Energy bars are a staple for endurance athletes, outdoor adventurers and people too busy to stop for a proper meal. But even though they’ve been around for over twenty years, most still taste like cardboard and are sticky enough to be used to patch a rusted muffler in a pinch. Why can’t they taste like real food? We aren’t the only ones to have asked that question. In the early ’90s, Jackson Hole transplant and all around mountain chick, Kate Schade, wondered the same and decided to do something about it and started Kate’s Real Food. The results are energy bars that could have come right out of mom’s kitchen.
We tried a sampler pack of Kate’s Tram Bars, Caz Bars and Grizzly Bars and can honestly say we’ll never go back to cardboard. The Grizzly, with its peanut butter and honey flavors, the Caz with dark chocolate, coconut and spice or Kate’s original Tram – salty, sweet and chocolate-y are all good enough to eat as a snack at home or the office or on the trail. Of course, they all pack real ingredients like rolled oats, organic dried fruit, honey and peanut butter so you feel good about eating them. Of course, with ingredients like that, you pay a little more for them. But hey, never having to eat cardboard again is worth it.
Buy Now: $21 (6-pack)
Photo by Abby Dell