Are the calories right on my first batch of homemade granola bars?

itsMcKay

I did everything I normally do to make sure the calories, macros and micros are properly represented (vetting the label with other sources, weighing on my digital food scale, etc.). I've shown volume amounts below but I converted everything to weights as I went. I just didn't record those this time since it was an experiment.

It just seems soooooo low for how monstrous, dense and filling these things are. This can't be right, can it? I just ate one of these bad boys and it's really good but how can it be so low? Since they're more like cookies than granola-protein bars, I was expecting closer to 400/serving. Thoughts?



GRANOLA-PROTEIN BIG BITES
Makes 15 servings
252 calories per serving

104 calories ___ 1 cup Sprouts cinnamon rice crisp cereal
720 calories ___ 1.5 cup Sprouts natural granola
380 calories ___ .25 cup JIF creamy peanut butter
480 calories ___ .5 cup Sprouts clover honey
15 calories ___ .5 cup Almond Breeze original almond milk
373 calories ___ .33 cup Sprouts yogurt chips
205 calories ___ .4 cup Sprouts dried cranberries
340 calories ___ .5 cup Sprouts smoked almonds
210 calories ___ .25 cup Sprouts sunflower seeds
180 calories ___ 2 Tbsp. Hodgson Mill milled flax seed
780 calories ___ 6 scoops Six Star Protein weigh isolate french vanilla cream

---

3787 TOTAL CALORIES
divided by 15 servings =
252 calories each!

Am I missing something here or is this not too good to be true?

Two more for scale:

FatMama_33

They look delicious.

Francl27

Might be too good to be true, yes. You're using high calorie ingredients, and didn't weigh them, so your bars could easily be 300 calories or yes, 400, if you were really off.

itsMcKay

Francl27 wrote: »

Might be too good to be true, yes. You're using high calorie ingredients, and didn't weigh them, so your bars could easily be 300 calories or yes, 400, if you were really off.

I did actually state in my initial post that I weighed them.

SmartAlec03211988

I dunno, everything seems fine to me.

zyxst

Idk about your math, but can you send some to me? Please?

samantha1242

The only thing I could see would be that the bars are not all of equal size/weight. I can see from your picture that some are bigger than others, therefore the calorie for each serving would vary.

itsMcKay

Thanks, SmartAlec!

Zyxyst: I just made another batch without some ingredients and they are even better. So easy to make. Highly recommend.

Samantha: You're absolutely right about that. Luckily, I don't worry too much about an extra 50 here and 50 fewer there. I generally balance it out by eating one large one then one small one next. It all evens out in the end.

madamepsych0sis

252 calories per serving looks pretty right to me!

sullus

itsMcKay wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Might be too good to be true, yes. You're using high calorie ingredients, and didn't weigh them, so your bars could easily be 300 calories or yes, 400, if you were really off.

I did actually state in my initial post that I weighed them.

But you stated the quantities in cups. repost in grams, and I'll check your math

itsMcKay

Thanks for looking, Madame.

Sullus: I just converted as I went like always so I didn't write it down. Thanks for any help. Here are the amounts I used:

104 calories ___ 1 cup / 118 g Sprouts cinnamon rice crisp cereal
720 calories ___ 1.5 cup / 210 g Sprouts natural granola
380 calories ___ .25 cup / 65 g JIF creamy peanut butter
480 calories ___ .5 cup / 168 g Sprouts clover honey
15 calories ___ .5 cup / 123 g Almond Breeze original almond milk
373 calories ___ .33 cup / 105 g Sprouts yogurt chips
205 calories ___ .4 cup / 49 g Sprouts dried cranberries
340 calories ___ .5 cup / 72 g Sprouts smoked almonds
210 calories ___ .25 cup / 27 g Sprouts sunflower seeds
180 calories ___ 2 Tbsp. / 12 g Hodgson Mill milled flax seed
780 calories ___ 6 scoops / 222 g Six Star Protein weigh isolate french vanilla cream

DanniB423

Those look super yummy!!!

itsMcKay

Danni, they turned out good. I have to say, while I appreciate the low calories and high protein, my second batch turned out so much better. They are:



VINCENT'S GRANOLA BARS
Makes 12 servings
306 calories each

1.5 cups granola
1 cup cinnamon rice crisp cereal
3/4 cup smoked almonds
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup yogurt chips
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 Tbsp. flax seeds
6 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Press in greased pan and bake for 16-20 minutes.