Any of you made your own meal replacement bars / protein bars? Thinking about trying this shit out today...

Any of you made your own meal replacement bars / protein bars? Thinking about trying this shit out today, was wondering if people have any tips etc.

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Dried fruit and nuts is a goat combination, especially dates/figs since they bind very well. Cashew gives neutral creamyness, macadamias give a coconut flavor.

Black beans combined with cocoa gives a very rich chocolate flavor. Make a neutral black bean stew, reduce it until it's almost solid, then add cocoa powder and a couple of dates to make bars. Chopped nuts gives good texture if you mashed the beans too much.

Protein powder is a great binder in itself and boosts protein content (obviously). The flavors can easily dominate which can be a shortcut if you want but also a downside if you want to avoid artificial sweeteners. Unflavored whey has the binding effect without giving weird sweetness or odd flavoring. It also gives a creamy effect (since it's a dairy biproduct). Know that heating protein powder reduces protein quality.

Adding nut butters is also good for binding, but it will easily turn sticky in room temperature, more so than dates.

A powder coating of toasted flour will prevent stickyness if you struggle with this (chickpea is good because it tastes nutty rather than bready). Simple wrapping paper might not be enough to prevent a mess so trial and error is key. Sesame seeds can also work as a coating but will easily dominate flavor.

All I can think about for now. Might post more.

Thanks a ton.

I was thinking of doing something like this:

Oats 400g
Protein Powder 200g
Bananas 350g
Milk 250g

I should probably add some dried cranberries as well. 3

I use bananas as a replacement for the peanutbutter since it's fucking loaded with calories. Maybe I should do figs or dates instead of bananas?

>heating protein powder reduces protein quality
nigga wat

during mil. service did protein bars by using honey to bind together ground nuts, oats, cacao and protein powder.

used parchment paper for separation and worked well

> replacement for peanut butter since it's loaded with calories

the point for a meal bar is for it to be loaded with calories, so that you don't need to carry as much food.

calorie density is a good thing in this case, as long as you avoid transfats and sugars, as the first one gives you cancer and heart disease and the latter causes irregular blood sugar levels which will be a pain.

In my experience bananas go bad very quickly in bars unless you dehydrate or freeze them (thaw the day of eating). With milk it has to be refrigerated, which isn't a problem but you need to take into account in terms of storage space and convenience (if you're hiking or traveling it might be a bother).

If you want something more shelf stable you could try to use gelling agents such as flax seeds, psyllium or chia seeds, to bind too but it might give weird texture unless you heat it, and if you use protein powder heating might be an issue.

I've used oats and protein powder alone before, and it worked fine. I think your recipe might work great if you dehydrate them in the oven a bit or in a dehydrator if you got it. Cranberries will definitely help make the flavor less monotonous.

It's a highly processed product and most are not made to be heated. There are brands that are made to also be used in cooking and those are okay. Sure you can use normal ones but if you count on the protein value I don't recommend it.

I was figuring on freezing the bars since I'll make a 1.2 kg batch, which should last me 12 days. I looked into the seeds but the calorie content is pretty high for my taste.

The bar I have in mind now will roughly look like this:

Per 100g:
Energy: 222,125 kcal
Fat: 3,63 g
Carbs: 25,7g
Fibers: 6,2 g
Protein: 19g
Salt: 0,1

Sounds pretty good. Good luck.

With the seeds, the gelling effect is key, so you only use a spoonful and swell them in water leaving you with a 40 calorie gelling agent with some omega3 fats. Psyllium is pure fiber and has basically no calories when used. If you want to test other recipes later, you could keep it in mind. They're very interesting ingredients to experiment with. In vegan recipes they are used to replace eggs, so egg white is also an option but then you must cook the food to prevent it going bad.

Protein powder is dried and crystalized whey protein blended with flavor and filler. It doesn't go bad when you heat it. Heat doesn't destroy amino acids.