For my backpacking trip to Yosemite, Oregon based Skout Natural Foods sent me a few of their trailbars to munch on during our hike. Made from just a handful of simple, tasty ingredients, the fruit based trailbars made a nice light snack alternative to the usual dense energy bars.
I appreciate that Skout Trailbars contain only a few organic, natural ingredients that I can actually identify and pronounce. For example, the chocolate peanut butter trailbar, pictured above, contains nothing more than dates, oats, peanuts, dark chocolate, and sea salt. There is no added sugar and you get your daily dose of fruit and fiber on the trail to help keep you healthy and regular.
The Skout Trailbar ingredients are very similar to those in the Cif C bars, but the texture is more chewy with chunks of nuts throughout. With a date and oat base, the taste is more like a fruit bar than a chewy granola bar or regular Clif bar. You experience none of the "synthetic" aftertaste that protein bars often leave.
I found the Skout Trailbars super easy to digest, with none of the gut ache you sometimes get from heavier energy bars or protein bars. They are also easy to eat on the go (unlike crunchy granola bars!), great for cycling or hiking without having to stop to fuel up.
Since I am a chocolate fanatic, the chocolate peanut butter and chocolate coconut were my favorite flavors. The Skout trailbars are around 160-200 calories each, so enough to fuel you on the trail until the next rest stop or break for lunch.
Bottom Line: The Skout Trailbars offer a refreshing alternative to the usual dense energy bars or protein bars. You can be happy knowing that you are eating only a handful of whole, natural, organic ingredients. If you are not a date fan, you might want to try one and see what you think before buying a whole box, as dates are the main base ingredient and predominant part of the flavor profile.
The Skout Trailbars come in 5 flavors and retail for $2.49 each or a box of 12 for $26.99. Not exactly cheap compared to a box of 12 Clif C bars at $15, even if each Skout trailbar is 10g bigger.