Product Review: Envirokidz Lemur Peanut Choco Drizzle Crispy Rice Bar

Summer time, and the livin’s easy.... Okay, whoever wrote that song needs to re-evaluate what easy means :) I’m not complaining, here, but there is nothing easy about summer at my house. There is no school to keep the kids busy and there are so many things to do that we run all the time. It’s fun, but exhausting!

As I’m sure you know, more running=more hungry kids. It seems like snack time comes at five minute intervals. My girl is a sugar bug. She wants candy, popsicles and pretty much anything chocolate on a 24 hour a day feeding tube. As a nutritionally conscious mom, I don’t share her view that summer vacation means a vacation from healthy eating.

The search for compromise has led me to Envirokidz snack bars. Envirokidz is an offshoot of Nature’s Path. It is the part of the company that is dedicated to giving the kiddies some yummy gluten free options. I’m sure you’ve seen the boxes in the stores, they’re the ones with the adorable endangered animals in the jungle setting. Cute stuff!

Now, the promise of jungle safari fun combined with chocolate and peanut butter flavor was enough to convince D.D. that we had to buy the Lemur Peanut Choco Drizzle Crispy Rice Bars. I was hesitant at first. More sugar?! I was leaning towards nothing but grapes and frozen bananas for summer treats. Then I checked the ingredients:

Organic brown rice flour, organic brown rice syrup, organic honey, organic peanut butter, organic chocolatey icing (organic evaporated cane juice, organic palm kernel oil, organic cocoa, natural flavors, organic soy lecithin, sea salt), organic invert cane syrup, organic roasted peanut, organic evaporated cane juice, organic soy oil, organic acacia gum, sea salt, organic molasses, tocopherols (natural vitamin E), organic rice bran extract.

Hello compromise :) The box contained six bars for four dollars. That price was not great, but it was low enough for us to grab a box and try.

As we do with every new thing we try, we took the plunge together. When I had the bar out of the wrapper I was surprised at how big it was. I’m used to gluten free servings that are really small. Another surprise, the bar looked exactly like the picture on the box. I could see crispy rice, peanut chunks and a perfectly formed chocolate drizzle.

I have to tell you, my friends, these things taste GOOD! I know I got them for my darling daughter to snack on, but I couldn’t stay away from them. The box lasted three days- that’s one bar each per day. The great part about these gluten free snacks is that they are convenient to carry, nutritionally decent and make mouths very happy. The downside is that I do not have the money in my grocery budget to keep a steady supply on hand. I have filed this snack in my “Sometime Indulgence” category.

We have made plans to try all of the other flavors of Envirokidz snack bars. I have high hopes that the high quality and flavor of the Lemur Peanut Choco Drizzle Crispy Rice Bar will be repeated.