Kraft MilkBite Milk & Granola Bars Review

Here in the Frugal Follies household, we love granola bars. I'm often able to purchase them on sale with coupons from Publix, and when I do, they're gone almost as fast as I bring them in! The kids love to eat them, and I love them because portion control is easy - just eat one, instead of being tempted to eat a bunch of cookies from a package. Plus, they're somewhat healthy as snacks go, and they're easy to put into lunchbags.

Recently, we had the opportunity to try a new kind of granola bar: Kraft MilkBite Milk & Granola Bars.

Found in the grocery store refrigerated section, the MilkBite bars are made with real milk and have 30% of the daily recommended value of calcium. They also are a source of vitamin D and fiber. have 5 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber, and don't contain artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. They come in five flavors: Chocolate, Strawberry, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, and Mixed Berry.

We had the opportunity to try the Chocolate and Strawberry flavors. Of course, all the kids (and me!) went for the chocolate first. I was delighted to find that the tops of the bars were covered with chocolate chips and a chocolate drizzle. And yum! they were decadent. Not dry like some granola bars can be, but chewy and sweet - and that without high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient. And I was happy that my youngest daughter, who is not a milk drinker like her two older sisters are, was getting some much-needed calcium.

The strawberry bars were delicious as well. I was happy to see that dried strawberries were an ingredient. Too often, strawberry-flavored grocery items, like instant oatmeal, are made with dried apple pieces and strawberry flavoring. Not these! And the icing drizzle on top was yummy as well.

We loved them! I can only see two downsides. First, the package said, "Store in fridge." I don't know about you, but my refrigerator is stuffed already! I did find that in my refrigerator, the box stored neatly in that little space between the bottom of the meat drawer and the top of the vegetable crisper, which is usually lost space.

Also, due to the refrigeration requirement, these would not be good snacks for my kids to take to school, as there is no refrigerator for them to keep their lunch bags in. They'll just have to enjoy them after school.

The second problem is the price. At a suggested retail value of $3.49, that would be 70¢ for each bar for a box of 5... ouch! But this can be solved by buying on sale and with coupons.

Here's a great deal for Kraft MilkBite bars available at Publix until March 16:

Kraft Milkbite bars, 2 for $5
- $2 off 2 participating Kraft products (including MilkBite bars) Publix store coupon (Yellow Advantage Flyer)
- 2 $0.75/1 Kraft Milkbite Milk and Granola Bars, exp. 3/31/12 (Smartsource coupon insert 02/26/12)
= $1.50 for two, or 75¢ each

So for 75¢ per box, that's 15¢ per bar - a great deal!

Give Kraft MilkBite Milk and Granola Bars a try!