M & S Fruit, Nuts & Seeds Cereal Bar

Today I have for you a review of the M & S Fruit, Nuts & Seeds cereal bars. They are part of the Guilt Free Snacking range that offers sweet and savoury snacks, each portion being under 150 calories. The bars comes in boxes of 5, each weighing 24g. The main cereal portion consists of rolled oats, toasted wheat flakes and crisped rice, all compressed into a soft, moist bar. Golden syrup, honey and plum add flavouring to the bar. Scattered throughout the bar are generous portions of dried fruit including plums, apples and golden sultanas. You'll also find pumpkin seeds and Brazil nuts in each bar. All these flavours combine to make a lovely sweet tasting bar, filled with fruit. Unfortunately you may not tell from the photos but the bar is very small, especially compared to most other cereal bars. You're lucky if you get any more than 3 bites out of this one. I've noticed that M & S foods are very detailed with their labelling, providing plenty of useful information regarding the ingredients, nutritional information and particular allergy information. The box shows M & S's eat well sunflower logo. This means 'Wherever you see the eat well sunflower, you know you've chosen a healthier option' - we shall see about that below.
Another flavour available is Apple & Cinnamon, also part of the guilt free snacking range.

Nutritional Information













Each bar is only 91 calories. Most of the sugars present will be from natural from the dried fruit. Fats are also very low only counting for 3.7% of your GDA. Since the bar is small you don't really get much fibre or protein. The bar contains a prebiotic - Fructose-Oligosaccharide - this helps to increase the numbers of good bacteria in the gut. The bar contains no artificial colours or flavourings.

Taste Rating	7/10
Nutritional Rating	7/10

Link: Eat Well: M & S Healthy Eating Range

Link: M & S Guilt Free Snacking

Quaker Oat So Simple Bar - Strawberry & Yoghurt

This is a review of the Strawberry & Yoghurt flavour Oat So Simple Morning Bar made by Quaker Oats. I'm reviewing the multipack version of the bar which comes in boxes of 5. Like most other Quaker products, its main ingredient is rolled oats, if you're not keen on oats stay away. In addition to the oats the bar is held together with glucose syrup similar in structure and taste to your typical flapjack, though probably not as sweet or greasy. This particular flavour contains small freeze dried strawberry pieces and yoghurt flavour throughout. You don't really notice the pieces when eating, probably because they're only 1% of the ingredients. Instead you just get a sweet strawberry yoghurt taste throughout the bar. Quaker give you 35g of cereal bar which is a decent amount and you can probably tell from the pictures. With its size and high fibre oats it should definitely get you through the morning and maybe even to a late lunch.
Oat So Simple morning bars are also available in the following flavours:
- Fruit Muesli
- Golden Syrup
- Honey & Almond
- Raspberry & Pomegranate

Nutritional Information















For a morning snack the bar is quite substantial, and calories are a little higher than most alternatives. What is beneficial are the bar's low levels of fats and sugars, only 5.6g of the 25g carbohydrates are sugars and fats at less than 5% of your GDA. Consisting mainly of wholegrain oats the bar manages to have a healthy 3g of fibre and should easily keep you full till lunch. Another great benefit is the bar's 3.2g of protein making up for 14% of your GDA.

Taste Rating	7/10
Nutritional Rating	8/10

Bar website: Quaker Morning Bars

Silent Hill - Not Tomorrow

This week's videogame theme is being played by Lara6683 on piano. It is the song Not Tomorrow from the game Silent Hill. Its also known as Lisa's theme.

Kellogg's Coco Pops Snack Bar

Today I have for you my final review of the Kellogg's snack range, the Coco Pops Snack Bar. It is a bar consisting of toasted rice, chocolate flavoured, upon a milky base layer. The flavour is very similar to the breakfast cereal. The bar is satisfyingly thick and crispy. The chocolate flavour is not overly sweet, but a good contrast to the much sweeter base (condensed milk). The bar is definitely my favourite out of the 3 Kellogg's snack bar range. You get about 4 or 5 bites from the bar.

Other snack bars available from Kellogg's include:
- Frosties Snack Bar
- Rice Krispies Snack Bar

Nutritional Information

Being quite a light bar at 20g, it manages to be a healthy 83 calories. Most of the bar is carbohydrates of which more than half are sugars. Fats are good at less than 5% GDA. Consisting of mainly rice, fibre per bar is very low, meaning there's less chance of the bar maintaining energy levels. The bar does however contain 6 added vitamins, calcium and iron. Not the best snack for children or adults, but better than those you'd find in the confectionery aisle.

Taste Rating	8/10
Nutritional Rating	7/10

Bar website: Coco Pops Snack Bar

Purchases February 2013

Here are my games purchase for February 2013. Lots of cheap PlayStation titles and accessories. Some Nintendo DS/3DS titles, I'm enjoying Super Princess Peach even if it may be quite easy. And one expensive rare title, but a particular favourite of mine.

Mario Party - £17 on eBay

Ridge Racer DS - £8.60 on eBay

Super Princess Peach - £6.50 on eBay

Ridge Racer 3D - £9 on Zavvi

Ecks vs Server II: Balistic - 99p on eBay

Alundra - £5.50 on eBay

ASCIIWARE Fighting Stick for PS1 - 99p on eBay

Castlevania Symphony of the Night - £79 on eBay
One of my favourite games of all time

This collector's edition also contains a
soundtrack CD & art book

Crash Team Racing - £6.50 on eBay

Dancing Stage Euromix - £2 at a retro games store

Dancing Stage Fever - 99 on eBay

Dancing Stage Party Edition - 99p on eBay

FIFA World Cup Arcade Stick for PS1 - 99p on eBay

Namco G-Con 45 Light Gun for PS1 - 99p on eBay

Soul Blade - 99p on eBay

Tekken 3 - 99p on eBay

Star Wars Rebel Strike: Rogue Squadron III
US Version - £3 on eBay

Eat Natural - Brazils, Sultanas, Almonds, Peanuts & Hazelnuts

This is a review of an Eat Natural cereal bar. The flavour is a mix of nuts & fruit including brazil nuts, sultanas, almonds, peanuts and hazelnuts. The bar I'm reviewing is from a multipack of 4, each weighing 35g. Single bars are also available usually weighing roughly 50g. The Eat Natural bars are unique in that very little of the ingredients are processed, with the exceptions being rice and glucose syrup. The bar consists of mainly crisped rice and the fruit & nuts listed above, in whole chunky form. Unfortunately the crisped rice isn't very sweet. The sultana's help to make it a little tastier, but still not enough for my sweet tooth. You'll like it if you're mad for nuts, its packed. The bar is chunky but lacking in length, the most you'll get out of it is four small bites. Eat Natural bars are available in a large range of flavours, you can find them here: Eat Natural Range

I've also reviewed two other bars by Eat Natural including Cranberry, Macadamia & Dark Chocolate and Almonds, Apricots & Yoghurt.

Nutritional Information













This is Eat Natural's snack size version of their popular fruit & nut cereal bar range. As a snack its calories are quite high at 164. Its sugars are a little high at 10% of your GDA but some of these could be healthier fruit sugar from sultanas. The large range of nuts in the bar combined with the fibre should help sustain hunger and improve the body's blood glucose levels. All these nuts are also the reason for the bar's high fat content of 10g, but these are mostly healthy fats containing omega 3 and many other health benefits. The bar also has 4.2g of protein and is gluten free.

Taste Rating	4/10
Nutritional Rating	8/10