Get Mixed Up on this Trail: You Trail Mix

The fabulous folks at You Bar began production today on a new line of customizable trail mix. If you have been following Uncovering Food, you will remember my fascination with this company that creates bars and smoothie mixes to fit your personal palate. You Trail Mix, the newest member of the You family, began taking orders today with a fabulous array of options to include.

I recently had the opportunity to test out the three Popular Mixes before they are shipped out to the general public. The Best Trail Mix (pictured above), Mix Up Your Day, and Chocolate Trails are all sold in 13-bag cases and are perfect to toss in your purse or your kid's lunch box for an afternoon snack.

As a nut lover, the Best Trail Mix satisfied my cravings with a combination of Almonds, Organic Cashews, Walnuts, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Dried Sweetened Blueberries, Sweetened Cranberries, and Sun Drops Original Chocolate Candies. If I were to personalize this however, I would probably change up the dried fruits with pineapple and apricots -- two of the options in the Mix-A-Trail menu. A 45g bag is 234 calories/16 grams of fat/4 grams of fiber/5 grams of protein. Considering the high nut content, this is a perfect portion of healthy oils and filling foods.


The Mix Up Your Day was my favorite of the three popular flavors. This mix included huge chunks of coconut that was full of flavor and contrasted nicely with the goji berries, pineapple and cashews. Oat Bran Sesame Sticks and Almonds round out this mix for a salty, smooth and sweet combination. At 229 calories/15 grams of fat/3 grams of fiber/5 grams of protein, this is another combination that will keep you full for a while. And for those of you with peanut free campuses, this combo is sans peanuts.


For the chocolate loving readers, You Trail Mix did not forget about you! Chocolate Trails is a mix created just for the healthy chocolate lover. Pecans, Dried Cherries, Peanuts, Milk Chocolate Raisins, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Mini Pretzels are all served up together in this sweet nutty blend. Since I am not a fan of milk chocolate, this wasn't my favorite. If I were to mix up my own blend, I would opt for the dark chocolate covered espresso beans and dark chocolate covered raisins. The options are endless! I also probably wouldn't include the pretzels because the residual moisture from the dried fruit decreased the crispness of the pretzels. This mix tallies up at 220 calories/13 grams of fat/4 grams of fiber/4 grams of protein.


While the premixed bags ring in at $1.49 a bag, you can personalize three different sizes from $1.89 to $2.19 a bag depending on the size. There is no specific charge for ingredients, so even opting for more expensive ingredients won't affect the overall cost!

Why pay so much for small bags of trail mix when you could just make your own at home? If you are like me, portion control is awesome, and these bags keep the individual portions fresh. You are also paying for the convenience of not having to buy large bags of everything and mix the exact portions yourself and calculating the nutritional information. Finally, how cool is it for you (or your kid) to have snacks with your own name on it?!?

All in all, I believe the You Bar folks have found another niche in the customizable foods market, which they are filling with 10 different nuts, 11 different fruits, 5 different seeds, 4 different crunchy grains, and 12 other tasty additions. Try mixing up your own trail mix and let us know what you come up with!