u/PollardPhotography

I haven’t seen it talked about very often, but the Quest Chocolate Caramel Pecan Crispy Hero is probably my single favorite product from their entire lineup.

This thing has it all: a generous chocolate coating, a thick layer of caramel across the top that works its way throughout the soft and chewy center, and little pieces of pecan throughout.

The flavor is rich without being overly sweet. I especially love how much caramel there is. You actually get kind of a “cheese pull” effect from the caramel when taking a bite, and I haven’t found that in any other protein bar (if you know of another one that does this, please share!)

It’s a Crispy Hero bar, so at 15g the protein is a little lower than you’ll get from most of the standard Quest bars, but it still uses a high quality protein blend of milk protein isolate and whey protein isolate. For me, the tradeoff is completely worth it.

I’m surprised I don’t see this one mentioned more often. Has anyone else tried it? Am I the only one who thinks it’s one of Quest’s best?

I count 169 bars currently on hand, most of them Barebells or Pure Protein.

The majority were purchased at volume on sale, as the price per bar is significantly less- especially if you get the BOGO50 deal from Vitamin Shoppe or GNC.

A few fun facts:

~20 pounds by weight

~3,285 grams of protein

~34,000 calories

Most-stocked flavor: Barebells Peanut Butter & Jelly, 36 bars, followed by Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Caramel, 33. At one bar per day, this is about a 5½-month supply.

The big boy in the collection is the MET-Rx Big 100 at ~400 calories and 30g protein!

Anyone else buy in bulk and keep a large volume on hand?!

An unbeatable deal for 20 grams of high quality protein.

These bars are decent, but not quite as delicious as the best bars in their primary lineup, IMO. I prefer Chocolate Peanut Caramel, Galactic Brownie, and Chocolate Salted Caramel- but these still hit the spot and provide some great protein supplementation!

I recently discovered Kroger released a new protein bar lineup this year under private label brand Simple Truth Organic and they are an *obvious* Barebells dupe.

These may be the high-value answer to your Barebells prayers, with some caveats: I’ve only been able to identify three varieties and availability is limited to Kroger stores.

Each four-pack was purchased on sale for $5.99, or ~$1.50 per bar. For comparison, Barebells four-packs are currently listed for $11.99 at Kroger and several other stores, at $2.99 per bar, though they can be had for a fair bit less through sales.

The similarities are undeniable, with highly similar shapes, sizes, textures, and macros (with slightly higher calories!) From my perspective, they don’t appear to truly be rebranded Barebells, but they have put in a genuine effort to emulate the originals.

Onto my brief thoughts of each bar:

Cookie Dough - The softest bar in the lineup. Tastes very much like a classic protein candy bar. Fairly generic and sweet, but tasty! Highly similar to Barebells Cookies & Cream, which was my first Barebells bar and started my whole love affair with the brand. It is, however, *not* quite as good as the original thing, and the center is less “fluffy” and more like a sponge cake compared to the original.

Chocolate Caramel - Squarely a dark chocolate bar, which is just what it looks like inside. I couldn’t taste or see any caramel, but for those who love ultra rich chocolate, this is the bar for you. Very similar to Barebells Chocolate Dough, but I’d love to hear a direct comparison from a Chocolate Dough enthusiast.

Peanut Caramel - Much chewier than the other two bars and notably dense. It also has a crunchy layer inside which adds great interest to the eating experience and make it feel like a premium bar. Solid peanut flavor but not quite as intense as I’d like. I consider this my favorite among the three, but it does not scratch the peanut itch as much as I’d like it to.

My Ranking:

1. Peanut Caramel

2. Cookie Dough

3. Chocolate Caramel

These are all solid protein bars. The macros are good, the value is insane, and the taste is what you’d expect. If you’re looking to pick up some Barebells-like bars at a Pure Protein price, this is a lineup to look into if you can find them at a nearby Kroger store.

Hi All,

I'm a new homeowner doing my first network setup in an old brick-clad house with a highly unusual tri-level layout. I've been doing a good deal of research and after debating between a TP-Link Deco setup and a fully built out UniFi rack I've settled on something somewhere in the middle and I'm seeking a quick check to make sure I'm not overlooking anything major.

Equipment:

* Cloud Gateway Fiber, no storage

* Flex 2.5G PoE w/ 210W adapter

* Flex Mini 2.5G @ TV area

* 2× U7 Pro XG

* 1× U7 Pro Wall

* 10G SFP+ DAC between the gateway and main switch

* Wired backhaul to all three APs

The Flex 2.5G PoE switch will power all three APs and the Flex Mini. The TV-area Flex Mini and U7 Pro Wall will each have their own interior Ethernet run. The Flex Mini will connect the TV, AVR and any additional temporary wired devices.

The ONT is upstairs in a master-bedroom utility closet, while the gateway and main switch will be in my downstairs home office.

* WAN run from the ONT to the Cloud Gateway Fiber (two cables on this run in parallel)

* LAN/PoE run back upstairs to the upper-floor U7 Pro XG (two cabels on this run in parallel)

Runs will terminate at a trueCABLE 12-port shielded keystone patch panel in the office.

Design Center project: https://design.ui.com/share/99f6d429-a92b-4d4e-acee-03dde1ac3817#key=020b062d-f005-47a1-8b9b-70c41a08488a

(note: The exact cable paths and port assignments may not be perfectly tidy in Design Center, but the planned equipment and general topology are accurate to my plan)

Does anyone see any major equipment, topology, PoE, cabling or AP-placement concerns before I move forward? I am also open to advice on how to cleanly organize this stuff in my office short of buying a whole rack or equipment cabinet.

Thanks so much for any feedback or advice!

Hi All!

I’m planning to replace my current mesh (wireless "backhaul" only) setup with a fully wired UniFi system, and I’d appreciate a sanity check before I pull the trigger. I have 2.5g fiber from my ISP.

The main complication is that my fiber ONT is fixed in a utility closet in the master bedroom, but I want the gateway and main PoE switch in my home office. My plan is to run two parallel Cat6A cables between those locations:

• One carries WAN from the ONT down to the gateway in the office
• The other carries LAN and PoE back upstairs to a U7 Pro near the utility closet

The office switch would feed a second U7 Pro near the office and one Cat6A run to the TV area upstairs and in another corner of the house. At the TV area, a Flex Mini 2.5G would connect the TV, AVR and U7 Pro Wall.

Since the Flex Mini does not provide PoE output, I would put a 2.5G PoE+ injector between it and the wall AP. That should still leave one spare 2.5GbE port which I'll have available on occasion I want/need to hard ware a laptop temporarily.

The house is a tri-level, and my main goals are reliable coverage, wired backhaul for every AP and 2.5GbE connectivity at the important locations. I also use Moonlight for high-bitrate game streaming, so consistent latency and reliability matter more to me than just getting high Wi-Fi speed tests.

Major components:

• Cloud Gateway Fiber
• Flex 2.5G PoE switch with 210W adapter
• 2× U7 Pro
• 1× U7 Pro Wall
• Flex Mini 2.5G
• 2.5G PoE+ injector
• 10G DAC between the gateway and main switch
• Cat6A for all runs

Does the topology make sense as drawn? Is there any problem with using the two parallel runs this way, or with the Flex Mini plus injector arrangement at the TV area? Anything important I’m overlooking before installation?

Thanks in advance for your time and expertise, I appreciate it!

Ordered a 12-pack sight unseen because every review I read made me increasingly confident this would be a hit, and what do you know? It is!

I’m a bit unsure why it’s in the “soft” bar line because the build is really close to a standard Barebells. Maybe the inside is a bit softer, and the macros do fall below the gold standard 10g protein per 100 calories mark, but imo it’s worth it.

Flavor-wise, marshmallow is dominant without completely crowding out the other flavors. I wouldn’t complain about more graham cracker, but it still hits hard as-is. The taste is a fair bit sweet, which I think is expected for anything trying to be s’mores flavored. I could see this being really good with a glass of milk.

I’ve heard this bar really wakes up with a few quick seconds in the microwave, while others prefer their Barebells chilled. I had mine room temp and I’m looking forward to another one tomorrow.

Overall, this is one of my favorite new Barebells bars this year. I’m not sure I know of a direct competing bar like it, but I’ll say it absolutely beats Built Puffs, aside from price and total calories.

Recommended.

Who else has tried this flavor? Would love to hear your thoughts!

My wife and I went to Junah this past Saturday for date night. It’s Italian-Japanese fusion, which honestly sounded like the kind of thing that could be gimmicky, but it really hit the spot!

The food was creative without being outlandish just for the sake of it, and the whole place had a nice upscale but not stuffy feel.

Standouts were the miso Atlantic cod, Aurora crudo, tagliolino al mentaiko, and matcha tiramisu. The cod was the clear winner. My wife said it was one of the best things she’s ever eaten, which is something I haven’t heard from her often!

It’s a bit more of a special occasion spot than a casual dinner, but I left feeling like it was one of the more interesting meals I’ve had in Salt Lake recently. Good service, beautiful plating, and a menu that truly gave us something different from the usual nice dinner options here.

For locals, I’d put it on the date night list. For visitors, I think it’s a good pick if you want something that feels a little more unique to the current SLC food scene.

Anyone else been? Curious what dishes others liked most and would love an excuse to go back and try something new!

Had a really good date night at Junah this past Saturday (6/20/26). It’s Italian-Japanese fusion, which seems like an unusual pairing to me, but I feel it worked very well.

Standouts were the miso cod, Aurora crudo, tagliolino al mentaiko, and matcha tiramisu. The cod was the overall winner. My wife said it was one of the best things she’s ever eaten, which is high praise from her.

Overall, I thought it was one of the more interesting upscale meals I’ve had in Salt Lake recently. The vibe was not stuffy at all, and we had a great time and incredible service.

Snagged these 8 bars for $1.59/ea after the markdown and 10% discount for subscribing to email notifications.

They’re all at least a week out, with some about two weeks from their expiration date- of course they won’t magically go bad on that day.

I wasn’t aware they did this. It’s a great opportunity to get some bars for cheap and/or sample some products you might otherwise not try!

Long-time Barebells fan here! Recently picked up some relatively new flavors to try, and decided to take some photos and put together my brief impressions to share for anyone curious about these bars!

Orange Creamsicle: Tastes exactly like everything you'd hope it tastes like. Wholly unique within the Barebells lineup. Nostalgia and sweetness without being overpowering. If you think you'd like it, you will.

Brownie Batter: Surprisingly restrained. Has a kind of airiness to it that I haven't noticed in other chocolate-centric Barebells bars. This is a *very* solid chocolate bar with no aftertaste and should have a place in the permanent lineup.

Banana Bread: Nut-forward with a moderate banana undertone. This is literally the kind of bar that really delivers on the name. I haven't tried it, but heating this up and having it with some Halo Top could be divine (same idea for Brownie Batter, come to think of it.)

Peanut Butter & Jelly: This really hit the spot for me, but it' may be too much jelly sweetness and not enough PB for the nut lovers. If that's you, there are plenty of other great Barebells PB bars to choose from. Self-identified sweet tooths, you're with me.

My ranking: Orange Creamsicle > Brownie Batter > Banana Bread > PB&J

Not a bad bar in the bunch, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy any of these!