Founder Jeff Coleman moved to Utah in 2002 and became an outdoor adventurist and enthusiast. He started to realize his junk food habits were not fueling him in the best way and he started to explore healthier alternatives. Along the way, he tried a local energy bar that forever changed how he thought about sports nutrition bars. He eventually bought the company and has grown PROBAR into a multimillion dollar plant-based nutrition company.
PROBAR has six product lines including the PROBAR Base Bars (20 grams of protein per bar), the PROBAR Meal Bars (higher calorie content to serve as a meal replacement), the PROBAR Bites (small bitesize balls of nutrition), the Bolt Chews (energy chews for endurance athletes), the new PROBAR Live (a plant-based probiotic nutrition bar), and Nut Butters. PROBAR has been making {mostly} plant-based products for the fifteen plus years, and they have navigated a unique line of plant-based nutrition products. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the PROBAR Meal Bars.
The PROBAR Meal Bar aims to provide fruits, nuts and seeds in a wholesome, ready-to-go package to provide long lasting energy and nutrition, no matter where you day takes you. The vegan meal bars come in 12 varieties including Almond Crunch, Koka Moka, Original Trail Mix, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Superfruit Slam, Superfood Slam, Wholeberry Blast, Superberry and Greens, Banana Nut Bread, Chocolate Coconut, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. With all these options, it was challenging to choose which one to start with (and if you want to try them all, I suggest the variety pack on Amazon). As a Registered Dietitian, I’m all about superfoods and superfruits, so I went ahead and started with the vegan Superfruit Slam PROBAR Meal Bar. See how it rates below and be sure to check out my hilarious husband with his non-vegan review a bit further down!
Taste Experience – 8.5 out of 10
The slightly sticky bar (likely due to the fruit purees and brown rice syrup) is chock-full of visible sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and almond pieces. I’m excited to bite into the Superfruit Slam PROBAR vegan meal bar because lemme tell you, it smells like a baked strawberry crumble but loaded with raw ingredients and seeds I can see.
At first bite, I taste berry explosion on the front end, nutty wholesomeness throughout the middle, and brown rice syrup on the back end. The texture is chewier and stickier than I would prefer but it’s counterbalanced with the firm earthiness of the nuts and seeds. Most of the seeds and nuts used in the vegan Superfruit Slam PROBAR Meal Bar are small (whole flaxseeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds) and after a few bites I found them to stick in between my teeth (not so appealing, I know) but nothing that a few big gulps of water couldn’t wash down.
Overall, the Superfruit Slam PROBAR Vegan Meal Bar is sweeter than I would prefer, especially for a meal. However, if I want something fruity and sweet on the go, I really like eating only half of it at a time for a nutrient dense hearty snack option and I’ll keep the other half in my purse for next time! I mostly love how I can see and taste the wholesome ingredients and let’s be real, I’m not going to make my own vegan nutrition bar anytime soon. So even though PROBAR Meal Bars are more expensive than most vegan nutrition bars, keep in mind they are intended to be a whole meal and in that case would be at least twice as inexpensive as going out to eat. Plus, when you buy the multi-pack on Amazon, you save more money than buying them in a store.
Nutrition – 8 out of 10
Each Superfruit Slam PROBAR Meal Bar provides 350 vegan calories with less than half of those calories coming from fat (130 calories from fat). This is a substantial amount of calories for any nutrition bar but especially for vegan plant-based bars that tend to have fewer calories than their non-vegan counterparts. However, when you consider the PROBAR Meal Bar is intended to be consumed at one sitting as a meal replacement, the calorie value makes more sense as this is an appropriate amount for a meal for some people.
There are 15 grams of total fat (from the nuts and seeds) with only two grams of saturated fats (again, because of the nuts and seeds). If the PROBAR used coconut oil as many vegan nutrition bars do, there would be a much higher amount of saturated fat.
Interestingly, the vegan meal bar is low in Sodium with only 25mg of sodium per bar. I can tell you that as a Dietitian I look at a lot of food labels and this is one of the lowest amounts of sodium (if not the lowest amount) in any packaged product, let alone a meal replacement bar. The low sodium content makes it a great choice for anyone with high blood pressure or concerned about the amount of sodium in most foods today. I know I certainly am and this fact alone (plus the plant-based nutrition of course) makes me ten times more likely to recommend PROBAR Meal Bars to patients and clients.
On the contrary of low sodium, there are a significant (but not unexpected) amount of carbohydrates in the Superfruit Slam PROBAR. Each Meal Bar has 51 grams of total carbohydrate with five grams of fiber and 24grams of sugar. First things first, if you choose to eat the entire vegan meal bar as a meal replacement, this is an appropriate amount of carbohydrates. However, the American Heart Association recommends less than 25 grams of added sugar per day for women and less than 36 grams of added sugar per day for men. With that being said, this PROBAR Meal Bar contains 24 grams of sugar and we aren’t sure just how much of that is added sugar but the first ingredient is brown rice syrup (basically sugar). There are other added sugar ingredients including dried cane syrup, molasses, fruit juices, and fruit purees. This is something to keep in mind if you are trying to limit added sugars but this can also be a great choice for an endurance athlete who needs a significant amount of carbohydrates per day. If I’m talking to you, check out the PROBAR Meal Bars on Amazon.
In each PROBAR Meal Bar, you’ll find eight grams of plant-based protein to help maintain healthy muscles and functions in the body. There is also 8% of your daily calcium needs, 15% of your daily iron needs, and 10% of your daily vitamin C needs to support healthy nutrition. The micronutrients are not added but rather naturally present in the nuts and seeds used in the vegan bar.
The Non-Vegan Review – 9 out of 10
Superfruit Slam yo! Love that name. Gotta hand it to ProBar. That’s a pretty catchy name. Superfruit Slam! I just love saying it. Lol. I’m a big fan of ProBar. I think they make some great, quality products and this Superfruit Slam bar is no exception. For little money, you get 350 hunger crushing calories and a solid 8 grams of protein. This is definitely the bar you take on a long hike. Very satisfying. The bars are sticky, so wash your hands and keep them away from your fur babies. The ProBar Superfruit Slam bars have dates, strawberries, pineapple, and papaya. And, I love that you can see the sunflower and pumpkin seeds and the whole almonds and cashews. Really just a high quality bar. Get u some Superfruit Slam on Amazon. Non-vegan husband out.
Parting Thoughts
If you have a sweet tooth, the Superfruit Slam PROBAR Meal Bar could very well be your next vegan nutrition bar. The fruity sweetness is met with wholesome seeds and nuts to create a chewy nutrition bar that provides long lasting nutrition with a higher caloric density than some vegan nutrition bars. If you are a plant-based endurance athlete, the PROBAR Meal Bar’s are specifically perfect for you with the higher carbohydrate content. If you don’t want that many calories/carbohydrates at one sitting, save money and consume half the bar – still delicious and it will be ready for next time. Speaking of next time, next time you’re in the market for a vegan meal bar, check out the meal bars from PROBAR and help support a fellow vegan who also happens to love sharing the joy of plant-based eating with delicious convenient products I test so you don’t have to (unless they are delish and I write about them – then you should probably eat some too!)