NEW! Lumberjack Protein Packed Flapjacks (Online)

If you follow me on Instagram you may already know that I have recently returned to the gym after a break of a few years. With my mission to tone up and gain muscle mass, one of my concerns is how to get enough protein into my diet. I don't eat a huge amount of meat, and often prefer to have peanut butter at lunchtime instead of something more sensible. Fortunately there are a veritable plethora of high protein products available on the market now; some of which I've found to be utterly delicious (the vanilla and fruity Icelandic Skyr pots for example) and others I've found inedible (such as the B'Jammin PB&J and Protein Active Peanut Chia Blast bars). 

I was thrilled to recently receive a huge box of Blackfriars Bakery treats to review, which included a trio of Lumberjack Protein Packed Flapjacks. I'd never heard of Lumberjack before, but then I read the attached note and discovered that they are a new branch of the Leicester based company. I was a bit dubious about the flapjacks as I'd had such a bad experience with the PhD Protein+ Peanut Butter flapjack -so bad was it that it ended up in the bin! Would these be the same? I hoped not, especially as they came in such interesting sounding flavours.. Each of the flapjacks contains between 22-23% protein, are gluten free and suitable for vegetarians.

Ginger, Orange & Dark Chocolate

I love the packaging of all of these bars, they look really colourful and I imagine that they would really stand out on the shelf against their competitors.

As you can see, there was a decently thick layer of dark chocolate topping. It smelt like a normal flapjack, which sounds silly, but I was expecting the pungent chemical/whey protein odour that I'd experienced in the past. 

Biting into it, I would have been forgiven for thinking I was eating a regular flapjack. It was soft, squidgy and buttery -thanks to the inclusion of real butter. Thank the lord! The chocolate wasn't particularly dark, but I preferred it that way. Combined with the orange flavour which infused the oats, the flapjack tasted remarkably jaffa cake-esque. That was until I hit the ginger, which didn't enter every mouthful but occasionally injected it's warm, spicy tones into the bar. 

I was impressed.

8/10

Vanilla Flavour Fudge With Chia & Hemp Seeds

I was a bit surprised when I peeled back the wrapping and discovered the naked bar beneath, Where oh where was the fudgy topping I expected?

Once I had bitten off my first chunk, I forgave Lumberjack entirely. I'm not the world's biggest advocate of chia seeds (they seem a bit tasteless and therefore pointless to me) but the flavour and texture of the bar was amazing! The delightfully sweet vanilla fudge was omnipresent, and the crunchy texture from the seeds kept the bar just as interesting as the ginger did in the first flapjack. 

Another winner!

9/10

Yoghurt Flavour & Mixed Berries

I was actually a little concerned by the time I tried this last flavour in case it was disappointing in comparison to the others. I was therefore pleased when I unwrapped the flapjack and saw a thick yoghurt-y topping. This was looking good.

Sweet bejesus! One of my best friends makes the most incredible white chocolate and cranberry flapjacks, and I kid you not, these tasted so darn similar! I think I'm going to have to check that she's not Mrs Lumberjack in disguise. The tart cranberries and sweetened dried blueberries worked perfectly with the raspberry flavoured oats, offering the ultimate in dried fruit symphony. What made the flapjack taste even more indulgent was the yogurt topping, but that's pretty self explanatory seeing as yogurt coated raisins are one of the best snacks known to man. Note to self: must buy some ASAP.  

10/10

Conclusion

I've been mightily impressed with this new range of protein flapjacks from Lumberjack. They taste less like a health product and more like an indulgent treat. If I were you I'd head on over to Blackfriars' website ASAP -where you can get 10% off until the end of July by using the code 'LUMBERJACK10'.

Many thanks to Lumberjack for the free samples.