Snack bars are one of the greatest gifts in the world for college students. They epitomize all the qualities that college students love in food: portable, no mess, and cheap. Simply drop one in your backpack or purse when you're on the way to class and they'll carry you through every snacking emergency imaginable— from forgetting to eat breakfast to when you're too lazy to stop by the dining hall to grab a bite to eat. It's always possible to snack healthy while on-the-go.
My snack bar of choice for all occasions is KIND Bars. They come in tons of different flavors and are notorious for being one of the most popular snack bars around — and for good reason. All KIND bars are made from the highest quality all-natural nuts, fruits, and whole grains. Many flavors contain the benefits of being Kosher, gluten-free, and even dairy-free, but the question on my mind is: are KIND Bars vegan?
Are KINDS Bars Vegan?
The short answer is, no. On the KIND Snacks website under the frequently asked questions page, there's a question asking if their products are vegan. KIND Snacks says that most of their products contain honey, which may not fall within a stricter vegan diet. Honey is used as an alternative to common sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup.
By definition, vegans do not eat animals or use animal products, and in the vegan community honey is seen as non-vegan. Unfortunately, all of the classic KIND Bars flavors like vanilla blueberry and dark chocolate mocha contain honey, which means that they're not vegan.
#SpoonTip: For all my vegetarian peeps out there, honey is considered vegetarian-friendly, so you can take your pick of whatever KIND Bar flavor that suits your taste.
Meet Pressed by KIND Bars
I scoured through the ingredients list of different KIND Snacks varieties and discovered that they do have a line called Pressed by KIND bars that don't contain honey or any other sneaky non-vegan culprits hiding in the nutrition facts. Each bar is made with real fruit plus ingredients like veggies, chia, or chocolate and is completely vegan. As a sweet bonus, each bar contains five ingredients or less, which is #kindawesome. There are five different flavors of Pressed bars: mango apple chia, pineapple coconut chia, pineapple banana kale spinach, apricot pear carrot beet, and cherry apple chia.
Meet KIND Snacks Fruit Bites
While I have your attention, I might as well tell you about KIND Fruit Bites. These bite-size snacks are made with only real fruit — you won't find any juices, purees, concentrates or preservatives in them. The best part is that they're vegan. Choose from: strawberry cherry apple, mango pineapple apple, and cherry apple (I'm seeing a trend here). I don't know about you, but these fruit bites are making me nostalgic for the good old days when my mom used to pack my lunchbox before school every morning.
KIND Snacks' O.G. bars might not be vegan, but you can always get your snack fix with Pressed by KIND Bars and/or KIND Fruit Bites. Pick one or slip both into your bag when your on-the-go — no judgement here. Happy snacking!