Huel bars review

Experiences
1

So I just received the Huel bars and I thought people might want to know what someone thinks since they’re so new.

First, some background: I’ve been on probably 80% Huel for a while. I have two solid meals a week, and the rest is biscuits. I generally just have vanilla Huel by itself. I’ve always taken for granted that it’s never going to taste or feel great, which it never does, whatever you do with it. I can live with that.

So I was expecting the bars to be pretty awful, because the more solid something is, the more it tastes. But I was very pleasantly surprised by the bars. They actually taste fairly okay- like something I’d eat off the shelf of a supermarket. Don’t get me wrong, there’s the typical weirdness, but it’s definitely something I’m more than happy to eat.

I actually would have found them useful even if they tasted bad, because one problem with Huel for me was that when I’m travelling, or otherwise busy, I don’t necessarily have the freedom to get water and make some like I would normally. Also, I often just feel the need to eat solid food, which I why I tend to go for biscuits. These bars mean I have a healthier option, which is great.

The fact that they have the same shelf life as normal Huel is nice, because I had wondered about whether moisture in what makes it stick together would reduce the life. The fact that it doesn’t is a relief- my current ones will last until May, although they will of course be eaten by then.

One potential downside is that if you ate them instead of drinking the shakes, I think you’d run out a hell of a lot quicker. They’re also a lot more expensive.

One other thing I’ll add is that the packets create a lot of waste. I don’t know what could be done about that, but it’s something to consider.

Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase and will be getting more. They’re definitely very edible, which is a bonus, but they’re also going to be very useful for when I need solid food. Having said all this, the majority of my intake will remain liquid because of the above downsides. These will really just end up replacing other solid food I tend to eat, which in the end is the best I could have hoped for.

12 Likes
2

Very fair review, thank you @Michael_Robinson

The way I see the bar is as a complement to the powder…

The bar is a more convenient version of Huel especially when travelling etc. We expect people to use it for a snack / light meal, emergencies (I will probably leave a couple in the car), when you are out and don’t want to carry a shaker, or when you simply have to grab and go.

The bar wins in terms of convenience and it provide a different experience (you can bite into it) but it will lose against the powder in terms of cost, ingredients and nutritionals, there is no way around that. But compared to the current alternative we believe Huel offer a strong alternative.

E.g. The Huel bar is 11% sugar by weight. Whereas a Nakd bar (Caffe Mocha) is 47% sugar by weight.

3

I have to say, I think if there’s something you could introduce to everybody else- the people that aren’t weirdos that drink their meals- it’ll be this. There are plenty of bars that claim to be healthy, while as you say, they’re really not. I could definitely see this being highly marketable, and it could be a good way to bridge the gap.

3 Likes
4

Very good point that.

Then number of people I know that eat generic breakfast bars thinking they’re good for them, just blows my mind.

3 Likes
5

These are much more healthy than many other health bars. My favourites are the Nakd and Trek bars, but they are nearly 50%, and some of the bars contain more sugar than chocolate. Then again people don’t realise that Innocent smoothies can contain more sugar than coca cola.

For sure there is a place in the market for Huel bars ( a market worth over £500 million); Nakd bars are everywhere now, but Pulsin (which have more of the taste and texture of Huel bars) are also reaching Tesco, Aldi etc., and the Bounce bars are mainstream now.

Huel bars appear to be healthier than all of them, and to me are a good on the go snack. I wouldn’t eat them every day or more than 2 or 3 times a week, and they are not designed to replace the powdered food. They are certainly much more tasty than I imagined them to be too.

5 Likes
6

Regarding the waste, I know two boxes are nice but is it necessary to have a Huel box and a brown shipping box? One box would more than be adequate for protecting the product and a leaflet could be placed inside to cover all the legal stuff.

thoughts?

1 Like
7

One other comment I have is that it would be good if there was a vanilla flavour with a lower sugar content. But I suspect that might taste foul, in which case coffee, ginger, lemon or some other strong-tasting but natural flavour might be worth trying, if it hasn’t been already.

2 Likes
8

I’ve added sour tasting ingredients to food bars before. I like it myself, but everyone I gave them to try felt they tasted rather strange. Although strange is probably better than thinking they taste gross.

Low sugar bars are really hard to make taste good. I’ve been trying to achieve that for a few years now, but totally failed. Anything below ~6% sugar becomes a bit weird in my experience.

I made some this evening which were around 5% sugar, but they’re a bit like eating cake batter. Smooth, soft, squishy and sweet (due to sucralose I added to the mixture).

1 Like
9

From what I can gather though, sugar is the sticking point…without it the bars aren’t moist enough, nor do they bind together properly…I’d prefer a lower sugar bar too, but then again I do eat other bars that are considerably higher in sugar. Ginger I agree is a good flavour to use, and coffee/chocolate combo may be too… I have only in past couple days started using Millicano coffee granules in Huel at @Julian recommendation, after having used espresso, and it is much better…tastes good in the Christmas Pud flavour too, as pointed out elsewhere.

Sour cherry flavour may be nice. Not so sure about lemon. Coconut and almond favours are ones I like.

10

These are good http://uk.bouncefoods.com/shop/?nabm=0

Maybe Huel could be flavoured in a similar way?

11

Dried cranberries seem to go very well in bars. They have a very strong taste which people seem to like.

1 Like
12

Oh yes, thats spot on Ryan :slight_smile:

13

I’ve only tried the ginseng and spirulina bounce balls that are vegan…they are quite nice, but totally different texture.

14

I bought some spirulina once to add to my smoothies. It turned my smoothies into a disgusting pond green algae mess. Never again !

15

@t00sp00ky bounce balls are 24% sugar by energy, the Huel bar is 13%.

We can make the Huel taster and more moist very easily by adding more sugar (fruit, etc) but want to try and keep the sugar low.

@Coup both boxes are recyclable. The 16 bar box is not strong enough to be shipping without the outer box, and we will often put bars in existing order so it would be wasteful to make the bar box thick enough to be sent without an outer, we did consider it.

16

Oh yes I’ve used it too…it sure looks just like that. The only thing worse to use is fresh turmeric which stains everything orangey yellow.

The Bounce bars do have a greenish tinge to them too.

17

One major difference however is that turmeric tastes nice whereas spirulina is the work of the devil :slight_smile:

1 Like
18

Spirulina goes well with maca.

19

I’m really happy with the bars.

I eat a lot of different protein bars - Grenade Carb Killas being my favourite. But they are essentially like eating a chocolate bar - which is great, but not what I would want from a Huel bar. As I see them more as a meal replacement (albeit a “snack sized meal”), I like the fact that they are more natural/basic (for want of a better description) in terms of taste/texture. With a cup of tea they are also far more filling than I would expect from 250cals.

Will definitely be setting up a subscription once available :slight_smile:

1 Like
20

Thanks for the reviews, folks; very fair. A lot of work went into developing the bars and they were released a lot later than we wanted them. But this was in order to produce a bar that we’re happy with.

Regarding the wrapper, it’s made to preserve the micronutrients.

I will be happy to answer any queries on the bar.

4 Likes