I am a true believer in the notion that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I am hungry the second I wake up (my mom has always found this hilarious), and I’m the biggest fan of breakfast foods at all mealtimes– hellooo brunch and brinner.
Giving up dairy and eggs has been quite the wrench in my breakfast game, and recently my doctor mentioned that breakfast is often the most challenging meal of the day for people with similar food sensitivities to mine.
Let’s be real. I’m not vegan. On the weekends, I add bacon to whatever weird eggless breakfast concoction I’ve come up with and everything is peachy. On weekdays, it’s an absolute miracle if I show up to work with matching shoes on, only ten minutes late, and I can’t even begin to imagine what bacon would do to that equation. Monday – Friday, breakfast is a race, not a marathon, and my go-to is a breakfast bar. Vegan is the easiest way for me to avoid dairy and eggs, and the ingredients in my beloved Crunchy Peanut Butter Clif bar changed, so I ventured to Whole Foods, the destination for creative vegan junk food.
Do you know what’s in your breakfast bar? Turns out, there’s not much nutritional value to any of them. Even if they’re not loaded with sugar, you’re still not getting much out of a breakfast bar. However, when push comes to shove, I maintain that something for breakfast is better than nothing, so I’ve got four different products from two different brands going head to head!
Bobo’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Stuff’d Oat Bites
What I love: They are tasty and filling in that delicious peanut butter way, and their muffin shape was a refreshing departure from my typical breakfast bar.
What I don’t love: At 9 grams of sugar and 50 milligrams of sodium, I’m just not so sure this does much for me as an everyday breakfast. An occasional treat, though…
Bobo’s Strawberry Jam Toast’r Pastry
What I love: Similarly tasty. My Pop-Tart loving heart found its gluten free soulmate.
What I don’t love: Move over, Stuff’d Oat Bites. This miniature (and frankly, wanna be) Pop-Tart has 22 grams of sugar and 200 milligrams of sodium! While it was tasty, it had nothing on an unfrosted strawberry Pop-Tart, which weighs in slightly better at 14 grams of sugar and 190 grams of sodium. No prizes based on those stats, but I’d still choose a Pop-Tart every time.
Made Good Chocolate Banana Granola Bars
What I love: I love the taste of bananas, but I’m not keen at all on the texture. This combines that great banana taste with somehow dairy-free chocolate and it’s truly the best of both worlds. Bonus, zero sodium and only 7 grams of sugar!
What I don’t love: I would say half of the bars in my box were rock solid. In addition to that, these bars are tiny, and for breakfast lovers like myself, a teensy bar doesn’t do much in the way of holding me over until lunch.
Made Good Granola Minis in Chocolate Chip and Mixed Berry
What I love: I can get a bag with 20 individual packages at Costco, which is 4 weeks of work day breakfasts! Both flavors are incredibly tasty, and eating multiple popcorn sized granola minis leaves me feeling full until lunch. These have just 6 grams of sugar and 10 milligrams of sodium, making them the most ‘healthy’ competitor in this post.
What I don’t love: Really, what’s not to love here?
Moral of the story: Made Good Granola Minis win by a landslide. I’ll definitely continue to pick up some Bobo’s bars for an occasional treat, but when it comes to fueling my hectic mornings, I’m going to stick to less sugar.
Also, after sitting down and looking at the nutrition facts on all of these, I’m going to commit to getting up a few minutes earlier so I can eat a balanced breakfast more often.
Do you have any awesome, quick vegan breakfasts? Please let me know!
xoxo all sugar, no spice
laughingatleighann.com 
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