'm eating anyway; I didn't notice needing any more or less water while eating a ProBar.

Nutritional Information (back to top)

Nutritional information is important to me, so I thought I would report that here. I'm not a health nut by any means, but I do try to limit junk food. And I do try to eat somewhat healthy on the trail when my body needs more nutrients than on a normal day. I am also prone to migraines if I don't consume enough calories- especially if I skip a meal.

One thing that stood out to me in the ingredient list (and just by looking at the bar) is that whole flax seeds are used. This kind of stumps me because it's my understanding that whole flax seeds provide little or no nutritional value. Ground flax seeds contain a lot of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but the body cannot digest the outer shell of a flax seed, so all those nutrients are lost in the whole form. Whereas if ground flax seed meal was used, you gain all those nutrients.

Nutritional Information Note: all information is per serving - there are 2 servings per bar
Total Calories	175	Ingredients Tropical Mix (raisins, sunflower seeds, unsulphured papaya & pineapple, dates, raw cashews raw coconut, raw pumpkin seeds, raw brazil nuts), Brown Rice Syrup, Barley Malt Syrup, Orange Almond Granola, (Rolled Oats, Grape Juice, Canola Oil, Almonds, Oat Bran, Orange Oil, Vitamin E), Hemp Granola (Organic Rolled Oats, Evaporated Cane Juice, Canola Oil, Crisp Rice, Flax Seed, Oat Syrup Solids, Hemp Seeds), Mueseli (Organic Rolled Oats, Raisins, Cornflakes, Rolled Rye, Crisp Brown Rice, Apples, Almonds), Chopped Dates with Oat Flour, Raisins, Natural Peanut Butter, Grain Sweetened Vegan Carob Chips (Whole grain malted Barley and Corn, Palm Kernel Oil, Carob Powder and Soy Lecithin), Raw Sunflower Seeds, Raw Almonds, Unsweetened Raw Coconut, Raw Organic Flax Seeds, and Raw Organic Sesame Seeds.
Calories from fat	70
Fat Saturated Fat	8 g, 15% Daily Value 2 g, 9% DV
Cholesterol	0 mg, 0% DV
Sodium	19 mg, 1% DV
Total Carbohydrates Dietary Fiber Sugar	25 g, 10% DV 3.25 g, 15% DV 7 g
Protein	4 g
Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 6%, Calcium 2%, Iron 4%

Initial "Tests" (back to top)

Heat Test

My initial plan was to put one of the ProBars in the front pocket of my jeans and leave it there throughout the day. However, when I went to do this I was disappointed with how the ProBar fit in my front pocket. It's really just too bulky to keep it there when I'm wearing jeans. On another day I did keep the ProBar in my front pocket of baggier khaki pants. I left the ProBar in my pocket all day (about 10 hours) while I went about my normal daily activities (I work in an office setting, so I don't have a lot of physical activity, but I'm not sedentary all day).

At the end of the day, the ProBar was pretty much the same as when the day started out. It molded to the shape of my leg and was a little warm, but overall it was perfectly edible.

Durability Test

One of the first things I did after receiving the ProBars was to take one of the bars out and put it in my purse. Some might consider this a dangerous idea because some people (my husband included) refer to my purse as a black hole for random junk. It is a dense, dark hole and almost nothing I own can escape its gravity. At any given moment you are sure to find: my wallet, my car keys, my work keys, my checkbook, and my cell phone. You're also likely to find some miscellaneous objects like lip balm, sunglasses, receipts, gum, hard candies, pens and pencils and occasionally a bottle of water or a piece of fruit. Overall, this is generally an inhospitable place to be, even for a hardy energy bar. At the writing of this report, my ProBar has been in my purse for 5 days. So far it appears to be exactly the same as the day I put it in there. But how well will it fair after 2 months of constant abuse? Only time will tell...

Test Plan (back to top)

I will, of course, report on anything that arises as the test unfolds, but I will specifically look for the following:

How well do these bars hold up in a backpack? Do they need to be cushioned, or can they just be thrown in wherever? How feasible is it to keep a bar in my hipbelt pocket and snack on it throughout a hike? How satisfying is it to use as a primary snack? Generally when I’m hiking I carry an energy bar, jerky, cashews, and some type of sugary item. Usually the energy bar is the last thing to be eaten. They generally just aren’t that tasty, and the other items are. Will the ProBar beat out the other snack competitors?

Will the taste change over time? This may be hard to measure, but will there be a noticeable difference between the bars eaten at the beginning of the test and the bars eaten at the end? Will there be any taste difference in a bar stored in my pantry, fridge, or freezer at the end of the 6 month test period? I couldn't find an expiration date on the packaging on the bars or the cases. The website says they have a naturally long shelf life, but I'm sure they don't last forever. The website also fails to mention the proper method of storing ProBars. I know they don't require refrigeration, but would that prolong the shelf-life?

ProBar & wrapper

The Good (back to top)

yummy taste
bars seem to hold up well
filling

The Bad

expiration date is a mystery
bulky wrapper
no mention of proper storage method

Improvements

The biggest improvement that I can immediate see is in the packaging. The extra-large wrapper is not necessarily the problem. If the ProBar were vacuum sealed in the package it would make the storage and pack-ability of the ProBar much better. The problem is the extra air inside the packaging, not the packaging itself. I would also like to see a bar with ground flax seeds rather than whole due to their superior nutritional value.

Update as of 9/1/05 (back to top)

New ProBars

Due to the reports submitted here at BackpackGearTest.org (and possibly other information), ProBar has made some changes to their product. Those changes will be outlined here in this report, as well as in less detail in my Field Report. In addition, a Long-term Report will be written and posted in two months from now (November 2005). No changes were made to the original report text.

Since our original testing ended ProBar has released a new flavor for their bars. The new flavor is called Whole Berry Blast. While I enjoy the added berried, I find that they're not a "BLAST" of berries like I was expecting. The taste is very similar to the original bars, just with a few berries here and there. But perhaps this is just an anomaly in the bar I tried; I will report on this further in my next report. I do like that there's now some variety in the taste of the bars.

But the best improvement I've noticed so far is in the packaging. These were my biggest problems with the ProBar. The wrapper was just too big and bulky and tore too easily. It seems that all these issues have been resolved. Yippee! The packaging is now thicker and sturdier which made opening the package much easier. The packaging is also a full inch thinner (2.5 cm) (but the bar is the same size).

The last change that I've noticed so far is that the ingredients seem to be slightly changed (even in the original blend bar). The taste is not really noticeably different, however, I haven't eaten one of these bars in about a month. Below is the updated nutritional information for both flavors.

Nutritional Information Note: all information is per serving/per bar
Original Blend
Total Calories	380	Ingredients Natural Unsalted Peanut Butter (Peanuts),Brown Rice Syrup, Barley Malt Syrup, Fruit & Nut Mix (raisins, sunflower seeds, Juice Sweetened Papaya, Juice Sweetened Pineapple, Dates, Cashews, Unsweetened Coconut, Pumpkin Seeds, Brazil Nuts), Granola (Rolled Oats, Raisins, Corn Flakes (Corn, Flour, Mixed Fruit Juice Concentrate (Pineapple Juice, Pear Juice, Peach Concentrate), Organic Rye, Crisp Brown Rice (Brown Rice and Malted Barley Flour), Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Grape Concentrate, Expellar Pressed Canola Oil, Brown Rice Syrup, Flax Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Almonds, Apples, Oat Bran, Organic Oat Syrup Solids, Sea Salt, Organic Molasses, Rice Bran Extract, Epasote, Prune Powder, Cardamon, Fennel, Fenugreek, Nutmeg), Natural Orange Oil), Carob Chips (Whole grain malted Barley and Corn, Palm Oil, Carob Powder, Soy Lecithin), Almonds, Raisins, Dates, Sunflower Seeds, Almonds, Unsweetened Coconut, Organic Flax Seeds, and Organic Brown Sesame Seeds.
Calories from fat	160
Fat Saturated Fat	18 g, 28% Daily Value 4.5 g, 23% DV
Cholesterol	0 mg, 0% DV
Sodium	45 mg, 2% DV
Total Carbohydrates Dietary Fiber Sugar	50 g, 17% DV 3.6 g, 26% DV 22 g
Protein	9 g
Omega 3 - 520 mg Omega 6 - 760 mg
Whole Berry Blast
Total Calories	380	Ingredients Natural Unsalted Almond Butter (Almonds), Brown Rice Syrup with Real Fruit Puree, Barley Malt Syrup, Fruit & Nut Mix (Raisins, Sunflower Seeds, Juice Sweetened Papaya, Juice Sweetened Pineapple, Dates, Cashews, Unsweetened Coconut, Pumpkin Seeds, Brazil Nuts), Granola (Rolled Oats, Raisins, Corn Flakes (Corn, Flour, Mixed Fruit Juice Concentrate (Pineapple Juice, Pear Juice, Peach Concentrate), Organic Rye, Crisp Brown Rice (Brown Rice and Malted Barley Flour), Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Grape Concentrate, Expellar Pressed Canola Oil, Brown Rice Syrup, Flax Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Almonds, Apples, Oat Bran, Organic Oat Syrup Solids, Sea Salt, Organic Molasses, Rice Bran Extract, Epasote, Prune Powder, Cardamon, Fennel, Fenugreek, Nutmeg), Natural Orange Oil), Carob Chips (Whole grain malted Barley and Corn, Palm Oil, Carob Powder, Soy Lecithin), Dates, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Organic Unsweetened Coconut, Organic Flax Seeds, Dried Strawberries (Strawberries, Apple Juice, Sunflower Oil), Organic Brown Sesame Seeds, Dried Blueberries (Blueberries, Apple Juice, Sunflower Oil).
Calories from fat	170
Fat Saturated Fat	19g, 29% Daily Value 4.5 g, 23% DV
Cholesterol	0 mg, 0% DV
Sodium	40 mg, 2% DV
Total Carbohydrates Dietary Fiber Sugar	50 g, 17% DV 3.6 g, 26% DV 20 g
Protein	8 g
Omega 3 - 550 mg Omega 6 - 1820 mg

I want to thank BackpackGearTest.org and ProBar for giving me the opportunity to test this yummy item.

Read more reviews of Probar gear
Read more gear reviews by Jennifer Pope

Initial Report

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