Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of it took me forever to publish this article. How long? Well, way back in late June of last year, Charles from Built Bar reached out to us and asked us to provide an honest review of their “fairly new” protein bar. They’re not fairly new anymore. Within a week, they arrived, but were completely melted into oblivion as our delivery driver left them in the sun. Logan from Built Bar quickly sent us another box and we grabbed them without any issues since Hurricane Barry protected them from the sun.
So, here is the honest review.
If you don’t like any of the protein bars you’ve ever eaten, you should buy THIS.
To get to the point, these bars have a very unique texture and the flavors are bold. I would wager that you’re either going to hate or love the texture. Also, I’m pretty sure you’re going to spit out some of the bars (based on flavor) and absolutely devour some of them. I’m not going to bother telling you which ones I enjoyed and which I hated since I already recommended buying the sample box and seeing for yourself. Everyone has very different taste.
Now, there is a good chance that you won’t like the texture, which means you’re wasting $20-30. It might be a risk worth taking. I’ve basically eaten at least one protein bar (cookie, alternative, etc) every single day since 2008. I definitely have my favorites, but it can get very repetitive. Having another option that you enjoy is refreshing.
Before you click that button to buy, here are a few more things that you should know.
These bars are made with gelatin, which definitely gives them that unique texture. (They are VERY chewy.) Gelatin is usually made from some of the nastiest animal bi-products, so if you’re vegan or even vegetarian, you might want to steer clear. Fit wouldn’t even try or review these because she wasn’t willing to eat the gelatin.
Also, I don’t know anything about this brand or the people behind it. I’ve been to the factories of nutrition brands before. I’ve spent time with the people behind them. There are new companies that try to disrupt the industry all the time. Some of the biggest disrupters have been hit with massive lawsuits for not abiding by FDA/FTC guidelines and making false claims for the calories, fiber, macronutrients and micronutrients in their products. While the nutrition facts on these bars look well-rounded (110 calories, 15g protein, 6g fiber, 4g sugar, 4 g fat), they might not have put them through a 2 year shelf life test to see how they stabilize over time. I’m just not sure what happens over at Built Brands, LLC.
The Mixed Box
Here are the claims made on the label.
- They’re made with 100% real chocolate.
- They contain milk, which is a major allergy warning.
- They are gluten-free.
- They contain natural flavoring.
- They have no preservatives.
The shelf life is extremely short for a RTE (ready to eat) protein bar. We received these in July and they had an expiration date of December 22nd 2019. We just bought a few boxes of Robert Irvine’s Fit Crunch bars at Costco this weekend and they have an expiration date of May 27th, 2021. That is just some food for thought!
So, if you’ve made it this far, let us wrap this up. If you like bold flavors, give these a shot, unless you have a milk allergy or don’t consume animal products.
(For the FTC: We received no compensation other than two boxes of complimentary Built Bars, one of which melted, from Built Brands, LLC in exchange for an honest review. They clearly didn’t care much for the review, as it took us an insanely long time to publish this and we haven’t heard from them since July 18th, 2019.)
Stay hungry and fit!
