In running with the reviews of great meal replacement products, I decided to give to the USN Trust Crunch Vegetarian Bar a go just to see how it would square up with other protein bars. It is safe to say that I was actually quite surprised.
About the products:
When we talk about protein bars or bar replacements, one never really considers if there is a vegetarian friendly option. USN made steps in taking this into consideration and created this Vegetarian version of their trust crunch bar. It is not entirely vegan, however, as there are milk products used to create this bar, but it does focus its ingredient concentration a lot around fruit products for its make up.
As for its nutritional values, USN Trust Crunch Vegetarian Bar comes in 60g bar. In this bar, you will get about 216 calories worth of goodness. The macros here are a little more spread out in comparison to protein bars from other products. You will get 18g of protein, 23g of carbs and 8.4g of fat per bar. This, however, does keep well within the theme of a meal replacement, ensuring that the macronutrients are spread quite evenly and that you are getting a decent spread of vital nutrients.
Usability:
For a vegetarian protein bar, this product really manages to hold its own in the protein bar arena. It is quite tasty and there is a good mixture of creamy, crunchy, and chewy. To be fair though, it still falls a bit short in terms of the texture/taste combo when compared to its non-vegetarian counterparts. But it still does a great job as most vegetarian supplement products generally taste or feel like dirt. This one does not. At all.
The vegetarian bar only comes in one flavour, and this is the Raspberry Cheesecake. The regular non-vegetarian Crunch Bars have three different flavours but for the sake of this review, we will just stick to the Raspberry Cheesecake. It has a nice and sweet fruitiness and a subtle hint of creamy cheesecake flavour. In combination, it all works really well.
As for who can use this bar? Pretty much anyone who is not vegan or someone who suffers with serious lactose intolerance issues. Other than that, this bar is a great on-the-go snack that you can use to help fuel you during a busy or tiring day.
Rating:
It is generally very difficult to find a great protein bar as most of them feel like ingredients that were mixed and frozen into the shape of a bar. However, this was made with careful consideration despite the minor shortfalls you will usually find in vegetarian products. As a result, I give this bar a 3.5 out of 5. If you are a stickler for vegetarian products, I can only imagine that you may give this a higher rating.