Shift Food: homemade cliff bars

Started by jmchestnut
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jmchestnut

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So, I'm a fourth year med student, and I just finished my 4th yr EM rotation. I started buying cliff bars for the first time to get me through the shift. Yum, they are good and sustentative. But, dang they are expensive--$1.25/a pop.

I found two online recipes for homemade cliff bars: http://enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com/2008/06/homemade-cliff-bars-no-bake.html and http://scottdavisanderson.com/blog/...y-bars-made-simple-a-no-bake-clif-bar-recipe/.

I modified the recipes and created an excel spreadsheet (that includes the ingredients, itemized cost, and directions) to see how many calories and protein I could pack into them bars, and to see at what cost I could make them. My first batch turned out great--they look just like the real thing, and the consistency is just right! Perhaps a little bland, but that can be fixed. I'm excited to see if I can make other recipes, such as cranberry-macadamian nut.

My homemade cliff bar: $0.68/bar, 406 cal, 16 g fat, 49 g carb, 4 g fiber, 20 g protein

A real cliff bar: $1.25/bar, 240 cal, 5 g fat, 44 g carb, 4 g fiber, 10 g protein

Check it out! Let us know if you try it and what kind of modifications you make!
 

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haha good feedback. perhaps keep some cinnamon-sugar in another pocket to dip the butter in?

yeah, next batch, I'll probably decrease the peanut butter slightly to decrease the fat-load. it'll be interesting to see what that does to the consistency.

but, as far as calorie-load--it's all relative. I divided the batch in 6 bars, if I had divided it into 8 bars...305 cal/bar, 12 g fat, 31 g carb, 3 g fiber, 15 g protein
 
This may be the single most un-manly conversation to have ever been on the emergency medicine board.
 
Snickers bar- 266 cal, fat 11 grams, fiber 1 gram, carb 37, protein 5
Price- 60 cents

Just take a few fiber pills and you actually eat something that tastes good, is cheaper, and takes no effort to make.
 
i used to love cliff bars. would buy them 20 or more at a time when they had online specials on amazon (much cheaper to buy them in bulk, obviously.) and then i realized that after a month or two, the consistency started to make me sick. like granola taffy.

i would be interested in making my own though. something a little crunchier.