My favorite on-the-go protein bar
How busy does your life get these days? If you’re anything like me (which I’m sure you are), your days are packed from morning until night.
You hurry out of bed (because you hit the snooze button 3 times)!
…hurry to grab some food!
…hurry to brush your teeth!
…and hurry to get to work (hoping that you don’t hit bumper to bumper traffic on the way)!
Then the work day is full of non-stop scrambling to get things done.
And once all of that is done, you piece together the energy to get to the gym, before heading back home to cook dinner, and finally get 30 minutes to relax.
All before going back to bed, and doing it all over again.
If this sounds anything like you, you’re not alone.
This is what I hear from over 90% of the people that I work with on a regular basis.
Too many things to do, and not enough time to get them done.
With all of that hurrying, how can someone find the time to eat healthy…
That’s a quality question, and a question that I will answer for you.
How to choose a quality protein bar
We first have to wade through all of the junk.
Most of the protein bars in stores today are little more than protein filled candy bars.
You can figure this out by taking a look at the Nutrition Facts, and skimming over to the sugar section.
If your protein bar has over 5 grams of sugar, you need to question it’s intention, and decide if it’s going to be helping you, or hurting you in your Quest for health and wellness.
Next, will your protein bar fulfill your protein requirements…
I tend to find that most of the bars that I would consider eating have such low protein, that I need to eat 2-3 of them to get what I need.
At that point I’m spending $5-9 on one snack, which is about the price of a whole meal.
Bonus, does your bar have fiber…
Fiber is a great bonus addition to a protein bar because it will do a few cool things for you…
- Make you feel more full, and satisfied.
- If it’s soluble fiber it will lower the glycemic index of the carbohydrates in the bar, and in-turn make them less likely to be stored as body fat.
- It will help with your digestion (aka you’ll have better poops).
What is my “on-the-go” protein bar… Quest Bars
Now that you know what you look for in a bar, you’re probably wondering what my on-the-go protein bar is, an where you can get them.
Well, you’ll be happy to hear that Quest Protein Bars fulfill all of my protein bar requirements.
1. They taste great! Like dessert, even. And (as you know) I could care less if something tastes good. All I need to know is if it’s fulfilling my nutritional needs. But these bars are something to look forward to.
2. They have very low sugar.
3. They are high in protein.
4. The price is right.
5. AND they have the bonus of fiber.
My favorite flavors are the Double Chocolate Chunk, and the Blueberry Muffin.
There’s just something about the chunks in the Double Chocolate Chunk that makes me crave this bar.
And the Blueberry Muffin, I love because I cannot get enough blueberries. It must be wired into my genes. They are sooooo good!
Where can you buy these bars
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Target carries Quest Bars!
Target’s are everywhere (I have one within walking distance from my house). You can see all of the Quest Bar flavors they carry by clicking here.
In my household we end up heading to Target about once a week to grab our shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, and all of my car cleaning supplies (did you know I’m obsessed with keeping my car clean? I am. :-)).
Not only that, but if you buy the 4 pack of Quest Bars at Target they are only $2.25 per bar.
For 20+ grams of protein, in a bar that will keep you feeling full for a few hours, $2.25 for a bar is about as good as you can get.
Click here to get your bars from Target online
Lastly, want to see when I eat my bars?
We are HUGE fans of meal prepping in the allaroundjoe household! It just makes the busy weeks so much easier.
This means that we get all of our (Monday-Friday) meals ready to go on Sunday afternoon.
And Quest Bars are ALWAYS on our meal prepping grocery list.
Even when you are as prepared as we are, I will always have a minimum of 2 Quest Bars in my backpack.
You never want to see me hungry. Never.
I’m pretty sure that I transform into a completely different person when I’m hungry.
And it’s so refreshing to know that (before I change into a hunger monster) I can reach into my bag, and grab a Quest Bar that will keep the hunger monster at bay, and meet my nutritional needs.
If you want to try something a little big awesome, keep reading…
Double Chocolate Chunk Coconut Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 Double Chocolate Chunk Quest Bar
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- Just a little salt
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Grass feb butter, or coconut oil for the pan
Cooking Instructions
- Basically just mix everything together really well.
- Break up your Double Chocolate Chunk Quest Bar into small pieces.
- Heat a pan on the stovetop to medium heat (all stoves will be a little different).
- Melt some butter or coconut oil on the pan.
- Pour the pancake batter onto the medium heat pan.
- Drop pieces of Quest Bar onto the cooking pancake.
- In 1-2 minutes, flip pancake.
- Wait another 1-2 minutes (or until the middle of the cake is cooked through).
- Remove pancake from the pan, and repeat until batter is gone.
- Enjoy the deliciousness!
Visit your local target and pick up a box of Quest Protein bars to try for yourself!
