Read The Ingredients Loaf – A Healthy Portable Option For Your On The Go Nutrition Needs

Nowadays, it seems like everywhere you turn, there is a new meal replacement bar out on the market. However, quality trumps quantity for me, so it was exciting to receive the opportunity to sample this new whole food ingredient meal loaf…much more than a bar!

Does anyone read the ingredients anymore? I know I do. Currently people are more conscious than ever about what they are putting into their bodies. More of us want to stay healthy, even when we are on the go. There can never be enough good portable options, and I am always willing to give a new product a try. Enter Read The Ingredients Loaves and Big Bites, the latest meal replacement product waiting to dominate your breakfast time.

What makes this particular meal replacement different than others?

While there are a myriad of dairy and gluten free bars out there, Read The Ingredients baked goods have a very low calorie to sugar ratio. The average bar (or loaf, as they call them) runs anywhere from 200 calories for the smaller snack bites, up to 480 calories for certain meal replacement loaves.

With the exception of one loaf with chocolate chips, the sugar is coming from fruit, making this product a win for anyone who wants to start their day out feeling energized without a sugar crash.

Read The Ingredients is also gluten and dairy free, making it a win for those who are on a more restrictive diet due to intolerances or allergies.

I was gifted the package below, so I wanted to try each one and give my honest thoughts on their aesthetics and taste.

The first loaf I tried was the apple cinnamon. The top five ingredients are apples, almond butter, bananas, quinoa and rolled oats. You can also see pistachios and pumpkin seeds. I love the visibility of the ingredients in each one.

The banana nut loaf has similar ingredients to the apple cinnamon loaf, minus the apple. This loaf contains only 5 grams of sugar. It is hearty, but I didn’t get any of that sweetness a banana typically has in the flavor.

The carrot raisin is by far my favorite loaf of the pack. That is probably because it has the most sugar of the bars at 14 grams, stemming from the abundance of carrots and raisins this loaf contains. Just look at the photo! It reminds me of a healthier carrot cake.

The last of the loaves is the chocolate chip. Chocolate chips are the fifth ingredient on the label, so there aren’t as many as you might hope. This loaf is not very sweet either. I suppose I am used to chocolate equaling a sweeter product, but that was not the case here. However, there were plenty of pistachios and pumpkin seeds.

The last product is a double chocolate chip big bite. At around 200 calories each, the big bite is the snack version of the meal replacement loaf. The first five ingredients for these are almond butter, sweet potato, bananas, chocolate chips and pecans. These contain only three grams of sugar, so if you are expecting something sweet, you won’t get much of it here. But you will be satisfied and energized.

Pros and Cons

I love the use of high quality ingredients. I can read and understand what each ingredient is on the nutrition label. They are also very high in fiber, something much of the Western diet is lacking!

These loaves have no preservatives and need to be frozen. Y0u can thaw one out for a few minutes or warm it up in your microwave. This is a good or bad thing depending on how quickly you need to eat and run.

While the calories are high in the loaves, they are meant to be a meal replacement. 380-480 calories would be a normal breakfast. You can always cut one in half and eat the rest the next day if you don’t want that much for breakfast.

The taste of these loaves is very natural. I personally found some of them bland, and would prefer a little more sweetness. I see nothing wrong with heating up a bar and drizzling a little honey or maple syrup over the top.

For a protein source, each bar has plant based pea protein in it. While the 15-17 grams in each loaf is enough for some as a meal replacement, it may not be enough for others, depending on activity levels. That is something a person can assess on their own.

Overall, I would say this is a high quality meal replacement or snack that is ideal to stash in your freezer for those busier days.