If you have somehow managed to maintain your New Year’s healthy eating or weight loss resolutions until March – kudos to you! And an even bigger kudos because you have managed to maintain your goals while visiting this website daily – I guess exposure therapy works?
This is the time that most people’s resolutions slowly disappear as the temptations of Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, and life gets to us all. So why am I even talking about New Year’s resolutions now? Because as I was sampling these Outshine Simply Indulgent Bars and reading the nutrition label, I thought, “Hey, these are relatively healthy and taste pretty decent too!” Of course, healthy is definitely relative. Outshine markets their products as “feel-good” and “wholesome,” but these are different topics for another time.
Let’s focus on the indulgent part of these bars instead. For me, indulgent would be a triple-layer cake with lots of frosting and extra goodies on top and shoved inside. However, this version of indulgent probably conflicts with the simple part of these bars. So while I would not say that these bars are indulgent, they were tasty.
I opened the box, and like other Outshine products, the bars were all orderly placed inside. When taken out, they do not look very exciting and look like all other frozen bars. Similar to their appearance, there was no alluring smell to stimulate my senses either. However, upon the first bite, I immediately could tell that these indeed contained milk – they were actually creamy in flavor!
I started with the mango bar, which also appeared to be softening first. It had a very light mango taste, and I would have appreciated a stronger flavor presence. I decided to move on to the strawberry bar. Again, a light fruit taste. But this one also had some strawberry bits, which I appreciated because of the texture contrast and small flavor bursts. It reminded me of eating a Yoplait yogurt, except in frozen dairy bar form.
Next, I was eager to move to the non-fruit flavors: chocolate and coffee. These are the first two non-fruit flavored products from Outshine, although they have dabbled with chocolate before with its Half Dipped Bars. The chocolate bar reminded me of chocolate milk, where there’s a satisfying chocolate presence, but you aren’t eating a chunk of fudge.
Lastly, there’s the coffee one. I was most excited about this bar because it contains 20 milligrams of caffeine. The coffee taste was definitely present, but still light like the others. This could work well for an afternoon treat with a little buzz.
If you really want to enjoy these bars like you would with ice cream, I recommend you wait until they start to soften or just bite in and let them slowly melt in your mouth. I prefer the texture profile of the first option, though.
In summary, if you are still sticking to your New Year’s health-kick but want a hint of an ice cream treat, these will suffice. To be clear, these are not a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream substitute, but an alternative if you have a small craving to satisfy. They also have five grams of protein per bar. The flavor profiles are not strong or indulgent, but present (with the mango and coffee having a slightly lighter presence for me). But the milky creaminess help deliver a general contentment.
DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples. Doing so did not influence my review.
Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 14.7 oz (1 box of 6 bars)
Purchased at: Received from Nestlé
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Mango), 7 out of 10 (Strawberry), 7 out of 10 (Chocolate), 6 out of 10 (Coffee)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) Mango – 100 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 25 milligrams of sodium, 14 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 13 grams of sugar, 10 grams of added sugars, and 5 grams of protein. Strawberry – 100 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 25 milligrams of sodium, 14 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 13 grams of sugar, 10 grams of added sugars, and 5 grams of protein. Chocolate – 90 calories, 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 30 milligrams of sodium, 12 grams of total carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 11 grams of sugar, 8 grams of added sugars, and 5 grams of protein. Coffee – 80 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 30 milligrams of sodium, 10 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 10 grams of sugar, 7 grams of added sugars, and 5 grams of protein.
The coffee one has my name written all over it. I have a feeling that it would take me back to the days when I used to get those Starbucks Frappuccino bars.
The Outshine coffee and chocolate bars are my new go-to light dessert. They truly are creamy and tasty. Big surprise there because the low-cal WW fudge bars that I had been eating were icy and airy, certainly not satisfyingly creamy like the Outshine. (My son is now hooked on them, too.) I agree with the author that these should be savored – eaten slowly – to enjoy the creaminess. Worth mentioning: Our King Soopers runs out of the coffee and chocolate immediately, so I stock up when I can.