The Protein-Packed Snack You Should Always Avoid Buying At Aldi

Protein snacks are currently in their heyday, based on the endless list of protein bar brands you can find at your local grocery store. Aldi aims to please by offering store-brand protein bars for a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, not all of them are worth buying. We tasted and ranked 12 protein-packed snacks from Aldi, and the Elevation MAXX Blueberry Bars came in dead last.

We based our ranking off of nutritional value and taste, primarily. On paper, Aldi's Elevation MAXX Blueberry Bars look great because they're made with whole ingredients like dates, blueberries, egg whites, nut butters, and almonds. Plus, they're marketed as a "powerhouse of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals." While we applaud the whole ingredients and purported nutritional benefits, one bite was enough to fail this blueberry bar on taste and texture. 

The Fig Newton-like smell translated to a sickly sweet blueberry flavor with hints of nut butter on the back end that did nothing to balance it out. In addition to being overwhelmed with the taste of fruitcake, we were even more put off by the dense, ultra sticky texture of these bars. While protein bars often have a chewy center, these reached a new extreme. Not only did they cling to our teeth, but they also took a great deal of effort to choke down once we pried what wasn't stuck in our teeth from the roof or our mouth. Do your tastebuds (and your jaw) a favor, and leave these bars on the shelf.

We aren't the only ones who disliked the snack. The Elevation MAXX Blueberry Bars are also an Aldi product that Redditors think you should avoid. One Redditor wrote,"This is one of the grossest things I have ever eaten." Another Redditor complained of the consistency, stating "The texture was soft and chewy, which I normally love; but this was in a way that stuck to every crack and crevice in your teeth." A reviewer on YouTube also tried three different MAXX bars and dubbed the blueberry flavor the stickiest by far, warning, "If you have any problem with your teeth, dentures, braces, anything, don't get this bar." Furthermore, the reviewer complained of flavors clashing, asserting that "the blueberries and dates don't go together well."

Many customers consider the Elevation MAXX Bars as Aldi's version of RXBARs. To that effect, we ranked RXBAR flavors and blueberry didn't impress us, either. Just as RXBARs come in many different flavors, the Elevation MAXX bars are also available in flavors (like Chocolate Peanut Butter) that get better reviews from customers. In fact, we thoroughly enjoyed Aldi's Elevation MAXX Chocolate Sea Salt Bars in our roundup of cheap and healthy Aldi snacks. If you're looking for better options from the Elevation brand, the Golden Vanilla Cream Functional Protein Bar won first place in our ranking of Aldi's protein-packed products, offering 50% more protein than the MAXX bars.