Product Review: AllerEnergy Bars

Allergy-free but hard as rock

It is impossible to find an energy bar without dairy or any kind of nut in it.  The closest I seem to get to allergy-free is ingredient lists that are free of any allergens...immediately followed by a boldfaced notice that the bar "may contain traces of dairy, peanuts, and tree nuts".  Unfortunately when you have kids with food allergies, a "maybe"doesn't cut it.

I was really excited when I found out about AllerEnergy.  Made with brown rice and fortified with calcium and vitamin C, AllerEnergy Bars do not contain any of the most common allergens (wheat, milk, egg, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish). In addition, all AllerEnergy products are free of corn, sesame, sunflower, and potato products.

To save more money I used Amazon's Subscribe & Save (had to use my laptop to sign up as it's not accessible from my smart phone).  I eagerly awaited my first box of chocolate chip bars. When it arrived, I immediately broke open a bar in the hopes that my search for a safe and good health bar was finally over.

The bar may be safe but it wasn't perfect.

The bar was a hunk of a piece, about 3/4 of an inch thick.  It was tricky for me to get my mouth around it.  Besides the thickness, the bar was really hard.  I couldn't break the bar without fearing that I'd do some serious damage to my teeth. And after I did manage to break off a chunk with my mouth, I was worried that the hard, sticky rice would either stay glued to the grooves of my molars or rip my fillings out as I tried to grind it down.

I was pretty disappointed after that first bar.  Since I have a box full of them, I've tried out a couple more bars in case the first one was just a bad one out of the bunch.  The second and third bars actually weren't quite as rock-hard but I still can't imagine my kids eating one of these without there being a serious choking hazard because of the bar's thickness and texture.

I'm sad that I can't recommend this product.  Snacks such as Trader Joe's Fiberful Fruit Bars seem to be better investments.  I'll try my hand at making my own energy/protein/granola bars and will report back when I have some winners.