Sugar Savvy

I’m sure you’re aware of the “100 Calorie” trend that has been saturating grocery store shelves throughout the past year. All of your favorites come in 100 calories portions these days. Hostess Cupcakes, Doritos, even 3 Musketeers. So it’s no surprise that the little smiling girl in the cowboy hat has finally skipped around to giving the world “100 Calorie Nutty Bar Singles.”

Before going into taste, I must point out that when compared to their higher calorie cousin these would only be slightly nutritionally better based on serving size as a result of packaging. The original comes two to a pack, is 310 calories, 18g of fat, and 32g of carbs. This slimmer version comes one to a pack, is 100 calories, 6g of fat, and 11g of carbs. Reading those numbers you automatically assume that this “100 Calorie” version is a much healthier choice but if you simply ate a “single” bar of the original you’d be consuming 155 calories, 9g of fat, and 16g of carbs. For me, a 55 calorie difference is not that dramatic, especially if that 55 calories compromises taste.

I was hoping that I’d eat these and think, “wow, I can’t even tell the difference!” But after the first bite I knew there was something off. They lacked the same crunch of their predecessor probably due to these only being double layered and not triple. They even seemed to lack in flavor. All I could taste was peanut butter. Had I not been able to see the chocolate I wouldn’t have even known it was there. These were not “enrobed in chocolate” as Little Debbie claimed. This version felt like a whisper of their parent product. To feel satisfied I had to eat three, which completely defeated the purpose of buying this product.

If you lack self control or love to have nice round numbers, then this is the product for you, but if you were a big fan of the original and can handle 55 more calories then just eat one bar of the version you love and be content with your choice.