Fitness and Food : How To Make Your Own Protein Bars

by Scott Andrew Bird | January 7, 2008
Filed in Diet and Nutrition , fitness and food , monthly articles

Blaine and I will be kicking off 2008 with a series on Fitness and Food - taking a look at the many ways in which diet can support your training. First up, How to make your own protein bars.

Straight after a workout I find myself eating anything which is put in front of me; and I suspect I'm not alone in this. To make sure it's something reasonably nutritious, I decided to knock up my own protein bars.

As you'll see below, there are a number of ways in which you can adjust this to suit your own tastes. This is simply a basic recipe which I noticed over on Stumptuous, and which works well.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unflavoured or vanilla protein powder
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup peanut butter

Now, this isn't an exact science. As long as you have about the same amount of each ingredient, you'll be fine.

The quantities above will make around a 6" × 8" tray.

Substitutions and Additions

This recipe can take quite a few changes. Feel free to experiment with different protein powders, types of flour (ground oats work really well) and the many varieties of nut butter available.

Also worth experimentation is the addition of spices to the flour (personal favourites : cinnamon and nutmeg). When you come up with a winning combination, be sure to leave a comment below.

Other additions (and there are bonus points for trying any of these, they're fantastic) include pieces of fruit (mmm...bananas), nuts and seeds. Experiment.

The Recipe

This is the fun - and incredibly simple - part. Simply blend everything together in a food processor or large bowl, pour it out into a rectangle on a baking tray, and pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Then take it out, slice it up into bars, and put it back in the freezer.

That's it - they're now ready to eat (straight from frozen). No cooking required.

A couple of suggestions

It really is as simple as it sounds, and it's just a matter of mixing a few things together and throwing them into the freezer. However, there are a couple of things that will make the process even easier.

• Ever made bread? When the ingredients are mixed together, the result (before freezing) will feel much the same. If it's just a big pile of powdery stuff, add some more of the peanut butter.
• Conversely, if it's a little on the gooey side, add some more of the flour. It usually doesn't take all that much, so just try an extra spoonful or so.
• I actually like eating the bars when they're frozen solid and rock hard, but they'll quite happily survive a little defrosting. Once you've cut them into individual bars, they're fine in the fridge.

Final thoughts on home-made protein bars

As I said earlier, when I finish a workout; I just want food. Almost anything will do.

Having a stash of homemade protein bars in the freezer is a great way to ensure I eat reasonably well after I train. As a bonus, they taste great. Try some.

Discussion

I'd love to hear what you think. Pop over to the forums and share your opinion. See you there.