Shopping for Protein Snacks

1:  I immediately think of protein bars. Other protein snacks are: Beef jerky, yogurt, nuts, eggs, cheese, tuna and salmon. I call protein snacks “good for you snacks”.

2:  I shop at our local Stop n’ Shop grocery store. They carry a wide range of products; stocking several brands of each.  I can usually find the protein snack that I am looking for.

This is our Stop n' shop grocery store as we are going in.

3:  I am heading to the breakfast protein bar isle first; such as Special K bars, Kashi, Nature Valley and Quaker Oats granola bars. Knowing that they have less protein than protein bars, which usually have double the amount of protein in them; such as clif, Quest and PowerBar.

Quite a selection of breakfast bars to choose from.

I am checking the ingredients on some of the breakfast bars. Looking for the first couple of  ingredients listed.  I am trying to avoid the ones that list sugar or corn syrup first.

I chose the Kashi over some of the others as sugar and corn syrup were not the first ingredients listed. Oats, whey, soy were listed higher than sugar. But all in all there is still a bit of sugar in these bars compared to protein bars, and the protein is only about four grams vs eight to nine grams in protein bars. But these bars are good tasting vs the dry bland taste of most protein bars.

4:  Telephone call

5:  Here we are in the protein bar isle. A massive amount, very overwhelming.  I am going to randomly choose a few and compare ingredients.

This is just a very few of the bars offered. I am really a bit lost trying to choose.

I chose the chocolate Clif Bar as the one I would purchase.  This product would be for myself, as no one else in my house would eat any of them.  I first looked the bars over and my eye went to the ones with the most appealing and bright graphics. (Something to be said for advertising) Most of the bars were seven to nine grams of protein, with the acception of Clif Builders bars which had twenty grams. I did not even consider that one as I am sure it tasted like cardboard, the picture on the package did not look very appetizing (see photo). chocolate Clif Bar's ingredients listed brown rice syrup, soy, toasted oats and rice flour as some of there first ingredients also cocoa, a big plus for me. Others also had some of these ingredients listed but I had to narrow it down and the one with cocoa won. Alot of the ingredients were un-decipherable; you need to be a nutritionist to know what they are and how to pronounce them.

6:  We are now in the cheese snack isle which is combined with all the other cheese.
I am looking for snack cheeses, cheese bites, cheese cubes, string cheese. 

Much less overwhelmed here than in the protein bar isle. I would be choosing this cheese for the whole family, myself, husband and kids. I decided to stay away and from processed cheese and stick to natural cheese.  I chose Cracker Barrel cracker cuts as the one I would purchase. I am very familiar with this brand as I have eaten it sense I was a child. I also like the idea of nice neat already sliced cheese ready to eat. No mess, easy to dole out, and great in a cooler on the go.

7:    Next I went to the refrigerated meat section. 

Again quite a few to look at. I probably would not have looked here when thinking about protein snacks. I tend to forget about meat as protein snacks, I think of them more as a lunch item for a sandwich. Most of the selections were sandwich meats.

I did come across Lunchables, I would consider this more of a protein snack then than all the other lunch meats. I was disappointed that this was really the only choice and it seems

 targeted towards children. But if I had to buy a meat item I would probably choose it.

(I did put links to the brand websites on the items I chose, as I took a look at them.)

While there I just took a quick look at some other protein snacks. Although tuna is more of a lunch item, it could be used as a snack on crackers. There are some good choices out there but not enough.

Leaving Stop n' Shop