Kate’s Real Food Review: Is It Worth the Price?

Finding food you can pack easily and satisfy your hunger can be difficult. I usually take multiple snacks with me when I go on a hike or do a laborious activity. However, I have recently stumbled upon Kate’s Real Food, a super unique energy bar that is supposed to be all you need. We’ll find out if that’s true in this Kate’s Real Food review.

Is Kate’s Real Food Worth It Up Front

Typically, I’m not particularly eager to spend $30 on a twelve-pack of energy bars, but Kate’s Real Food may have changed my mind. They have somehow balanced nutrition, great taste, and all-natural ingredients perfectly. I’ve never seen another energy bar achieve this like Kate’s Real Food.

On top of that, these tiny bars actually make me feel full, whether I’m eating them as a snack in the middle of an active day or eating one as breakfast when I’m in a rush. They’re tiny enough to throw into a purse or hiking backpack, making them super convenient.

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What Makes Kate’s Real Food Different

With so many granola bars on the market now, it makes you wonder what Kate’s Real Food could possibly offer that other bars that have been on the market forever don’t. Kate’s Real Food may look the same on the outside but is very different on the inside.

A Lot of Thought Went Into Sourcing Ingredients

The founder, Kate, grew up on a farm and learned through experience how important what you eat is to your overall health and its effects on the environment. She took that knowledge and turned real, nutritional food into an energy bar that is easy to take anywhere.

All Kate’s Real Food ingredients are USDA organic, non-GMO verified, gluten-free, kosher, and ethically sourced. You know you are getting nutrition from the Earth as it naturally is when eating Kate’s Real Food bars.

The Bars are Calorie Dense

These bars are about the size of my palm but pack a whopping 240-280 calories, making them perfect for people who live an active lifestyle and don’t want to slow down to eat a snack. The calories are also spread evenly over all the necessities, namely healthy fats, carbohydrates, and protein.

These bars aren’t for those looking to feel full from protein and low calories. They’re for people who need the energy to continue an exhausting day, i.e., hikers, mountain bikers, marathon runners, or people who work labor-intensive jobs.

The Ingredient List is Short

I love a short ingredient list because it usually means they aren’t putting bad stuff in your food, like preservatives, artificial flavors, and food dye. You can also easily read and understand each ingredient listed on the label.

All of the bars have oats, brown rice crisps, and honey in the recipe. These three ingredients give the bars their texture and sweetness. The rest of the ingredients can nearly be guessed based on the flavor. For example, the oatmeal cranberry and almond bar include dried cranberries, almonds, vanilla, and cinnamon.

The Price

While the price of Kate’s Real Food stands out from its competitors, it stands out because it costs a lot more. A twelve-pack of Kate’s Real Food costs about $30. I’ve personally never spent more than $20 on similar bars, such as Clif Bar and RX Bar.

Other energy bars, like Pro Bar and BoBo’s Oat Bars, boast similar prices. However, I have never been able to bring myself to spend that much on granola bars regularly. We’ll see if Kate can change my mind.

Luckily, Kate’s Real Food has a subscription service on their website that can save you 20% on each box, bringing the price to $25. That is one of the best discounts for a subscription service like this. You can choose how often you want a twelve-pack sent to you and change flavors whenever.

Trying Out Kate’s Real Food

Kate’s Real Food was nice enough to send me a variety pack of every available flavor. There are seven flavors, including Dark Chocolate Cherry and Almond, Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate, and Lemon Coconut, to name a few. So, let’s dive on in.

Opening Up My Variety Pack

The box my bars came in is super convenient, opening up to present every bar. Typically, granola bar boxes are these tiny things that you have to dig your hand into and reach around for the flavor you want. You can easily see and grab whichever bar flavor you want from this box.

The lid is also built to store your box in multiple ways. You can leave the lid on to reclose or rip it off, leaving the box open to grab a bar quickly. You can also fold the lid in a way that presents the logo and has a cute mountain design on top if you want to be fancy.

A Nutritional Break Down

I love how evenly Kate’s Real Food spreads these bars’ nutritional value. You get nearly the same percentage of your daily need in fats, carbohydrates, and protein with each bar. For instance, the peanut butter, hemp, and flax bar has 16% of your daily value in fat, 14% in carbs, and 16% in proteins.

Not only is it visually satisfying, but it also means you are getting a well-rounded snack. Most bars emphasize protein but give you less energy because carbohydrates are your body’s primary energy supplier. Everything your body needs to run efficiently is put into these bars rather than focusing on one nutrient.

I also like that Kate uses honey instead of cane sugar or syrup as a sweetener. Different types of sweeteners digest differently in our bodies. Honey tends to be one of the better sweeteners because your body can more easily convert it into energy.

The Taste of Each Flavor

The flavors are all the perfect amount of sweetness and vary in flavor enough to notice a difference, but it’s not overwhelming. I prefer this because I’ve never been one to like super-rich flavors. However, my boyfriend likes rich flavors and still enjoys the peanut butter dark chocolate flavor.

Each flavor has a chewy texture that doesn’t crumble as soon as you bite into it. A few are slightly more crunchy or chewy, but they all have the same base texture. 

I go more in-depth into each flavor below:

• Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate: This one has raisins in it too! I’m assuming to add sweetness and maintain a chewy texture. The peanut butter flavor is more prominent than the dark chocolate, but still a good mixture.
• Dark Chocolate, Cherry, and Almond: The cherry and chocolate flavors are not super strong, and the texture is a mixture of chewy and crunchy.
• Oatmeal, Cranberry, and Almond: This is my favorite flavor. It tastes like an oatmeal cookie, except with cranberries instead of raisins, which makes it even more flavorful.
• Lemon Coconut: It smells really citrusy when opening the package, but I could hardly taste the lemon. The coconut overpowered the taste, which is not my favorite flavor. I liked the chewy consistency.
• White Chocolate Macadamia: This one is for you if you like nutty flavors. You can’t taste much white chocolate, but it is still sweet enough to enjoy.
• Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate: Very similar to the peanut butter dark chocolate flavor, except a tad sweeter. The raisins add more chewiness, and the peanut butter is a bit more noticeable than the chocolate, but it is a good balance.
• Peanut Butter, Hemp, and Flax: Surprisingly, this became my second favorite flavor. It tastes like a PB&J to me, but it doesn’t have any raisins or cranberries, so I’m unsure where the sweet, tangy flavor comes from. Also, this one is slightly more crunchy due to the flax.

Did One Bar Make Me Feel Full?

I ate one full bar for breakfast a few days in a row, and the one bar made me feel surprisingly full. I’ve always been a small breakfast eater. My typical breakfast is a couple of eggs and a piece of toast. One bar may not be enough for everyone, but it could be a great addition to a meal to round out your nutrition.

I ate the Oatmeal Cranberry and Almond bar and took a bite out of the White Chocolate Macadamia bar one day while working on building a cabin on some property I recently purchased. It satisfied my hunger to continue the rest of the day’s work. 

Pros

• Each flavor has a short ingredient list that is easy to understand.
• The bars are nutritionally well-rounded and high in calories, making them great energy bars.
• Ingredients are USDA organic, non-GMO, ethically sourced, soy-free, gluten-free, and Kosher.
• You can save 20% on each order when you subscribe to have a twelve-pack sent at intervals of your choice.
• They make a great grab-and-go breakfast if you’re used to eating small breakfasts.
• Some other brands’ bars are too rich for me, but Kate’s flavors are not overpowering and have the right amount of sweetness.
• I like the chewy consistency, and most bars have a crunch too.

Cons

• They are expensive

Other Bars Like Kate’s Real Food

Clif Bar 

I feel like Kate’s Real Food took Clif Bar and made a natural and organic version. Clif Bars are some of the most similar bars to Kate’s real food in terms of nutritional value and calories. They are slightly cheaper at about $18 for a twelve-pack. However, the ingredients aren’t as good for you as Kate’s, using soy and the ambiguous “natural flavor” in every recipe.

Kind Bar

Kind Bar is one of the most affordable and accessible brands I enjoy. You can find them in nearly any grocery store, and they have many flavors. I like them because they aren’t overpowering in flavor like some other bars can be. My favorite is their Healthy Grains bar, but they also have nut bars with no added sugar, protein bars, and energy bars.

Larabar

I used to live on Larabars when I was vegan for a short period. They’re date-based instead of oat-based (as many other bars are) and taste like dessert. They’re super affordable at $13 for a twelve-count box and only use three to six ingredients in each flavor. If you know anything about me, you know I love a short ingredient list because it means they don’t use many additives that are typically bad for you.

Kate’s Real Food FAQ’s

The Verdict On Kate’s Real Food

Kate’s Real Food is fantastic if you don’t mind spending more on your food. I have yet to find another bar that tastes quite as good and has all the nutrition you need to kickstart your energy. The few energy bars I have found that are close have many artificial ingredients in them.

I typically choose cheaper alternatives, but that means I must sacrifice taste or natural ingredients that I can understand. However, they really are pretty good in price if you eat them as a meal replacement, with each bar costing about $2.50. I will most likely be ordering Kate’s Real Food again when I feel like splurging or feel too lazy to make breakfast.

Looking for more delicious energy bar alternatives? Continue reading our reviews below:

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