Low-Fat Protein Bar recipes

April 16, 2007 11:30 AM

Protein bars: Best low-fat high-protein recipes? I'm trying to cut out spending money on Luna, Balance, and Clif Builder bars, but all the recipes I can find have about as much fat as protein, and certainly don't make the minimum 30-30-40 grade. Yes, even the Alton Brown one. Alternatively, recommend pescotarian, easily portable high-protein food sources (cottage cheese isn't portable enough).

I have checked previous threads on the subject and the recipes linked haven't met my needs. I would carry around a can opener and cans of light tuna, but ever since a three-month stint of eating far more tuna than God ever intended for any man or woman to eat the smell has made me nauseous.

posted by schroedinger to food & drink (8 answers total)

I've made these before. They taste pretty good and feel like a CliffBar (as opposed to Power Bar). They're called 40/30/30 bars:

1 Cup Brown Rice Syrup
1/2 Cup Natural Peanut Butter
1 Cup Grapenuts
3/4 Cup Protein Poweder
1.5 Tbsp Canola Oil

* Mix brown rice syrup and peanut butter in a double boiler
* add grapenuts and oil
* add protein powder - mix fast!
* Spread in a non-stick pan and put in fridge to set up

This makes about 12 servings and each serving has:
200 calories
20g carbs
15g protein
6.5g fat

I got this recipe from another user at myfooddiary.com.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:47 AM on April 16, 2007 [2 favorites]

Here's a recipe for high protein peanut butter balls. I have not tried them but people seem to like them. Unfortunately I don't have the stats on them but you could probably type it into thedailyplate.com to figure it out.

16 oz. peanut butter
1 c. vanilla protein powder
8 packets splenda
1 c. dry milk

You might find more such recipes at Before & After Help.
posted by cabingirl at 11:53 AM on April 16, 2007

Hot-smoked salmon or 'salmon jerky' runs at about 40% protein and while it's not fat-free, it's high in omega-3.
posted by solid-one-love at 2:25 PM on April 16, 2007

Perhaps gluten-based foods? I was amazed when I discovered how much protein seitan has.

Or, simply take a recipe you like (such as Alton Brown's) and replace some of the flour with active wheat gluten.
posted by JMOZ at 3:12 PM on April 16, 2007

Hot-smoked salmon or 'salmon jerky' runs at about 40% protein and while it's not fat-free, it's high in omega-3.

And sodium.

Cabot makes single-serving reduced fat cheddar bars. 50 calories, 3.5g fat, 6g protein, <1 carbs. If you'd carry cans of tuna and a can opener, but cottage cheese isn't portable enough, then presumably the issue is refrigeration, but a vacuum-sealed stick of cheddar will keep much longer than cottage cheese.
posted by staggernation at 3:33 PM on April 16, 2007

Check out Snickers Marathon chocolate bars. 28 grams of protein per bar, and relatively low in fat as I recall.
posted by lorrer at 5:25 PM on April 16, 2007

Meat substitutes for the usual chicken/buffalo/turkey burgers or breasts are possible. Unfortunately, this method will be much more expensive with the substitutes -- I've found that any of them that are even close to a macro-ratio of a chicken breast or lean burger get expensive *real* quick. But if you want to avoid all meat except fish, you run out of options real quick.

Anyways, make up a whole bunch of (insert meat or meat sub here) patties/breasts on the weekend, and seal them up into individual bags or tupperware. The massive foreman or a real grill is great for this. Individually store them in ziplock or tupperware. Add some frozen veggies, maybe low-carb tortillas, and you are set all week. Personally, I would just heat them up in a microwave and have some salsa or hot sauce or 0 cal ranch on the side.

Protein shakes (duh), string cheese made from skim milk, some cheese curds, hard boiled eggs, egg beaters (one carton has ~42 g protein, add fat free cheese for flavor), not-dogs (too fatty maybe?), cottage cheese, canned salmon.
posted by rsanheim at 11:30 PM on April 16, 2007

One thing to remember is that your body can only process roughly 25g of protein at a time (this varies slightly by body, but don't expect to be able to use substantially more than 25g). The rest won't be useful. So eat high-protein foods in fairly small portions.

A great cheap source of protein is Fantastic Foods seitan mix. The initial prep takes a couple hours (mixing and then boiling the little seitan balls), but then you have a large and extremely cheap (and freezeable if you like) supply of protein.

You can boil them with, or later soak them in, any flavor you like and they'll absorb it (soy sauce, BBQ sauce, salsa, teriyaki sauce, etc.) For carrying, you could put a few flavored balls in a mini Ziploc.
posted by allterrainbrain at 1:30 PM on April 17, 2007 [2 favorites]