Review: KIND Snack Bars & Gluten-Free Granola

KIND Snack Bar Review (And Gluten-Free Granola, Too!)

I’m a sucker for a good, nutrient dense gluten-free bar and KIND Snack Bars are among my top favorites after Larabars and Larabar Uber bars. When I first started out with August product review month, my friend AJ at Confessions of A Fat Girl posted a pic of a KIND care package she received in the mail. I told her how much I love KIND and how awesome it would be to review them for August product review month and wa-la – AJ put me in touch with the KIND rep. That was very kind of her.

The KIND rep was also EXTREMELY kind and sent me a whole box full of yummy KIND Snack bars in some of their new flavors. I was overwhelmed at this box of goodness that arrived on our doorstep.

By far one of the coolest packages I’ve received in the mail. It was like Christmas!

One of the most interesting KIND Snack Bar products in the box of goodies was their peanut butter granola. Now, granola is not something I’ve eaten really since becoming gluten-free but KIND granola is gluten-free. Say it ain’t so. I was pretty excited and went to the grocery store and bought some greek yogurt and blueberries. I sprinkled some Peanut Butter Granola on top of the greek yogurt and blueberries and it was bomb diggity. I go through phases with liking / not liking greek yogurt and right now I’m in a phase where I like it and want it for breakfast everyday. So the KIND peanut butter granola was perfect timing. I really enjoy this breakfast and it keeps me full throughout the morning. Yum yum.

Now, there were so many yummy KIND snack bars and different flavors in this box that it’s hard for me to zero in on just one. But two that particularly stood out to me were the Peanut Butter & Strawberry KIND Bar and the Kind Madagascar Vanilla Almond KIND snack bar. The Peanut Butter & Strawberry reminded me of eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but in nut form. Does that make sense? It makes sense to me in my head so I hope so! Here were some of the flavors the box included:

• KIND Nuts & Spices, Madagascar Vanilla Almond
• KIND Fruit & Nut, Peanut Butter & Strawberry
• KIND Nuts & Spices, Dark Chocolate Chili Almond
• KIND PLUS, Blueberry Pecan + Fiber
• Kind Bar Healthy Grains Clusters: Peanut Butter Whole Grain
• KIND Nuts & Spices, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt

I also got dorky and made a table showing the different bars I got and my ratings. Check it out:

[ws_table id=”14″]

As you will see from the chart above, the only thing I don’t like about the KIND bars with dark chocolate in them is that they melt pretty easily and can get messy quickly. For example, I chowed down on one during the mid-afternoon and then went outside to let my puppy go to the bathroom. I had some nice melted dark chocolate on the side of my face as I let my dog go potty and chatted with the neighbors. None of them said a word to me about the chocolate on my face. Awkward? I think so. Make sure you have a napkin handy when you eat those things. The other alternative is store them in the fridge but I find when I do that they end up being too hard for me to eat. But you may like them that way. Who knows. Everyone has their own personal preferences.

Since I had so many KIND bars, I decided to set a kind example and bring KIND snack bars to my soccer team as a snack for after the game. We lost 4-0 and were all a little down about it, but the Kind bars definitely lifted our spirits a bit (And made me feel like a team mom. Capri Suns, anyone?). Everyone was really into the different flavors and took their time picking the one they wanted. Here is a pic of my teammate Shawna picking her KIND bar:

Shawna, my soccer teammate, picking out a KIND snack.

Overall I think I love KIND just a little bit more after trying all their various new assortment of flavors and their gluten-free granola. It made me think about doing a round up of all the gluten-free snack bars on the market, which I plan to put together a list sometime in the near future.

Have a KIND day!

Lindsay

What about you? Have you tried KIND bars? Do you like them? Why or why not? Post in the comments and let me know.

**Disclosure: As stated above, I received free KIND product in the mail. I ate some and I shared with friends.