Reviews

I purchased Phoenix Bars at the Armchair Adventure Festival because they contain a lot of calories in a highly compact portion - which I see as useful for emergency rations. I enjoyed the bar and would consider it for future expeditions.

I recently tried these high-calorie bars . As a performance nutritionist, I believe it’s essential to provide honest, unbiased feedback, so here are my thoughts:

🍽️Nutritional Profile

For its small size, this bar packs a powerful punch in calories. It contains nearly 600 calories with 66g of carbohydrates and 18g of protein. It’s also fortified with vitamins. This isn’t a bar for short distances, where you can rely on carbohydrates alone, pack light or have access to food stops along the way, instead it’s suited to longer, multi-day events where you need to carry more food (self supported/minimal to no food support for extended periods of time.)

💭Practicality & Texture

- The flavour is neutral and subtly sweet, making it tolerable for long periods, less likely to get flavour fatigue.
- The texture holds somewhat well but is crumbly and dry, so it would need to be consumed alongside fluids to make it easier to digest.
- It can though be mixed with hot water to create a porridge-like consistency, of more fluids for a smoothie instead - so versatile. I’d say as a porridge it’s the consistency of a biscuit spread.
- The bar doesn’t melt in the sun or go rock hard in the cold. Long and multi-day expeditions often involve dramatic temperature changes so this is actually really important. This is something I’ve struggled with using a couple other products that change texture a lot in the weather.
- It has waterproof packaging.

🥾Ideal Use Case

This product is suited for multi-day ultras, long hikes, and mountaineering, particularly when you need to be self-supported and every gram of weight matters. These events demand more than just carbs, needing protein & fats too.

I have a lot of respect for the brand’s thoughtful design—they’ve considered a lot of detail down to waterproof packaging. While for me personally it could be less crumbly, I’m excited to try the new recipe, which is said to be moister. A massive thanks to Flaming Phoenix for sending me the bars; the concept behind them is great! Follow @lilykempnutrition

Like the phoenix bars .nice size plenty of calories. Like the taste.Did find them a bit dry but would use them again.

First impression on opening the new version of Phoenix Bars are that they are less crumbly but still easy to break off a chunk. There was more texture, slightly sweeter and more moist. Much easier to eat and not sticking in the mouth, whereas with the older bar I needed a swig of water to help it down.

So overall, a big improvement from the original, not that there was any wrong with that one!

I used Phoenix Bars on a 5-day trek across Iceland and I enjoyed breaking off small pieces as they are really high in calories and because they aren't overly sweet. I'm keen to use Phoenix Bars' for the Spine Arctic Explorer event next year.