Review: SlimFast Meal Replacement Bar

While this may seem a somewhat odd product to review here, but there’s method in my madness; this is supposed to be a ‘meal replacement’, and a healthy meal would contain a decent slice of protein and fibre, no? While we all have different reasons to consume protein bars, one of them is as a NotBad mini-meal on the go; after all, I always keep one as a kind of ‘iron ration’ in my rucksack simply to remove the excuse of buying snacky crap while out. And in this case, this product might actually fulfil my needs (and by extension, yours).

First things first; I notice they’re re-done the packaging of this product; it’s a lot more jazzy than the vaguely-medicinal one I’ve got in front of me. However, I’m going on the premise that the chances that they’d drastically changed the innards was very small. For the record, said packed is covered with a load of information, such as ‘how to use’ and so on. ‘It’s all you need for a meal’ is an concept open to debate; we’ll talk about that in a bit.

Opens up well, revealing a block of chocolate which is pleasingly dark; as you might have guessed by now, I’m not a fan of milk chocolate. Smells… nutty and caramely. Flip it over, revealing the ‘nutty’ side; reminds me in design like an overgrown fibre bar. Though why they always pack them upside down is a mystery to me; unless it’s down to the fact that they haven’t invented a machine which can do it the other way yet.

Feels like it has a decent weight to it, only a touch greasy. Breaks with a bit of difficulty, though when it does at least it doesn’t shatter. Inside looks more ‘crispy’ than ‘nutty’; I’m reminded of the soya protein crisps that some protein bars have. Bites well, only a marginal amount of ‘fragment loss’. Main taste is of caramel, salt and chocolate, in that order. Rather too salty for my liking, but it is called ‘nutty salted caramel’ (though I don’t detect much nuts). But on the whole, a decent amount of showing – particularly for a ‘weight loss product’ which perhaps I’ve been conditioned to see as utterly bland and unappetising.

The nutritionals are where this product shines. It’s got sufficient protein to be classified as a ‘true’ protein bar, and rather close in becoming a fibre bar too. It’s saturates are reasonably low, as well as sugars. It’s 60 grams and 217 calories, which puts itself almost identically to the Kleen Protein Bar I had last month – it would seem here that ‘meal replacement’ is just a load of marketing guff (come on, who has a meal of 217 calories? At that level you’re either needing to snack lots or you’re on a starvation diet). Lastly, it’s been fortified with most, if not all vitamins and minerals needed for health to a level of 30%.

However, all of the above is neutralised by simply one aspect – salt. This is the saltiest bar I’ve come across to date. This one thing alone has 18% of your recommended daily level. Now, this is not a bad thing per se but it does mean you’ll need to pay close attention to your salt intake elsewhere.

And it’s this reason, and this reason alone I won’t be running to buy this product any time soon.

Nutritionals:

	Per 100g	Per Bar
Energy	362 cal	217 cal
Fat	10.8g	6.5g
…which is saturates	3.8g	2.3g
Carbohydrate	33.1g	19.9g
…which is sugars	14.6g	8.8g
Fibre	16.8g	10.1g
Protein	25.2g	15.1g
Salt	1.83g	1.10g

Facts:

Full Name: Slimfast Meal Replacement Bar

RRP: £2.00 (60g)

Available At: Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Superdrug, Boots.

Ultimate Owner: Glanbia Plc (Ireland)

Date of Testing: 24^th December 2020

Version Tested: Nutty Salted Caramel

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. I’ve not received anything for this review. Facts correct at date of testing. Part of my Product Reviews series.