Is there anything better than a granola bar when it comes to back to school snacks? They are so easy—the only prep required is literally opening a cardboard box. They taste great so the kids love them. And they are healthy… right?
There is this notion that because it has some oats and a few nuts, it automatically becomes a healthy snack choice. But that is not the case. Not all granola bars are created equally. You want to be looking at labels to make sure you are make the best choices.
Some standard guidelines to follow include a bar with whole grain listed as the first ingredient. You also don’t want a bar that has more than 2 grams of saturated fat or any trans fats; also a bar with at least 2 grams of fibre is ideal. Finally, as hard as this one may be, try to get bars with no more than 8 grams of sugar—to put it into perspective, 8 grams of sugar is two teaspoons worth. So, come September, which bars should you be putting into your kids lunch packs?
Fibre One 90 Calorie Chewy Bars
With great flavours like Chocolate Caramel & Pretzel and plain (but delicious) Chocolate, the Fibre One 90 Calorie bars are a great choice on the taste and healthy scale. Each bar has only 5 grams of sugar and a whopping 5 grams of fibre (that’s 20% of your daily serving). The trouble with these bars will be sharing them with the kids!
Special K Protein Dark Chocolate Granola Bars
These tasty guys have only 3 grams of fat total and only 7 grams of sugar. With 4 grams of fibre and 4 grams of protein in each bar, they will keep kids full and energized longer too. Be aware: this guys may contain almond and peanut ingredients.
Kashi Chewy Granola Bars- Trail Mix
The go-to healthy brand of granola bars, Kashi makes their food with simple, wholesome ingredients. These bars have 11 grams of whole grains per serving plus 4 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein. The first ingredient on the list? Rolled Whole Grain Blend.
PC Blue Menu Peanut-Free Chewy Marshmallow & Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Peanut free? Check! Great flavour? Check! Low in fat? Check! While these PC Blue Menu bars do top out the sugar content at 8 grams, but rolled oats is at the top of the ingredients list and did we mention these are peanut free?
All-Bran Breakfast Bars- Honey Nut
These bars are touted as “breakfast bars” meaning they pack in a bit more than your everyday granola bar. That being said, they only have 9 grams of sugar and an amazing 24% of your daily fibre needs.
Nature Valley Lunch Box Chewy Chocolate Chip
A complete classic, the chocolate chip granola bar gets a healthy, peanut-free makeover from Nature Valley’s Lunch Box line. Four grams of sugar paired with 5 grams of fibre and 2 grams of protein make this bar a great choice for any school lunch.
Quaker Harvest Ancient Grains Cinnamon Apple Almond Granola Bars
Whole grain oat flakes, whole grain wheat flakes, quinoa flakes as well as barley flakes top the ingredients list for this Quaker bar. It only has 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 8 grams of sugar and 3 grams of both protein and fibre.
If all else fails, you can always try baking your own granola bars. Try out our favourite UrbanKitchen recipe for delicious homemade granola bars.
Lots of questionable ingredients in some of these products – must be a sponsored post. Added fructose, corn syrup, colour, etc. Not to mention kids can’t take most of these to school because of the nut factor so not sure why they’re listed here.
Kashi Seven Grain with Quinoa Bars – Chocolate Chip Chia would make more sense for this list because there are no nuts. Mostly good ingredients… though it does have added cane sugar. Suppose that’s needed or our kids wouldn’t eat them at all!
Hi there,
Thank you for your comment, we love getting input from our readers.
On UrbanMoms, any sponsored content will be labeled as such. This is just one writer’s take on what you should pick up in the granola bar aisle and was not sponsored by any of the mentioned brands.
Thanks again!
Marianne Litman
Editor, UrbanMoms.ca