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Comment by gen220 | Hacker News Reader

FWIW, if you're curious about the insights from somebody who's crusty enough to make their own protein bars :)

If you care about avoiding "processed foods" in other domains and are consuming shrink-wrapped bars with a shelf life of 2+ months: here be dragons!

I store ours in a glass container the refrigerator, where they're individually wrapped in butcher paper. I'd consider them good outside of the fridge (in the paper) for 32 hours, inside the fridge for a week or two. Making a batch takes about 10 minutes + overnight refrigeration, and the recipe is trivial to scale-up/down in size.

They're certainly not as convenient or robust as shrink-wrapped lara bars, but we're not frequently in situations where the diff disappoints, ymmv.

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I find most "protein" bars, processed or unprocessed, are relatively low in protein and function more like energy bars, meal replacement bars, or even weight gainers.

I expect the ones made without processed ingredients like protein powders to be especially in that category. Not that there's anything necessarily bad about that, but it does bug me when folk label products as "high" in protein when all the protein comes from nuts, legumes, etc.

Some granola bars would probably be better considered candy bars dressed up to trick you into thinking they are healthy.

Here is your 6-monthly reminder to read the No S Diet[0] and learn its lessons on why health snacks exist.

[0] http://nosdiet.com

As I understand it, there's disagreement on how efficiently the body absorbs/digests the protein latent in protein powder. Especially when it's in a "dry" form most commonly found in protein bars.

I totally agree re the disappointing macro-nutritional composition of most protein bars. Especially disappointing (to me) is the sugar content and its source (typically rice syrup or corn syrup).

After computing the macros for homemade bars, it's hard to feel like you're getting much bang for the buck with those bars -- it feels like you're better off eating some dried and mixed nuts.

You gonna let us in on the recipe?

Posted in a cousin comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33774259

Recipe, please? These sound easy to make, easy to store, and healthy. That’s the trifecta! If they are delicious too, billions!

You can make them with or without protein powder.

But the main ingredients are creamy natural peanut butter, one of either local honey or local maple syrup, and "old-fashioned" rolled oats.

Stir until combined 200g PB, 135g honey/maple syrup, 5g vanilla extract, 3g sea salt.

To this mixture, add 100g rolled oats, 80g whey, ~200g nuts and seeds (can be crushed or whole, although partially-crushed is a bit easier). I use pecans, pepitas, walnuts, almonds, cashews. Whatever is in the pantry.

Transfer + compress to an appropriate-sized casserole dish (above is good for 8x8) with a large spoon, I usually line it first with paper to make later transfer easier.

Cover + chill for at least 1 hour, then slice with a sharp instrument (I use a pizza slicer, but a chef's knife is great). These proportions yield 12-ish bars. But you can compute the macronutrients for yourself to decide how big a serving should be.

In short, it's pretty similar to granola. Only without baking and without oil. I've found the flavor to vary widely depending on the honey/pb/whey used.

Sometimes, they taste like peanut butter cups. :)

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