The kind folks at Mule bar sent me some of their bars to review.
They even came in cool mule-themed boxes (the size of graze boxes). The bars vary in sizes which is great, as sometimes I would only want a smallish bar as oppose to a 70g bar. There is also an energy gel- my first ever one!
I am not going to write out all the ingredients as they are all available on the mulebar website, but most of them contain fairly similar ingredients; Rice syrup, rice crisps, whey powder, oatmeal, oats, soy flour, plus the dried fruit or nuts to flavour the bar. You can order them from their website here.
First on the menu was Strudel;
This was a 30g bar, and although it looks small, it is perfectly formed and also pretty filling. It has 111 cals, 2g protein, 21g carbs, and 2g fat per bar. It has quite a few ingredients (mostly things like oats, apple, raisins, rice crisps, cinnamon and quinoa)- it is sweetened by rice syrup and apple juice, so not bad.
The taste was delicious- it really tasted of apple and cinnamon. The texture was similar to a clif bar- really moist and chewy.
10/10 cherries
Then I tried the Pina Colada 65g bar;
This one was much nicer than I was expecting! It only contains 8% coconut, but the coconut flavour really came through. It was really nice and chewy, I really liked the texture. I had half before and half after a run and as it has 73g carbs (per 100g) it gave me loads of energy.
9/10 cherries ( I slightly preferred the apple flavour one, but it’s close!)
Chocolate Banana refuel;
Look at the size of that! It is a 65 g bar with great looking nutrional values- the bar has 14g protein, 36g carbs, 6g fat and 253 cals. Not bad! I had it after a hard body pump session, and it was just what I needed. The texture is similar to the other bars, not quite as chewy as some. The banana taste was just like dried banana coins (the chewy natural ones, not the crunchy ones fried in syrup) so if you like that, I am sure you would like this. I am not a massive fan of dried banana, and although I did still like the bar (I would eat another one if I ordered a mix box or something like that) it was not my favourite. Too bananarey for me!
7/10 cherries
Mango Tango
I was looking forward to this one as I love all things mango. I was not to be dissapointed. This was one of the 30g Megabites with 111 calories, 20g carbs (13g sugars) and 3g protein. I had it before a run which was great- just the right amount of energy, not heavy at all. The mango flavour was delish- not overpowering and it had nice little bits of cashew nut in it too.
9/10 cherries
Hunza Nut
I had to look up on google what it meant- apparently that is what apricots are called in some parts of the world. So in case you haven’t guessed, it is apricot flavoured (32% apricots). It had little pieces of walnuts which added a nice texture to it. Apricot is not my favourite flavour, but I did still quite like this bar. I ate it right before I went on a run and it always seems that they are easy to digest.
7/10 cherries
Chocolate date refuel
This was great as a post-body pump snack as it has 13g protein and 38g carbs (261 cals) in the 65g bar. I could not really taste the dates, but it did have a nice subtle chocolate flavour and was quite sweet. It has a light and chewy texture, kind of like a rice crispy bar or something. It does not feel heavy or dense. I was reading the wrapper and noticed that they use fairtrade ingredients were possible, and in this bar42% of the ingredients are fairtrade. Pretty impressive.
9/10 cherries
Liquorice Allsports (love the name!)
I expected it to be black (ate it at work so no camera) but in fact it was pale, with black chunks. It also has coconut in it, and it was delicious. Tasted like an old fashioned licorice allsort- the round ones with the coconut. Made a lovely change from all the sweet cereal bars.
9.5/10 cherries