Breakfast at Sophie’s: the bar crawl

by Sophie Leopold

No matter how well students become at prepping breakfast, college life always has a sneaky way of turning those priorities upside down. On mornings when it seems like a ridiculous waste of time to eat breakfast, let alone make a meal, a stash of protein bars saves the day. Bars are an incredibly convenient way to fuel the day without a moment of thought. Bars allow effort levels, instead of energy levels, to drop to zero.

Protein bars are available in a range of flavors and consistencies to suit everyone’s taste and diet preferences. The difference in quality among bars can be huge, so it pays off to take a peek at ingredient lists. Some of them would be better marketed in the candy aisle when it comes to refined sugar content. Since the selection can be overwhelming, here are some of the best bars for breakfast on the fly.

Bob’s Better Bar

“Wholesome and delicious, made with peanut butter, whole grain oats, and honey,” according to Bob’s Red Mill site. Flavors include peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and banana, peanut butter and coconut or peanut butter and apple spice.

Cliff and Luna

These two are familiar, reliable and easy to find. They offer an assortment of fruit, nut, chocolate, and dessert inspired tastes. Also available in nut butter filled, fruit smoothie filled and higher protein versions.

Go Macro

“Vegan protein bars made from clean ingredients,” according to the Go Marco website. Nut or seed centric flavors are accented with fruit, chocolate or coconut.

KIND Snacks

These come in, well, a variety of kinds. Try the original nuts and spice, protein from real food, healthy grains bars or clusters, the kid’s chewy version, sweet and spicy bars or [of course] the breakfast bar.

Larabar

“A delicious gluten-free blend of fruits, nuts, and spices [and sometimes chocolate chips],” according to the Larabar website. These wholesome bars use only the essential ingredients to make cleaner riffs on favorite desserts.

Perfect Snacks

Clean bars and bites with a focus on whole food proteins, superfoods and sweetened with honey. Seek out the chocolate walnut brownie for a plant based option. Perfect Bars are stored in the refrigerator, but can last at room temperature for up to a week.

RX Bar

“Egg whites for protein. Dates to bind. Nuts for texture. No free rides. No fillers. No B.S.,” according to the RX Bar’s site. Comparable to Larabar in their real food simplicity, but with added protein from the egg whites. They have over a dozen flavors that include a spectrum of fruit, nut and chocolate pairings.