100% Sugar Free Uncured Bacon & Pork Epic Bar

What it is and why I eat them.....

The Uncured Bacon and Pork Epic Bar is a zero carb protein bar. This is the only zero carb protein bar I have found. It's got 15 grams of protein and NO CARBS! That is exciting stuff. I eat them because I'm on a low carb diet. Well at the time of writing this post, I'm actually off the wagon with the low carb thing, but I'm working on getting back to it. There are other flavors of Epic Bars, but they have carbs in them. 

The flavor isn't bad. It doesn't taste like bacon though. It has a mild pork flavor. The stores keep this in the jerky section, but it's not really a jerky texture. It's hard to describe the texture, but it's similar to SPAM. Because of that, I was skeptical about eating them, but a friend of mine suggested them and I knew she wouldn't lead me astray. 

These are great to have in the car for emergency snacks while out grocery shopping. They are also good to pack into a backpack for a hike. I eat one of these every morning at work as a snack. It's hard to find low carb snacks that pack well and last a long time so I'm very happy to have these! 

Where to get them....

I've found these at Whole Foods and Natural Grocers. You can also get them from Amazon and Thrive Market. They come in a pack of 12. At Whole Foods, they've been on sale for $2.99 in Bend, Oregon. The regular price is $3.50 I think. At Natural Grocer's I've been seeing them for $2.55, but they rarely have the Uncured Bacon and Pork. Amazon was $28.99 for the box of 12 the day I wrote this post. They are eligible for Prime. At Thrive Market, you can get them for $27.95 at the time I wrote this post. If you spend $49 or more at Thrive, you get free shipping. They also send out coupon codes pretty regularly. For example, I got an email today for $10 off a $50 purchase. You also get 15% off your first order! If you sign up by clicking the links in this post, I'll get $25 if you decide to join Thrive Market. 

Review of Fixate 21 Day Fix Cookbook Almond Chocolate Protein Squares

Almond Chocolate Protein Squares

The recipe for these Almond Chocolate Protein Squares came from the Fixate Cookbook from Beachbody. It has 101 recipes that are all 21 Day Fix approved. I'm currently not doing the 21 Day Fix meal plan, but these fit in pretty well with my Weight Watcher's points and I want to try these out for when I do go back on the 21 Day Fix meal plan. 

I didn't have several of the ingredients for this recipe, and I doubt many people would have them. I had to get the oat flour, whey protein, almond flower, unsweetened almond milk, almond butter and dark chocolate chips. I had the salt and the vanilla extra. :)

These were super easy to make and they are no bake so they are great for a warm summer day! Once you mix all of the ingredients in the food processor, you pour it into an 8x8 pan and freeze it. After it's been in there for awhile, you take it out and pour the melted chocolate over it. 

This recipe counts as 1/2 a yellow container, 1/2 a red container and 2 teaspoons. It counts as 5 Weight Watchers points according to my app. The squares are pretty small. You get 16 servings out of an 8 x 8 pan which means these things are tiny! I was thinking that they would be too small, but the size actually worked out pretty well for me. 

Neither one of us really liked these the first night. They weren't very sweet and the texture was weird. They hadn't completely frozen at that point. It was a few days before I tried it again because I just wasn't sure if 5 points was worth it. I had to eat them though because I spent too much money on ingredients not to eat them. When I had them again, I actually really enjoyed them. I'm not sure if it was because I hadn't had anything sweet for over a week at that point or if the texture was just better because they had frozen solid at that point.

I had hubby try one that was frozen solid and he enjoyed it better that way as well. I actually couldn't get enough of these after that. There were a couple days where I found myself with extra points so I had two in one day! I discovered that letting them sit for about 5 or 10 minutes softened them up just enough so they were easy enough to bite, but not enough that it gave them a weird texture. 

I'm going to make these again that's for sure. The book says that you can swap out the almond butter for peanut butter, cashew butter, seed butters or hazelnut butter. I'm going to see about finding a less expensive butter! It might be peanut butter and I might get a giant thing of it from Costco!

If you want the recipe, send me a message on Facebook or buy the cookbook! 

Want to learn more about the 21 Day Fix?

21 Day Fix is a nutrition and exercise program that lasts 21 days. It comes with seven 30 minute workouts that include cardio and strength training. It also comes with a 10 minute ab workout. If you buy it from a coach, you get an extra 30 minute workout for free. The nutrition system includes color coded containers. Based on your weight, you get a set number of containers to eat each day. Once you've eaten all of your containers, your done for the day. There are different sized containers for "veggies" (I used quotes since a lot of them are actually fruits, but they are the things that most people consider veggies like cucumbers and peppers), fruits, grains, proteins, fats and dressings. The containers help to make you understand portion control and getting a balanced diet. If it's on the list of foods you can eat and it fits into your containers, you get to eat it. If it doesn't fit, just put it off until the following day. There are plenty of treats that you get to eat as well.  Things like Peanutty Peanut Butter Squares and Almond Chocolate Protein Squares. 

Review of Graze.com Box 51

What it is and why I get them

Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service. They send you four perfectly portioned snacks on a set schedule. You can get them weekly or every other week. You can also request special arrangements. I have one box every week and one box every four weeks. There are four snacks in a box and five work days in a week. If you use a referral code, you get your first and fifth boxes free. My code is JAIMIE49P.

The Packaging

The snacks are in rigid plastic containers with peel away plastic lids. They are packaged up in a paperboard box. 

Tropical Daiquiri

This has green mango, lime raisins and pineapple. I love the mango. I just wish there was more of it in the snack! The pineapple is super yummy too. 

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

This had white chocolate, raspberry cranberries and hazelnuts. I love the white chocolate and the cranberries. I'm not a fan of hazelnuts. I've marked these trash just because of the hazelnuts. 

Popping Corn

This is microwave popcorn. It's super awesome. Make sure you follow the instructions and don't burn it! 

Billionaire's Shorbread

I didn't think I was going to like this. It has Belgian milk chocolate, almonds, cranberries and fudge. It was an odd combination for me, but I really liked it! 

Nutrition Facts

Here are the nutrition facts! 

Graze.com Review of Box 49

What it is and why I get it

Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service. They send you awesome snacks once a week or every other week or whatever custom settings you set up. I have one for each week and one for every fourth week. I love these things! I'm almost to 50 boxes! If you use a referral code when you sign up, you'll get your first and fifth boxes free and I'll get $1.00 off my next box or I can donate it to their farming school. I've donated them all so far. So use my code and help the world! Woot Woot.

The Packaging

Each snack comes in a rigid plastic container with a peel away plastic film lid. They are packaged up in a paperboard box. The top image changes periodically. During July, the outside of the box had the American flag on it. I hope they do something fun for other holidays. 

Eleanor's Apple Crumble

This had apples, raisins and cinnamon honey almonds. When I started getting these, I wasn't fond of the dried apples, but now I really like them. I'm not sure if they are putting more sugar on them now or if they found better apples. This was pretty yummy. I like the honey almonds too! Raisins always rock too.  

Apple Cosmo

This had apples, lime raisins and cranberries. Again with the dried apples. I liked them in this, but in the past I didn't. The rest is great. What bad could you say about raisins and cranberries! 

Florentine

This had Belgian dark chocolate, cranberries and pumpkin seeds. I loved the chocolate. Don't really get this as a snack, but hubby thought it was a good combination. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin seeds in general. 

Summer Berry Flapjack

This was a rustic rolled oat flapjack with berry infused cranberries. SUPER YUMMY. Love Love Love the flapjacks. Did I mention that I love flapjacks! 

Nutritional Content

Here is the nutritional card that came with the box. 

Review of Graze Box 42

What is is and why I get them

Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service. You get four snacks in each box. They are fun and interesting snacks. They are usually quite yummy! 

The packaging

The snacks come in a rigid plastic container with a peel away plastic film lid. The snacks are packed in a paperboard box. The inside image changes. 

Apple & Cinnamon Flapjack

I love flapjacks. They are super yummy! I've marked these Love from the start. They're kind of like a granola bar, but they are way better than that.

Eleanor's Apple Crumble

This has apples, raisins and cinnamon honey almonds. I wasn't a huge fan of this in the beginning, but I marked it like and have kept it like ever since. I do like the almonds and the apples are getting sweeter. I'm afraid to look to see if they have sugar added to them. 

Deconstructed Carrot Cake

This has carrot chews, cinnamon raisins, ginger fudge and walnuts. I'm not really sure why it has walnuts, but that's okay. I don't have to understand everything. I shouldn't eat this because of the fudge. I kinda liked it. This was my first time with this snack. I marked it Trash, but can't really remember why. It could have been in one of my moods where I don't want to eat food with more than a few ingredients and the chews and fudge have several. 

Born in the USA

This has pecans, cranberries and almonds. I've kept this Like because I know it's good for me and I really wanted to like it, but I had to trash it. The nut to cranberry ratio isn't working for me and neither of these nuts are on my top 3 list of favorite nuts, so it just needs to go for now. 

Nutritional Content

Here is the nutritional card for the snacks. Just as I suspected, the deconstructed carrot cake list is twice as long as the others which is probably why I Trashed it. 

Review of Graze.com Box 41

What it is and why I get it

Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service. They send you four yummy snacks each week and you give them $6.49. You can get your first and fifth boxes free if you use a referral code. Mine is JAIMIE49P. The snacks are awesome, so sign up for a free box!

The Packaging

The snacks are in a rigid plastic container with peel away plastic film lids. They are all bundled up into a paperboard container. The top image changes periodically.

Fruit and Seed Flapjack

This is a rustic rolled oat flapjack with mixed seeds and fruits. I love flapjacks! They are super yummy. They make my day better. The world would be a better place with more flapjacks in it. This is my favorite flavor too! 

Strawberry Shortcake

This had sponge drops, strawberry drops, pistachios and yogurt strawberries. I have to say that this was delicious. The strawberry drops even looked like little strawberries. I'm not really sure why it had pistachios in it, but whatever. Okay, so this has an ingredient called Shellac in it. I'm trying to read the ingredients in all of my food and not eat anything that I don't recognize. So I looked up Shellac to find out what it was. It's the excretion from some kind of bug. Okay so people eat bugs in some countries, but I'm not really into eating bug secretion. It might be perfectly healthy for me, but I marked this trash. I didn't actually look it up until after I ate it. I wish I had checked first!

Triple Berry Smoothie

 This has mini strawberries, blueberries, cranberries and bananas. I'm getting used to the bananas, but still not a huge fan. I love the rest especially the mini strawberries. Super yummy little things. I've got this marked Like and will keep it that way.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

This has chocolate fudge, dates and pecans. I've had this marked Like, but the pecans are getting annoying. I'm just not a fan of pecans apparently. I'm going to mark it Trash now. I shouldn't be eating the fudge pieces anyway. 

Nutritional Facts

Here are the nutritional facts. I like that they added the ingredients to it. However, now it really shows me all of the ingredients so then I have to read them and find out that some of the yummy things are not things I want to eat.

Graze.com Review of Box 40!

What I get and Why

I made it to Box 40! It didn't dawn on me that it was Box 40 when I opened it. The only thing I was focused on was the fact that it had three flapjacks in it. Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service. You give them $6.49 for each box and they send you four awesome snacks! I love these things. They are my morning pick me up! If you use a referral code, you get your first and fifth boxes free. My code is JAIMIE49P. I get a buck off a box or I can donate it to the farming school. I've donated them all. The company is coming up with a big box where you can get five multi serving pouches, but these boxes have portion controlled snacks which make them awesome for someone with control issues.

The Packaging

The snacks are in a rigid plastic container with a peel away plastic film lid. They are put into a paperboard box. It's held together with plastic straps. The inside image changes.

Apple Cosmo

This has apples, lime raisins and cranberries. The first few dried apple snacks that I had from graze.com were not very good. They weren't sweet and they were just blah. These apples were YUMMY! I really liked this snack. I think I've had it before, but I can't remember. I have it marked as Like. I'll keep it there. 

Honeycomb Flapjack

This is a rustic rolled oat flapjack with honeycomb and chocolate drizzle. The chocolate drizzle made a mess, but the flapjack was yummy. I still like the Summer Berry and the Fruit and Seed better, but I have this marked Love and will keep it there. 

Chocolate Orange Flapjack

This is a rustic oat flapjack with orange and chocolate. Again, the chocolate made a mess, but it was a yummy snack. I like the hint of orange. I think I would actually like it better without the chocolate which is something I thought I would never say since I'm a chocoholic. Well, not as much lately though. Chocolate makes me mouth feel dirty now and then I feel the need to brush my teeth. 

Summer Berry Flapjack

This is a rustic rolled oat flapjack with berry-infused cranberries. This and the fruit and seed are typically my favorite flavors, but this one didn't do much for me today. I was pretty bummed about that. It was a bit on the dry side and didn't have that super yummy flavor that it usually has. I still have it as Love though. These are one of the higher calorie snacks so I should ditch them, but it's got whole oats so it's for for me right?

Nutritional Facts

Here is the nutrition card. 

Graze.com Review of Box 39

What it is and why I get it

Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service that is uber awesome! You give them $6.49 and they send you four healthy snacks. They are portion controlled so you don't have to worry about scooping out one serving and getting a dish dirty or going back for extra! They are going to have a Big Box sometime in the future. The Big Box is more like NatureBox where you get large bags that you have to portion out yourself. You save money, but you only give five different things in a month instead of oodles of different things in the small box and you are messing with fire if you're trying to control your portions. Some of these snacks are so yummy that I would just keep the bag on my lap and munch on them all day long! If you want to sign up for graze.com, you can use my referral code. JAIMIE49P. You'll get your first and fifth boxes free and I get a dollar that I can use towards a box or I can donate to their farming school. I've donated them all to the farming school so far. 

The Packaging

The snacks are in rigid plastic with a plastic film peel away lid. The plastic containers are then placed in a paperboard box. The top image on the box changes around a bit. It's been several weeks since I've seen a new one so I think I've seen them all. 

Lightly Salted Popping Corn

This stuff is super yummy. It's pretty much the best microwave popcorn ever. You have to be super careful though. It's a really small bag for microwave popcorn since it's just one serving. It's a big serving for one person, but it's still as mall box compared to normal microwave popcorn. You can burn it super fast and it's too good to be burned! 

Tropical Daiquiri

It has green mango, lime raisins and pineapple. Graze.com is how I discovered my love of green mango. I'm also developing a love of pineapple. So far just dried pineapple. I'm not a fan of the texture, but give me time. I might start eating the fresh stuff. I've gotten this before and marked it Love back then. I'm keeping it Love. the mango is to die for. Although, I didn't know in the beginning that they put added sugar on the mango. I wish they didn't do that. 

Hot Cross Yum

It has orange raisins, sponge pieces & cinnamon honey almonds. I have this as Like, but it really needs to get Trashed soon. I'm trying to avoid processed foods and those little cookies are processed. It's a super yummy snack though. I love all the yumminess on the almonds. 

Brownie Flapjack

This is a rustic rolled oat flapjack with brownie pieces. I wasn't a fan of this the first time and I thought I marked it Trash, but then it showed up so I discovered that I didn't mark it Trash. I have since marked it Trash. There are much yummier flapjacks out there. I'm not fond of the brownie pieces in this one. It also doesn't have that really super yummy buttery flavor of some of the other flapjacks. I really wanted to brush my teeth when I was done with this one. 

Nutrition Facts

 Here are the Nutrition Facts. The ingredients list on here is relatively new. It's also making me realize that some of the snacks have extra sugar in them. I thought most of the dried fruit was just that, but several of them have sugar. I adore my snacks from this service, but I'm slowly weeding out the processed foods and I'll be moving on to getting rid of the added sugar at some point. I don't want to give up my Tropical Daiquiri though!

Review of Graze.com 38

What it is and why I get it

Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service. You give them your credit card number and they send you healthy fun snacks. I'm set up get one box each week and an additional box every four weeks. They will work with you to customize something that works for you. It's $6.49 per box. You get four snacks and they are portion controlled! They are working on a big box where you get five bags with multiple servings, but I like this portion controlled thing. I don't have to worry about cleaning containers or buying zipper bags to control myself. If you ever eat Key Lime Pie you'll understand when I talk about the importance of portion control with these things. I could eat the mini meringues from Key Lime Pie all day long! 

Get your 1st and 5th boxes free!

If you use a referral code, you get your first and fifth boxes free. If you just sign up, you only get one free box! JAIMIE49P is my referral code. You get free boxes and I get $1.00 off a future box or I can donate it to their farming school. I've donated my earnings so far. 

The Packaging

The snacks are in rigid plastic containers with a plastic peel away film lid. They are then placed in a paperboard box. The top image changes periodically. 

Key Lime Pie

It has lime raisins, mini meringues, sponge pieces and green raisins. Okay this one is super yummy, but I should take it off my list because of the whole processed food thing, but I'm keeping it because it's yummy and I can't give up all of my yummies! Not yet I'm just not doing it! I've had this in Box 33, Box 26, Box 19, Box 11, and Box 6. I have it marked Love. In the beginning, I wasn't gaga over the meringue pieces, but then I learned to suck on them. Then I fell in love!   

Scrumptious Blueberry Swirl

It's got blueberry yogurt raisins, raspberry cranberries and black currants. This fits perfectly in with My Mission to Accept Yogurt into My Life! After eating it, I even looked up how to make stuff like this at home. It seems complicated, but I'm going to do it at some point in the near future. Maybe even this weekend! I think this was a new snack for me. I'm not sure if I'm in love with it yet, but I definitely liked it. I'm going to mark it Like. 

Morning Energizer

This has cherry, pear and walnut. I'm not in love with this because of the walnuts, but I love the cherries. The pears are okay. It didn't really energize me this morning, but it was still a good snack. I got this in Box 30 and Box 23. I have it marked as Like, and I'll leave it there even though I'm not gaga over it. It's got healthy stuff in it and I do really like the cherries.   

Apple & Cinnamon Flapjack

It's a rustic rolled oat flapjack with apples and cinnamon. It's pretty yummy. I'm always happy when I get a flapjack. (We are forgetting about the brownie flapjack. It doesn't exist for me). I had this in Box 32, Box 28, Box 22 and Box 11. I marked it Love and it's staying as Love!    

Nutritional Information

Here is the Nutritional Information. According to my rule about the quantity of ingredients, I should ditch the Scrumptious Blueberry Swirl, but I'm not! Since I'm not ditching that, I don't have to ditch the Key Lime Pie either because it has less ingredients! Woot Woot! I love being able to get my way. 

Review of Graze.com box 37!

What it is and why I get it

Graze.com is a mail order snack subscription service. The snacks are mailed out weekly or every other week or whatever personalized system you set up with them. I have one come every week and every fourth week, I get an extra box. There are four snacks in a box and five work days in a week. I need the fourth box so I can have a snack each work day. If you use my referral code, you can get your first and fifth boxes free. If you don't use a code, you just get one free box. My code is JAIMIE49P. I get $1.00 off my next box, or I can donate it to their farming school. I've donated all of my referral money so far. The company is relatively new, but they are continuing to grow and come up with new snacks and new options. When I started, I could only get one box, but then they added the option to get more boxes. They've added more snacks. They are working on doing a big box which would give you multiple servings per bag. It makes them less expensive, but I love the portion control and the variety of the little packs. 

The Packaging

The snacks come in rigid plastic containers with a peel away plastic film lid. They are wrapped up in a paperboard box. The top image changes. I've lost track of them all, but this one might be a new one. 

Lightly Salted Popping Corn

This is lightly salted popping corn. You have got to stand there and listen only to the sound of the popping corn! If you burn it, you'll be sorry! The boys at work know that once it starts slowing down, they better shut up or there will be hell to pay. They don't want to smell burned popcorn anymore than I want to eat burned popcorn. It's super yummy stuff too. I would take this over movie theater popcorn! It took forever to get this, but now I get it fairly often. It always makes me happy to see in in the box! It messes up my snack schedule though since I usually have my graze.com snack at 8am, but I don't have access to a microwave until 9:30AM. I got this in Box 34, Box 31, Box 25, Box 22 and Box 18. I marked it Love before I ever got it and I've left it Love ever since.    

Fruit & Seed Flapjack

This is a rustic rolled oat flapjack with mixed seeds and dried fruits. It's super yummy. I've Loved this from the start. This and the Summer Berry Flapjacks are my favorite. I am always thrilled when I get a flapjack and sad when I don't have one. I've talked about Trashing everything except flapjacks to see what happens. I've been told by the graze.com people that it's a bad idea because they wouldn't have enough flapjacks for everyone. I don't think me getting three extra flapjacks in one little box would hurt the world, but I'm too lazy to do all of the trashing and untrashing! I had this back in Box 33, Box 25, Box 20, Box 13, Box 8, and Box 2.    

The Big Cheese

This has cheese cashews, cheese croutons and salsa corn sticks. I really liked this snack, but it's getting trashed. I'm trying to get rid of processed foods and the cheese croutons and salsa corn sticks are processed. The long list of ingredients on the new Nutritional Facts card has chased me off. I was okay living in ignorant bliss until it was put in front of me where I couldn't avoid it. It was similar to me being okay with getting peanut butter filled pretzels at Trader Joe's because Trader Joe's wouldn't sell anything unhealthy. I don't think this product is unhealthy, but I've said I want to get rid of processed foods, so I need to make steps towards that. Trashing this is a step. I do Love this snack though. I thought I had gotten this more than just once, but apparently it was only in Box 18. 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

 This has chocolate fudge, dates and pecans. I'm not a huge fan of this snack and I haven't been from the start, but I've kept it coming. It's going away now. I'm not a huge fan of dates and I'm not a huge fan of pecans. I like the fudge pieces, but again with the processed food and the larger number of ingredients. I got this in Box 33, Box 28, Box 22 and Box 17.     

Nutrition Facts

Here is the nutrition fact sheet. The Big Cheese is the third one from the left. See how long that list is? I'm not saying it's unhealthy. It's just not in my plan right now. I will miss those cashews though.