cereal bar with apple

Lunchbox-friendly snack bar review

by

Cereal and muesli bars are a convenient snack to add to the school lunchbox, and tend to have a healthy image. But many are so loaded with saturated fat and sugar, they have more in common with the lollies and cakes most kids would rather eat. 

They’re always going to be sweet, because the manufacturers use various kinds of sugars – but usually ordinary sugar (sucrose), glucose or glucose syrup – to make them stick together. But are any cereal or muesli bar products worthy of a place in your child’s lunchbox?

Lunchbox hits

Most schools have a nut-free policy, which means a lot of snack bars you can buy aren’t suitable to pack in your child’s lunchbox. In 2016 we sifted through more than 200 products and found 95 snack bars that don’t include nuts in their ingredients list – see the table. We then compared these lunchbox-friendly options to find the healthiest. 

The following 14 nut-free products received a health star rating of 4 or more, and met our criteria for energy and wholegrains per serve:

  • Goodness Superfoods Better for U Cereal Bars Wild Berries & Yoghurt
  • Freedom Foods Apples and Cinnamon Crunchola Chewy
  • Freedom Foods Apricot, Coconut and Chia Crunchola Chewy
  • Freedom Foods Choc Chip Crunchola Chewy
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Apricot
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Choc Chip
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Forest Fruits
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy White Choc Chip & Raspberry
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy White Choc Chip
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Yoghurt Apricot
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Yoghurt Honeycomb
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Yoghurt Raspberry
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Yoghurt Strawberry
  • Uncle Tobys Chewy Yoghurt Mango Passionfruit

Bear in mind that many of these products are still relatively high in sugars – both added, and from dried fruit that can stick to teeth – and can contribute to tooth decay. Fresh fruit together with a serve of wholegrain crackers such as corn thins would make a healthier lunchbox snack.

Lunchbox misses

  • Kellogg’s may promote their LCM bars as “a sure-fire lunchbox hit”, but they’re a miss when it comes to nutrition. Kellogg’s LCMs Split Stix Yoghurty, for example, have a health star rating of just 0.5. And while they’re only small (23g a bar), they’re high in saturated fat, pack a sugar punch and are among the saltiest products reviewed. Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Bars (1 star) aren’t much better.
  • Fontelle Oven Baked Mini Meal Choc Chip (1 star) is true to its name; a 120g bar provides 2412kJ – as much as a meal, and more than a quarter of the recommended daily energy intake for an adult. Not to mention the 8.5 teaspoons of sugar it crams in too.
  • Coconut and butter feature high up in the ingredients list of Carman’s Oat Slice Belgian Chocolate Brownie, Carman’s Oat Slice Cranberry & Blueberry and Carman’s Oat Slice Golden Oat and Coconut (all 1 star) which may make them tasty but also bring saturated fat to the party. Carman’s Oat Slice Golden Oat and Coconut tops the chart, with 19.7% saturated fat. The oat slices in our review were higher in saturated fat and contained more kilojoules per serve on average than other bars, so it’s a category best avoided if you’re after a healthy choice.

Gluten-free options

While they don’t meet our wholegrains criteria, the following gluten-free bars also receive 4 or more stars and meet our energy criteria, so are worth considering for schoolkids who need gluten-free options:

  • Freedom Foods Crafted Blends with Superfoods Pepitas, Spinach & Chickpeas
  • Soma Bite Apple and Superseed
  • Food For Health Cranberry, Apple & Amaranth Bars
  • Freedom Foods Ancient Grains Muesli Bar Cranberries, Apple & Grains
  • Freedom Foods Crafted Blends with Superfoods Cranberries, Pomegranate & Goji Berries
  • Golden Days Seed Bar with Quinoa Apricot & Coconut
  • Golden Days Seed Bar with Quinoa Cranberry
  • Kez’s Free & Naked Lamington Bars
  • Kez’s Free & Naked Banana Cake Bars
Read more:
How to pack a healthy kids’ lunch box

Treacherous for teeth

Eating sugary snacks can be harmful to teeth. The bacteria in our mouths use these sugars to make acid, and if teeth are exposed to this acid long enough it can cause decay. Snack bars, especially the stickier ones, are bad news because the sugar sticks to your teeth. The Australian Dental Association suggests we help stop decay by limiting our intake of these types of snack foods.

How we assessed

We bought all the snack bars we could find in one large Coles, Woolworths and Aldi supermarket in Sydney in March and April 2016, separated those with no nuts on their ingredient list, and evaluated the ingredients and nutrition information on the labels. When choosing bars to recommend, we took into account the following criteria:

  • Health star rating (HSR). The HSR is based on an algorithm which takes into consideration kilojoules and ‘negative’ nutrients (sugars, saturated fat and sodium) associated with increasing the risk factors for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity, and balances them against the ‘positive’ aspects of a food – its fruit, vegetable, nuts or legumes content (all valuable sources of a range of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants), as well as protein and dietary fibre content. The data used is per 100g of food. The higher the HSR, the healthier the product.
  • Energy per serve. A healthy snack should fill a hole without giving you too many extra fattening kilojoules. Nutritionists recommend that we limit our energy intake from snacks to 600kJ.
  • Wholegrains per serve. Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend we choose wholegrain foods most of the time because they contain a range of protective components, such as phytonutrients, which are thought to play an important role in the prevention of disease. The Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council says foods must contain a minimum of 8g of wholegrain per serve in order to make a claim about its wholegrain content. (This criteria wasn’t used in the assessment of nut bars, raw bars and seed bars.)

Lunchbox-friendly snack bars compared

We compared 95 lunchbox-friendly snack bars in 2016. 

We’ve listed them below in order of health star rating (highest to lowest). 

Product
name Health
star
 rating Price
 per
bar ($)* Bar
 size (g) Energy
 per
 serve (kJ) Wholegrains

 per serve (g) Protein
 (g/100g) Sat Fat
 (g/100g) Sugars
 (g/100g) Fibre
 (g/100g) Sodium
 (mg/100g) Gluten
-free
claim247 White Chocolate and Raspberry Truffle 3 np 40 567 na 25.6 7.3 5.1 12.4 219 no All Natural Bakery Banana Oat Slice 2 2.69 100 1770 30.0 7.04 11.4 20.12 7.7 179 no All Natural Bakery Yoghurt Peach and Mango Oat Slice 1.5 2.69 100 1819 30.0 7.66 13.54 23.11 7.1 177 no Aribar Wholegrain Rice Crispy Bars Vanilla Blast 2.5 1.26 22 380 8.1 3.1 3.5 22 5.1 96 yes Aribar Wholegrain, Fruit & Veggie Bars Apple, Raisin & Oats 4 1.30 22 360 7.7 6.4 1.7 32.2 7.8 19 no Aribar Wholegrain, Fruit & Veggie Bars Raspberry, Apple & Oats 4 1.30 22 359 7.7 6.4 1.7 31.7 7.8 19 no Carman’s Oat Slice Belgian Chocolate Brownie 1 0.93 35 680 10.5 7.9 16.5 29.4 6.0 155 no Carman’s Oat Slice Cranberry & Blueberry 1 0.90 35 678 10.2 6.3 19 26 6.2 175 no Carman’s Oat Slice Golden Oat and Coconut 1 0.93 35 684 10.5 6 19.7 23.6 6.5 175 no Coles Yoghurt Topped Bars Apricot 2.5 0.35 31 561 na 6.1 5.6 26.2 4.8 66 no Coles Yoghurt Topped Bars Strawberry 2 0.35 31 555 na 5.8 7.3 25.2 4.8 90 no Fontelle Oven Baked Mini Meal Choc Chip 1 1.79 120 2412 na 7.2 18.8 28.7 6.2 156 no Food For Health Cranberry Apple & Amaranth Bars 4 1.17 35 507 na 6.5 1.6 15.6 4.3 12.5 yes Freedom Foods Ancient Grains Muesli Bar Cranberries, Apple & Grains 4 0.42 29 471 na 5 2.4 21.6 8.9 40 yes Freedom Foods Apples and Cinnamon Crunchola Chewy 4 0.83 35 530 15.8 5.7 1.9 15.7 9.4 30 no Freedom Foods Apricot, Coconut and Chia Crunchola Chewy 4 0.83 35 530 15.8 6 2.1 14.3 9.7 30 no Freedom Foods Choc Chip Crunchola Chewy 4 np 35 580 17.2 6.8 4.4 12.4 9.3 30 no Freedom Foods Cocoa Crunch Bar 3.5 0.42 24 396 na 4.7 3.8 20.1 9.1 80 yes Freedom Foods Crafted Blends with Superfoods- Cranberries, Pomegranate & Goji Berries 4 2.50 28 466 na 6.5 2.8 21.3 8.3 51 yes Freedom Foods Crafted Blends with Superfoods- Pepitas, Spinach & Chickpeas 4.5 2.50 25 411 na 9.7 1.5 15.7 10 164 yes Freedom Foods Nut Free Muesli Bar 3.5 0.42 33 552 na 6.3 3.2 20.5 8.6 41 yes Freedom Foods Vanilla Shake Crunch Bar 3.5 0.42 24 396 na 4.3 3.6 20.5 8.6 80 yes Go Natural Popcorn Snack Bars Apricot Banana 3 np 30 405 na 3.7 0.2 40 4.3 79 yes Golden Days Seed Bar with Quinoa Apricot & Coconut 4 1.99 30 576 na 12.3 4.9 12.3 8.2 16 yes Golden Days Seed Bar with Quinoa Cranberry 4 1.99 30 567 na 11.5 3.3 14.7 7.9 13 yes Golden Days Seed Bar with Quinoa Original 4.5 1.99 30 594 na 15 3.5 11.2 7.6 17 yes Golden Days Sesame Snaps Dark Chocolate 2 1.04 40 289 na 11.4 8.2 35.3 5.8 63 yes Golden Days Sesame Snaps Original 2.5 0.77 40 213 na 13.9 4.4 31.1 6.7 85 yes Golden Days Sesame Snaps Yoghurt 1.5 1.03 40 290 na 11.4 10.5 35.3 3.1 61 yes Goodness Superfoods Better for U Cereal Bars Wild Berries & Yoghurt 4.5 0.65 35 524 16.1 7.9 2.9 18.9 20.5 32 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Bubble Bars Choc Rainbow 3 0.33 20 308 na 2.4 5 27.1 11.3 160 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Bubble Bars Vanilla 3 0.33 20 302 na 1.7 4.8 22.6 12.3 170 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Bubble Bars Vanilla with Chocolate Squiggle 2.5 0.33 20 322 na 2.4 8.3 29.1 10.6 180 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Chewy Muesli Bars Apricot & Yoghurt 1 0.23 31 564 5.9 5.6 10.2 31.3 ns 129 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Chewy Muesli Bars Strawberry & Yoghurt 1 0.23 31 570 9.3 6 11.7 28.1 ns 74 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Chewy Muesli Bars Tropical & Yoghurt 1 0.23 31 577 9.6 6.2 11.7 28.3 ns 80 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Fruity Filled Bars Apple & Cinnamon 3 0.37 37.5 510 na – 0.4 33.6 – 190 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Fruity Filled Bars Apricot 3.5 0.37 37.5 506 na 4.9 0.4 30.6 8.4 190 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Fruity Filled Bars Mixed Berry 3 0.37 37.5 521 na 5.3 0.7 33 8.1 200 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Mrs Millers Oat Bars Apricot & Dark Chocolate 1.5 0.50 40 720 6.4 6.5 11.4 33.7 6.1 210 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Mrs Millers Oat Bars Chocolate Chip 1.5 0.50 40 752 7.6 6.6 12.9 35.5 7 230 no Hillcrest (Aldi) Mrs Millers Oat Bars White Choc & Raspberry 1.5 0.50 40 732 8.8 7.1 12.4 34.3 5 210 no Kellogg’s K-Time Twists Raspberry & Apple Flavour 2.5 0.40 37 540 na 3.9 1.1 36.9 5.7 140 no Kellogg’s K-Time Twists Strawberry & Blueberry flavour 2.5 0.40 37 544 na 4.2 1.2 35.9 6 150 no Kellogg’s K-Time Twists Strawberry & Yoghurt Flavour 2.5 0.40 37 544 na 4.1 1.2 35.1 6 175 no Kellogg’s LCM’s Golden Joys 1.5 0.53 23 391 na 3.7 5.9 29.2 1.6 275 no Kellogg’s LCM’s Kaleidos 1.5 0.67 22 376 na 4.6 4.3 34.5 1.3 230 no Kellogg’s LCM’s Split Stix Chocolatey 1.5 0.67 23 407 na 3.9 9.4 32.6 1.1 200 no Kellogg’s LCM’s Split Stix Yoghurty 0.5 0.67 23 420 na 3.7 12 34.2 0.4 225 no Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Bars 1 0.67 24 420 na 9.9 7.6 36.6 1.8 255 no Kellogg’s Special K Chocolatey Bars Caramel Flavour 1.5 0.80 21.5 372 na 9.8 6 30.8 2.5 200 no Kez’s Free & Naked Banana Cake Bars 4 1.20 25 400 na 7.8 1.3 52.8 8.3 14 yes Kez’s Free & Naked Lamington Bars 4 1.20 25 395 na 7.4 5.9 48.2 12.6 6 yes Mother Earth Baked Oaty Slices Apple Crumble 1.5 0.67 40 692 12.4 6.5 9.2 28.8 6.3 222 no Mother Earth Baked Oaty Slices Chocolate Chip 2 0.67 40 736 10.8 7.1 11 30.9 6.6 176 no Mother Earth Baked Oaty Slices Chocolate Orange 1.5 0.67 40 740 12.4 7.2 12.1 28.4 7.3 177 no Mother Earth Baked Oaty Slices Golden Oats 2 0.67 40 772 18.8 7.6 15.5 22.4 7.5 169 no Mother Earth Baked Oaty Slices Raspberry & White Chocolate 2 0.67 40 732 11.6 7.6 12.3 26.9 6.7 140 no Nature Valley Crunchy Apple Crisp 2.5 0.94 42 788 22.3 8.1 1.7 28.9 6.1 354 no Nature Valley Crunchy Dark Chocolate 2.5 0.96 42 818 21.4 8.3 3.4 21.8 7.1 280 no Nature Valley Crunchy Maple Crunch 2.5 0.96 42 807 23.5 8.9 1.9 27.8 4.7 333 no Nature Valley Crunchy Oats and Honey 2.5 0.94 42 799 23.5 8 1.7 27.8 5 350 no Nestle Milo Snack Bar Original 4 0.67 21 334 4.6 5.9 1.5 21.8 10 110 no Nestle Milo Snack Bar with Milk 3 0.67 27 456 5.1 6.3 4.8 24.2 9 100 no Nice & Natural Superfruits Muesli Bar Cranberry & Blueberry 3 0.50 30 456 na 6.9 2.8 29.5 5 57 no Nice & Natural Superfruits Muesli Bar Raspberry & Pomegranate 3 0.50 30 480 na 6.7 2.8 28.9 5.3 60 no Nice & Natural Supergrains Muesli Bar with Apple, Cinnamon, Spelt & Sunflower Seeds 3 0.50 30 486 6.3 6.3 1.3 25.4 5.1 133 no Soma Bite Apple and Superseed 4.5 2.99 32 510 na 14.1 4.6 25.6 11 79 yes Tasti Muffin Bakes Choc Caramel 2 0.37 40 600 na 4.6 4.3 29.6 ns 96 no Thankyou Superseed & Fruit Bar with Chia and Flaxseed 4 np 45 752 na 9.9 2 19.5 7.8 57 no Uncle Tobys Chewy Apricot 4 0.67 31.3 490 15.5 7.1 1.9 15.6 11.5 15 no Uncle Tobys Chewy Choc Chip 4 0.67 31.3 510 15.5 6.9 4.2 17.2 10.9 40 no Uncle Tobys Crunchy Choc Chip Wholegrain Lunchbox Bars 3 0.67 20 370 9.8 8.3 5.7 19.5 10.2 200 no Uncle Tobys Farmer’s Pick Fig & Apricot 4 1.10 32 450 13.4 9.2 1.3 20.7 10.8 21 no Uncle Tobys Chewy Forest Fruits 4 0.67 31.3 490 15.5 6.8 2.0 17.1 11.4 12 no Uncle Tobys Oat Slice Apple & Cinnamon Soft Baked Lunchbox Bars 2.5 0.67 35 595 9.8 6 7.7 19.4 6.6 200 no Uncle Tobys Oat Slice Choc Chip Soft Baked Lunchbox Bars 3 0.67 35 592 9.5 6.2 8.1 22.1 6.2 170 no Uncle Tobys Chewy White Choc Chip & Raspberry 4 0.67 31.3 520 15.5 6.6 4.5 19 10.5 15 no Uncle Tobys Chewy White Choc Chip 4 0.67 31.3 520 15.5 6.6 4.5 17.7 10.9 15 no Uncle Tobys Yoghurt Apricot 4 0.67 31.3 510 15.5 7.1 4.3 17.9 10.7 20 no Uncle Tobys Yoghurt Honeycomb 4 0.67 31.3 520 15.5 6.8 4.7 16.5 11 18 no Uncle Tobys Yoghurt Raspberry 4 0.67 31.3 510 15.5 7.0 4.3 18.4 10.5 20 no Uncle Tobys Yoghurt Strawberry 4 0.67 31.3 510 15.5 7.0 4.3 18.5 10.5 20 no Uncle Tobys Yoghurt Mango Passionfruit  4 0.67 31.3 510 15.5 7.0 4.3 18.1 10.4 22 no Weight Watchers Caramel Shortcake Baked Bar 1.5 0.57 22 363 na 4.3 7.4 29.2 2.8 326 no Weight Watchers Choc Delight Indulgent Bar 1.5 0.80 21 361 na 4.8 9.7 36.4 7.4 219 no Weight Watchers Coconut Delight Indulgent Bar 1.5 0.80 21 374 2.1 4.3 12.5 37 7.7 212 no Weight Watchers Raspberry & White Chocolate 2 0.57 22 354 na 4.2 6.5 33.1 4.7 157 no Woolworths Homebrand Oven Baked Fruit Bars Apple 3 0.36 37.5 525 na 4.5 <1.0 33.9 4.2 140 no Woolworths Homebrand Oven Baked Fruit Bars Apple & Blueberry 2.5 0.36 37.5 529 na 4.3 <1.0 40.7 3 140 no Woolworths Homebrand Strawberry Yoghurt Muesli Bars 2 0.24 25 432 11.5 5.2 7.2 19.1 4.6 23 no Woolworths Select Muesli Bar Chewy Choc Chip 3 0.40 30 489 12.0 7 5 23 7 40 no Woolworths Select Muesli Bar Choc Honeycomb 3 0.40 30 504 12.0 7 5 17 5 46 no Woolworths Select Muesli Bar Yoghurt Apricot 3 0.40 30 495 11.7 6 5 21 6 40 no Woolworths Select Muesli Bar Yoghurt Strawberry 3 0.40 30 501 11.7 6 5 22 5 45 no

TABLE NOTES

  • *Price is per bar, based on price paid per bar/pack in Sydney supermarkets in March/April 2016. 
  • na information not available or not applicable
  • ns not stated 
  • np not purchased
Rachel