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Muesli bar reviews

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Last updated: 19 July 2019
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We put 11 snack bars from Be Natural, Carman’s, Nature Valley and more – all oat-based muesli bars, granola bars or oat slices of the chocolate variety – to a public vote in a blind tasting to see which ones raise the bar for taste and nutrition.

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How we test

Products

We included muesli bars, granola bars and oat slices – essentially all snack bars with oats listed as the first ingredient – that are sold in multipacks in the snack aisle of major supermarkets nationally. To make the sample size manageable for our taste test, we focused on products with a chocolate flavour – the choc chip variety where available, otherwise choc drizzle or coating. Price is based on price in stores (not on special) in June 2019. We tested 11 snack bars in total. The Nature Valley Oats & Dark Chocolate snack bar is sold in the Nature Valley Crunchy Variety Pack (which also includes the varieties Canadian Maple Syrup and Oats & Honey).

Tasting

We set up a blind tasting in a shopping centre in Campbelltown, NSW, and invited members of the public to participate. Each product was given a code and its brand concealed. For each sample tasted, people decided if they disliked, liked or loved it. Participants tasted and voted on a total of 578 samples across all 11 snack bars. A minimum of 43 taste tests were completed per product.

Scores

The overall score is made up of taste 70% and nutrition 30% (based on its Health Star Rating, which we calculated from the details in the nutrition information panel and converted to a percentage). We calculated the taste score as an average of all responses, where 'dislike' is scaled at 25, 'like' at 70 and 'love' at 100.

Matthew Steen
By Rachel Clemons
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Brand

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List of brands we tested in this review.

    Price

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    Pack price in Sydney stores (not on special) in June 2019.

    enter value/s in increments of 1 between 1.9 and 6.9

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    Price per serve

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    Based on serves per pack and pack price online from Sydney stores (not on special) in June 2024.

    enter value/s in increments of i between 0.24 and 1.15

    Taste test score

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    For each sample tasted, people decided if they disliked, liked or loved it. The taste score is an average of all responses, where 'dislike' is scaled at 25, 'like' at 70 and 'love' at 100.

    enter value/s in increments of i between 70 and 84

    Nutrition score

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    Nutrition score is based on the product's Health Star Rating (HSR). The HSR is calculated from the details in the nutrition information panel and converted to a percentage.

    enter value/s in increments of i between 30 and 80

    Bar type

      Serves in pack

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      This is the number of individually wrapped serves in the pack. Where 'twin' bars are wrapped together we've counted this as one serve.

      enter value/s in increments of i between 4 and 8

      Wholegrains per serve (g)

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      As per nutrition information panel on pack purchased.

      enter value/s in increments of i between 8.25 and 23.94

      Shop Ethical rating

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      Shop Ethical rates the environmental and social impact of the company (not the product) using independent sources. This rating is not included in our total score. N/A means there is no rating for that company.

        Included in this review

        Members-only access
        • Serves in pack
        • Shop Ethical rating
        • Bar type
        • Recommended
        • CHOICE score
        • Taste test score
        • Nutrition score
        • Price
        • Pack size (g)
        • Price per serve
        • Price per 100g
        • Serve size (g)
        • Energy per 100g (kJ)
        • Protein per 100g (g)
        • Fat per 100g (g)
        • Saturated fat per 100g (g)
        • Sugars per 100g (g)
        • Wholegrains per serve (g)
        • Fibre per 100g (g)
        • Ingredients
        • Allergen declaration
        • Country of origin statement
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