Looking for on the go meal options? CORE Foods Defender Meals make a great whole-food and gluten-free meal bar for busy days
Food allergies can be inconvenient a pain in the patoot sometimes, especially when you are busy or traveling and need some healthy food fast! If you are an active person or athlete with food allergies, finding the right fuel before and after workouts and events can be even more of a challenge since your workout fuel needs to meet specific dietary needs.
The CORE Foods company has worked to meet this need for whole-food meals that are great for busy athletes. CORE Foods has created “meals” that are essentially a bowl of oatmeal in bar form. Because of my food allergies, I tried the Defender Meals that are vegan, but CORE foods also makes Warrior Meals that are made with whey protein powder.
The ingredients are simple: whole oats, nuts, raisins, flax, and spices. Each flavor has a different nut mixed in, and some flavors have cacao or bananas, too. Not only are the CORE Food bars super simple, they are also raw, gluten free, organic, and high fiber.
Because the ingredients are fresh, these bars are perishable and need to kept chilled or frozen if you don’t plan on eating them within a week.
I was a little bit surprised by the CORE foods bars: they aren’t sweet (I do have a small sweet tooth!) and they were a bit on the bland side – I also happen to love salt. If you want to try these bars FYI: CORE Foods Defender meal bars are not sweet and sugary!
There is nothing fancy for your taste buds, no chocolate coating, no sugary tastes, but this is great if you are all about food as fuel.
Ultimately, if you are looking for a healthy candy bar alternative, this is not the bar for you. A CORE Defender Meal is a bowl of oatmeal in a bar – no frills. They make great on-the-go meals for people who are looking for exceptional fuel, not a sweet treat.
And P.S.: don’t forget to drink the 2 glasses of water with your bar! The fiber content is high, so you need to drink up to keep things moving, if you know what I mean 😉
Another cool thing about the company is that they are a not-for-profit organization: CORE Foods reinvests any profit their company or the community.
“Our business runs on Zero Percent Financial Return. That means that any profit we make beyond our costs of doing business has to be reinvested in food quality, community, and the planet. That gives us a strong incentive to internalize all of our costs. We spend the money to make sure we are on the cutting edge of sustainability, have happy, healthy employees, and produce the highest quality product.”
Want to try CORE Food meals for yourself? “Like” the CORE Foods Facebook page and you will get a coupon code for $5 off any online order and you can also enter to win a free case of bars (worth $40)!
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and healthy living blogger based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Just liked on Facebook, I really want to try these
These are super healthy and a good meal replacement, plus I split these in 2 or 3 parts and had them as snacks instead of full meals, too.
Interesting. I love on the go healthy foods. I will have to check to see if I can find these!
I am not sure where you can find these in stores, but you can order them online. They are healthy, full meals, just not sweet snacks like some people might expect. You should give them a try!