Homemade Protein Bars

Like many of you, I dont really have the time to prepare some of the gourmet meals and snacks that are included in the P90X nutrition guide. I would love to try some of those items, but its just not in the cards with family, church, events, work…it get kinda crazy sometimes and a lot of us just dont have the time for prepared foods to snack on to make sure we are fueling our bodies correctly and on time. To combat time I purchase protein bars…well, I used too. Protein bars are portable and delicious! They are the perfect snack for an on-the-go fellow like myself, but holy crap they can get expensive! On average I was spending anywhere between $1.30 – $1.66 per bar! I have a protein bar everyday, so that starts to hurt the pocket book at the end of the month! So I wanted to do a little research and find out why the crap these bars cost so much. I found out why…its because of the ingredients. There are so many processed ingredients in protein bars to make them more health “friendly” that you end up paying for it, literally!

Dont get me wrong, there are some great store bought bars out there that I myself have used and still use when I run out of my homemade bars. So dont get the impression that I am bashing store bought protein bars…I just happened to discover something better. Store bought good…homemade better LOL. And I know someone will say “well if you are on the go, how the crap do you have time to make these?” Ah-ha! Some more awsomeness about these bars is that they only take about 6-7 minutes to make since there is no baking involved! I make em the night before right before I go to bed and pop em in the fridge overnight and they are ready when I am packing my meal for work in the morning.

So how are homemade protein bars better?

  1. You know the ingredients – Honestly, I cant pronounce some of the ingredients on a store bought protein bar, let alone do I know what each of those ingredients do to the chemistry of my body. The beauty of my homemade protein bars is that there are only 5 simple all natural ingredients. I know exactly what is going into my body and how its going to effect it! Peace of mind is priceless!
  2. They are CHEAPER! – This is the best part! I went from spending $1.66 per bar to spend and average of $0.75 per bar making them at home. So I personally am saving about $27 per month! This will of course vary depending on the cost of your ingredients.
  3. They taste better! – Now I can honestly tell you that this isnt some biased opinion. I have had many people try my recipe and tell me that it is the best protein bar they have ever tasted. They taste like a dang desert, even though calorie-wise, they are an amazing meal replacement or snack, depending on the serving size.

So lets get you goin with my recipe so you can try these out for yourself!

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 scoops – whey protein powder (chocolate is best)
  • 1 cup – whole oats (I use Quaker Oats usually)
  • 1/3 cup – natural peanut butter
  • 3 tbsp – natural honey
  • 1/2 cup – unsweetened almond milk (you can also use coconut or skim milk)

Directions:

  • Mixed dry ingredients in a glass or tin bowl. Dont use something porous like plastic.
  • Add your peanut butter, honey and milk to the dry mix
  • Mix BY HAND with a large utensil. This stuff is way to sticky to use an electric mixer…it wont work.
  • Once you have a big sticky ball of well mixed ingredients, spread mix evenly into a baking dish coated with non-stick spray. I use a 9″ x 9″ square dish. 
  • Pop the dish in the fridge overnight or in the freezer for about 45 minutes if you are starving.
  • Cut the bars into 6-8 equal portions
  • I use wax paper to wrap them individually because they are super sticky!

Here is a video to aid you in your culinary health experiment:

 

 

The most fun you can have with this is by experimenting with your own ingredients! Switch it up and try something new each time. With my last batch I melted some organic 70% dark chocolate on top (not too much), but enough to add just a little candy bar-esque to it. I have also had a few flops with vanilla whey protein powder…dont do it LOL. All in all this is about making healthy choice gang and saving you some cash! I hope you enjoy my homemade protein bars and I hope you have some fun makin em too!

Have you tried these yet? Let us know what you thought or how you changed it up!

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