They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. For me, it’s the trickiest. I don’t like cereal, toast bores me, no way am I eating a donut, and the prospect of cooking at 7:00 in the morning makes me weak (although I finally formed the habit of scrambling an egg, which works for me most days). To make matters worse, I’ve been traveling to Boston for work every week — Monday through Thursday — making quick, healthy breakfasts even more elusive.
So when I had the opportunity to review a new line of snacks from a company named Gravelnuts, I snagged it. A couple of weeks later, a lovely bag of samples arrived at my door. Off to Boston I flew with new breakfast and snack candidates to munch on.
The Gravelnuts Lineup
Gravelnuts has created six mixes of nuts, seeds, oats, and dried fruits. You might be thinking: “Eh — sounds like ‘just granola’ to me.” Think again. The company boasts the healthy benefits of their line: They’re filler-free, organic, gluten-free and 100% Vegan, and the mix of nuts and seeds is high in healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.
Even better, they taste pretty darn good. I was cynical — most granola-type products cover their dry, dusty taste with sweeteners. (Ick.) But I found the Gravelnuts products to have a good blend of rich nuttiness with only a bit of sweetness provided by agave nectar or dried fruit.
Gravelnuts launched with the following products:
- Gravelnuts. A lightly-sweetened mix of walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, pistachios, and sunflower seeds. Nice, light, not-too-sweet, and well-balanced.
- Gravelnuts Granola. A sweeter blend of nuts, seeds, gluten-free oats, berries, and spices. A bit too saccharine for me, but friends gobbled it up.
- Gravelnuts Go-Bars. A granola variation pressed into a bar for easy travel. Also a mite sweet for my taste, but it was my colleague’s fave. Gravelnuts promotes it as “your daily snack, pre-workout, no crash energy shot.”
- Gravelseeds. Go nuts for no nuts! This mix contains sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, and ground flax seeds, seasoned with agave nectar and cinnamon. The taste of seeds without other distracting flavors and textures was refreshingly delicious.
- Graveltropics. My favorite — hazelnuts, almonds, and sesame seeds mixed with dried fruit. It sounds like it would be overly sweet, but it was just right, and the hazelnuts kicked some butt. They warn you: It “may cause urge to book a vacation.”
- Gravelsins. Almonds and walnuts paired with dark cocoa powder, orange extract, and agave nectar. If you’re a fan of chocolate and orange, this one’s for you.
Grab ‘Em And Go
The Gravelnuts web site states that “at the beach, hiking, traveling, or at work, you’ll enjoy a healthy munch that gives you hours of sustained energy.” Their portable nature makes them ideal for road warriors like me. They won’t replace my scrambled egg when I’m home, but I can see toting a bag of Gravelnuts to munch on the plane or eat for breakfast.
Gravelnuts will appeal to health-conscious, active people who don’t mind paying a premium for quality, taste, and convenience. Prices range from $6.95 for 6 ounce bags of most products to $14.95 for 12 Go-Bars. You can order Gravelnuts online.
Image Credit: www.gravelnuts.com
