Flavors Tried: Birthday Cake, Salted Caramel, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Peanut Butter Lover
Price: $79.99 for 30 bars ($2.67 per bar)
Nutrition: 260 Calories, 13g Fat, 19g Carbs, 20g Protein
I’ve been wanting to give 1st Phorm protein bars a try for quite a while now, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay the hefty price tag for them
When you break it down, each bar is just over $2.50, which is pretty standard for a protein bar.
However, on the 1st Phorm website, you’re required to purchase two 30-count boxes of level-1 bars, and I was not prepared to pay $80 for protein bars just for review purposes.
Luckily I came across single protein bars at my local Vitamin Shoppe, so I am finally able to give these 1st Phorm protein bars a try!
I was able to find 4 flavors: birthday cake, salted caramel, chocolate peanut butter pretzel, and peanut butter lover.
Nutritionally, each bar has very similar nutrition facts. All the 1st Phorm protein bars are right around 260 calories, 13g fat, 19-25g carbs, and 20g protein.
Unlike most other protein bars out there today, these Level-1 protein bars are not keto-friendly, which is actually a big plus in my book. Since these aren’t loaded up with a ton of fiber, that means they won’t be insanely chewy, and the fact that they contain a little bit of sugar bodes well for the taste.
Let’s find out if my initial thoughts are accurate.
Birthday Cake 1st Phorm Protein Bars
The birthday cake flavor of the 1st Phorm protein bars is exactly what I expected that to be, and it’s pretty average in my eyes.
I don’t particularly love birthday cake-flavored snacks, mostly because they end up tasting very artificial to me.
While this bar doesn’t have a strong artificial sweetener flavor, it does just kind of taste like any other “fake” birthday cake-flavored snack I’ve tried.
The interior of this bar is soft, but it’s still denser than a regular candy bar.
The white chocolate coating is a nice addition to this protein bar, but overall, just is just a very generic protein bar. The texture is definitely a plus, but taste-wise, this one doesn’t excite me.
Salted Caramel 1st Phorm Protein Bars
Looking at this protein bar, it reminds me a lot of Fit Crunch Bars.
Generally speaking, Fit Crunch Bars are one of the closest bars you’ll find to actual candy bars, but they have a very strong artificial flavor to them.
These Level-1 salted caramel bars are better than I could have anticipated!
If you want a protein bar that eats like a candy bar, this salted caramel 1st Phorm protein bar is it.
The photo makes it look like any other protein bar, but this one was by far my favorite flavor. The soft interior paired with the gooey caramel inside makes this taste very similar to a candy bar overall.
Would you be fooled into thinking this was a candy bar if nobody told you it was a protein bar? No, definitely not. But is it one of the closest I’ve found to an actual candy bar? Absolutely.
The flavor & texture combined make this one of the better protein bars I’ve tried, not just of 1st Phorm, but of any protein bar.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel 1st Phorm Protein Bars
The chocolate peanut butter pretzel protein bar is very interesting because it’s much thinner and longer than the other bars. When you unwrap it, it looks like a completely different type of protein bar, and I have no idea why there is such a large difference.
I love peanut butter AND pretzels, so I thought for sure that this would be my favorite flavor.
And while it was definitely good, it didn’t quite meet my expectations.
Sure, this protein bar is loaded with tons of pretzel pieces, which is great. But overall, the flavor falls short.
The peanut butter used tastes like peanut butter flavor and not quite like actual peanut butter, which makes this bar taste like many others out there.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a decent protein bar, and I happily ate the whole thing.
But as someone who loves all things peanut butter AND pretzels, I thought this would blow me away.
Peanut Butter Lover 1st Phorm Protein Bars
When a protein bar is labeled “peanut butter lover” the bar is set very high that it’s going to satisfy the cravings of an actual peanut butter lover.
The protein bar has a peanut butter coating, so off the bat, you have to imagine it’s going to be exploding with peanut butter flavor.
And then you bite into it, and you see that there are layers of peanut butter goodness…
This bar has a thick peanut butter interior, peanut pieces throughout, and a soft peanut butter coating on the outside.
As a peanut butter lover, I should be really impressed. However, the flavor is not what I was hoping for.
If you’ve ever had a peanut butter-flavored protein bar before, you’ve tasted what this 1st Phorm protein bar tastes like.
One of the first protein bars I ever tried were Pure Protein bars, which are average at best (but at the time they were all I knew, so I enjoyed them). The peanut butter Pure Protein bar tastes very similar to this 1st Phorm bar.
Is it bad? No, certainly not. But since I do actually love peanut butter, I was hoping this would taste like biting into a bar made out of actual peanut butter, and that’s not what this bar is.
Overall Thoughts: 1st Phorm Protein Bars
1st Phorm protein bars are decent, but they don’t move into the category of one of the best protein bars out there.
These protein bars do remind me a lot of Fit Crunch bars due to their candy bar-like texture and flavors.
However, I do find that these taste like pretty generic protein bars that I’ve definitely tasted before.
The exception is the salted caramel bar, which I thought was absolutely delicious. If they had all been as good as that flavor, this would be a very different review, but since I have to look at all the flavors as a whole, I’m not overly excited about these bars.
