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review
2024 One Good Thing wrapper free snack and protein bars - Box of 12.jpg£19.80
VERDICT:
Innovative, eco, wrapper-free design works really well, they're tasty but texture is unexciting and short lifespan could be off-putting
Eco friendly and waste free
Easy to just chuck in your mouth on the move
All good ingredients
Short lifespan
Texture won’t appeal to all
Weight:
566g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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One Good Thing wrapper-free oat and protein bars are a unique and worthy take on the usual cycling back-pocket snack in that they aren't enclosed in a plastic wrapper, using an edible beeswax-based coating for protection instead. They're easy and resilient to pocket, and simple to eat on the move, although being all natural, including the covering, without any preservatives, they suffer from a short best before date.
> Buy now: One Good Thing Best Sellers Box Bundle for £19.80 from One Good Thing
One Good Thing was founded by father and son Mike and Daniel Bedford. As a keen cyclist, Mike was shocked by the amount of plastic waste in the British countryside, so set out to do something about it. Daniel has a scientific background and used this to create a plastic-free product with an edible coating to replace a traditional plastic or paper wrapper. The bars don't have any artificial additives or preservatives, or soya or palm oil, and they're delivered in a recyclable cardboard box. Absolutely nothing to complain about there, although note that all of the bars may contain nuts.
One Good Thing offers a choice of five oat and five protein bars, in a range of flavours. You can buy the bars in a box of six or 12 and custom build them with your favourite flavour combos.
All the oat bars contain 43% oats (apart from the Orange and Carob one which has just 41%) and are full of other nice things like honey, sunflower seeds and date paste. The protein bars have a lower fat content than the oat ones, a little less carbs, and over double the protein (which is derived from fava beans and peas).
Suspicions about how a One Good Thing bar might be to chew with its edible yet protective outer coating were quickly dispelled as it feels... totally fine. There is an initial firm resistance to the beeswax-based coating but that soon gets munched away and despite there being a few residual bits of what I can best describe as fibre, the outer is unnoticeable.
One thing that does feel odd, though, is that the bar has no 'bits' in it. As it's an all-natural product, there might be a part of you that expects some sort of healthy feeling structure, with discernible whole ingredients... a bit of body and maybe some crunch and munch to the bar, with nuggets of fruit and seeds in there to remind your mouth that it's got nice things in it. There's none of that to a One Good Thing bar; it has the uniform consistency of an old school energy bar. It's been a long while since I've had a Powerbar but the mouth feel is similar to that, but less chemically, more malleable and a whole lot nicer.
The One Good Thing bars are firm and slightly dry, so they're definitely helped down by a slug or two of water. I'd quite like to have a bit of texture from the sunflower seeds and dates that are in there to make them a bit more involving and pleasurable to eat but that's just me, their consistency does make them incredibly easy to chew and digest though.
While I liked them all, none of them are absolutely saturated with flavour, and have instead what you might call a subtle hint of a taste, some of which you have to think about a bit. Which is no bad thing really as some energy bars can be a bit cloying if you're nibbling on a few of them after a while.
Fears that without a traditional wrapper of any kind the OGT bars would get covered in the muck, rubble and fluff of the bottom of a rear jersey pocket or insides of a bag turned out to be totally unfounded, and the beeswax-based covering magically shuns off whatever might be lurking in the corners. Even after multiple rides, when the bars rattled about but remained untouched and transferred to the next ride, they showed no worrying after-effects that impacted on your willingness to put them anywhere near your mouth.
One Good Thing does say they can be given a quick rinse if they're a bit grubby and a quick blow just won't do. A couple of them managed to sustain serious dents in transit somehow but the covering remained unpunctured.
The lack of a wrapper does have very handy practical as well as environmental bonuses as you can easily just fish one out of your pocket and shove it straight in your mouth without the fiddle and faff of trying to open a wrapper with your hands or rip desperately at it with your teeth, because not everyone can sit up and ride along hands-free casually opening an energy bar. There's also the bonus of not having to put an empty wrapper back in your pocket and dispose of it at ride's end, or maybe have it fall out like all those wrappers and dead gels I've seen in the verge. All of this is great stuff.
The One Good Thing bar is a relatively small size compared to many other energy bars. It's a couple of quick mouthfuls, which might just be enough to get you to where to need to go, or not enough. Whether that means it stops you having half a bar mooching around in the bottom of your pocket that you're unsure what to do with when you get home, or you need to carry multiple OGT bars with you on a ride to keep up with your calorific intake will be very rider and distance dependant.
Value
Full price for one OGT bar is from £1.20 for an oat one and from £1.44 for a protein bar, but there always seems to be some discount or other available which eases that a bit. The bars are only 39g, which is smaller than some, so factor that into your maths to see if pound for pound they're worth your money, but bear in mind the wrapper-free feature is going to cost over standard packaging. Taking up a subscription makes things cheaper.
They're a similar price to a Clif Bar Mini (£1.19, 28g), a far more hearty bar than the OGT, which has its plus points, although they can cloy after a while. They're vegan too.
Rawvelo tries to do its best for the planet with a range of Organic Energy Bars that are 100 per cent plant-based, organic and made with natural ingredients, and all the packaging is recyclable. Suvi liked the texture and flavour of all the bars, though felt they were a little date heavy. They're around £2 each, for a 45g bar.
Styrkr's rice energy bars are made in the UK, vegan and gluten free. At 72g they're almost twice the size of the One Good Thing bar, which goes some way to justifying their price of £2.75. They come in an easy-open foil pack to ease on-the-move snacking. We have a review coming soon...
I always struggle with the price of energy bars targeted at the active sports market, but then I'm not particularly bothered about any highly tuned ingredients and scientific carb vs fat vs energy mix or whatever nutritional wizardry will keep me at the peak of my performance as part of a fuelling strategy, and I can't remember the last time I chose to neck a gel. I am a simple fan of real food and am happy to buy whatever nutty fruity bar might be on offer in the supermarket. The One Good Thing bars are, to be fair, nice enough to eat on their own and OGT does emphasise their wrapper-free, easy to eat and digest, tasty features over any performance figures so I guess the target market is those who want a more responsible on-the-move snack, although their ability to be thrown into your face really easily without fiddling with a wrapper will be a definite benefit if you're a racing type and needs some fast food.
In case you're interested, though, the oat bars have 570 to 590kJ of Energy per 39g bar depending on flavour, with the Carob and Orange one punching a bit more with 613kJ; this equates to between 137 and 147kcals per bar. Carb content hovers around the 22g per bar for the oat bars and mid 18s for the protein bars. The protein bars have a little less Energy kJ per bar at 545 and 568, with 130kcals of energy across the board and carbohydrates in the mid to high 18gs. A swift look at other energy bars has the One Good Thing comparable to many others.
Conclusion
One obvious drawback, for me at least, is the short use by date; because they contain no preservatives and aren't wrapped in plastic, they have a shelf life of about three months. I'm not a person who requires a snack on every ride and I own plastic-wrapped bars that have been put into a back pocket at the start of a ride as a 'just in case' and taken back out at the end of a ride so often that their best before date is intelligible and it's done enough mileage to have its own Strava page. There's every chance I wouldn't even get through a box of six in time, and I reckon I'm not the only one out there who has an energy bar that's been on multiple rides. That said, I munched a few One Good Thing bars well after the best before date had passed in the interests of Science, and apart from them tasting noticeably drier, I can report no ill effects.
Overall, the concept of these wrapper-free snacks bars is a laudable one, and as well as removing plastic from your back pocket ride waste it does have a great practical application in allowing a seamless pocket to mouth transition without any unwrapping faff. The flavours aren't overpowering or sickly, and the beeswax coating doesn't hinder in any way while simultaneously doing a great job of protecting the bar. The texture-free composition of the bar does lead to a disappointing mouth feel, though, and the short lifespan might be more of a barrier than a bit of plastic to many.
> Buy now: One Good Thing Best Sellers Box Bundle for £19.80 from One Good Thing
Verdict
Innovative, eco, wrapper-free design works really well, they're tasty but texture is unexciting and short lifespan could be off-putting
road.cc test report
Make and model: One Good Thing wrapper free oat and protein bars - Box of 12
Size tested: 12 pack
Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it?
One Good Thing are 100% natural, pocket-sized oat and protein bars. Wrapper-free the edible coating acts as a replacement for a traditional plastic or paper wrapper. With no need to stop and tear open any fiddly wrappers, they're easy to eat and digest.
OGT says: "The world's first wrapper free oat and protein bars
Stay energised with our 100% natural, pocket-sized oat bars – easy to digest and wrapper-free, so you can ride on with zero distractions.
We're a small startup with big ambitions, founded by father-son Mike and Daniel Bedford.
As a keen cyclist, Mike was shocked by the amount of plastic waste in the British countryside, so set out to do something about it. Daniel then used his scientific background to create a product that was completely plastic free with a fully natural, edible beeswax-based coating.
Our edible coating acts as a replacement for a traditional plastic or paper wrapper. Putting convenience first, this means that there is no need to stop and tear open any fiddly wrappers.
OGT bars are the easiest snack a cyclist can eat on the move. Pop a bar in your jersey and you're good to go - spend less time refuelling and more time enjoying."
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product
OGT lists:
NO PLASTIC WRAPPER!
No additives or preservatives
Source of fibre
High in pea protein (protein range only)
NO SOYA OR PALM OIL
Delivered in one 100% recyclable box
Rate the product for quality:
7/10
Rate the product for performance:
7/10
Rate the product for value:
5/10
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
The wrapperless design works really well; it's an effective protective layer and makes the One Good Thing bar incredibly fiddle free to eat on the move. Flavours are tasty and energy levels on a par with similar products.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
No wrapper waste, no riding along wrapper opening faff, easy to eat.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
The mouth feel was disappointing, and the price.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
The Clif Bar Mini is a similar price and size (£1.19, 28g). It's a far more hearty bar than the OGT, which has its plus points, although they can cloy after a while. Vegan too.
Rawvelo tries to do its best for the planet with a range of Organic Energy Bars that are 100 per cent plant-based, organic and with natural ingredients, while all the packaging is recyclable. They're around £2 each, for a 45g bar.
Styrkr's rice energy bars are made in the UK, vegan and gluten free. At 72g they're almost twice the size of the One Good Thing bar, which goes some way to justifying their price of £2.75. They come in an easy-open foil pack to ease on-the-move snacking.
Did you enjoy using the product? Mostly; while waste free, conveniently easy to eat and tasting okay, the texture is a bit meh.
Would you consider buying the product? Probably not; I'm more of a what's-on-offer energy bar kinda guy, and the short best before date would be an issue for me.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
There's lots to like about the One Good Thing bars. The integrated edible wrapperless covering is a little bit of genius when it comes to reducing ride day plastic waste and it makes them a cinch to eat on the move. The flavours are tasty and not overpowering, although the texture is uninspiring, but they are easy to digest. The short best before date could be their Achilles heel, unless you're a continual ride snacker.
About the tester
Age: 50
I usually ride: It varies as to the season. My best bike is: The one I\'m on at the time
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, cyclo cross, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Fun
Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.
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Add new comment
28 comments
I've worked my way through a gifted box of these, and the review tallies exactly with my own experience.
"...the beeswax-based covering magically shuns off whatever might be lurking in the corners. Even after multiple rides, when the bars rattled about but remained untouched and transferred to the next ride, they showed no worrying after-effects that impacted on your willingness to put them anywhere near your mouth." I find this really hard to believe - nevermind the antimicobial characteristics of beeswax, there's still a bunch of other stuff, like viruses and mould, and all kinds of dirt, and none of these are necessarily visible to the naked eye, are they? Or have any taste. Yet they operate at that level with all kinds of impacts on our health. I need much more convincing than a cycling journalist writing about the "magic" of beeswax to be convinced that all is fine and dandy especially after multiple rides.
I do sympathise with reviewers trying to find things to say about what is essentially a pretty basic product – a few years ago I had a commission to write an advertising blurb for shoelaces, for heaven's sake* – but has anyone ever eaten an energy bar or similar product and said, "goodness me, the texture is quite exciting!"?
*I still think they should've gone with my original suggestion, "Shoelaces, they're better than nailing your shoes to your feet."
"Volvos: they're boxy but they're good."
Shoelaces - double up as a tourniquet. Very useful for parts of London.
Personally, I'm a fan of the advertising hoardings at Fulchester Rovers approach to advertising.
Drink beer.
Smoke tabs.
Sleep in beds
Etc
IIRC George Mikes provided some good suggestions in "How to be a Brit": (don't have book to hand so these will be mis-quotes).
"Try our products - they're not far off our competitors'."
"Some people like our biscuits. You might be one."
A brilliant line from a comedian friend of mine (may only be understood by older readers): "If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, have a chocolate biscuit. I see no need to introduce a membership system."
Wrapper free? What's that geet big box they come in, then?
Twenty quids for only half a kilo of stodge? Pah!
Time for an article containing recipes for proper nutritious home-made oaty-figgy-datey-nana stuff that costs a tenth of these silly cubes of latetesthing (even including the lecky to cook them up).
Um - a box. Which is not the same thing as a wrapper. That's why we have different words for them.
Large essays might be written here concerning the intersects of meaning involved with "wrapper", "box", "container", "packaging", etc.. But to cut the Gordian Knot we need merely ask: does this stuff come with some rubbish/trash/litter/landfill/etc.? Mind, this would need several essays on the intersects of these words and their meanings.
Do the ingredients for your homemade goods not come in packaging? That'll be consumer-sized packaging too, much less efficient on a litter-per-unit-of-stuff scale than the industrial-sized packaging that companies will be using.
I prefer homemade goods too, but let's not pat ourselves on the back too much. We're still consuming excess foodstuffs (along with the all the production/transportation/packaging waste that entails) because we choose to engage in elective calorie-burning that does nothing much but get us right back where we started.
I like the look of these bars. I won't be spending my money on them, but pretty much everything about them seems preferable to other commercially available alternatives.
The stuff we eat comes from non-supermarket sellers who are mostly packaging free - certainly the dates, figs, bananas and oats are all bought "loose".
But yes - gallons of filthy diesel was burnt transporting them from far away and over the oceans (although the oats are Scottish). I would like to buy such stuff transported by sailing ships but, alas, the Cutty Sark is sank or broke up now.
I'd grow me own (there is a fig in the garden) but even the oat seems reluctant to fruit & seed as the Welsh weather swirls about it's stalk. The fig generates about three shrunken fruits per year, that never ripen.
Perhaps I'll attempt a nutricious turnip-based snack? Or even one made of the mangelwurzels too tough for even the local cows.
***********
When I were a boy, 374 years ago, I had a Saturday job in a local grocery emporium in which a majority of stuff was sold "loose", with reusable tough paper bags or ceramic pots used to hold the stuff as it was transported home. The biscuits came in reusable glass-fronted tins, the butter in wooden barrels and the cheese in muslin cloth. Grains were loose, as were dried froots.
Tins, bottles and cardboard were in use to a degree but there was near no plastic; and nothing like the 10% content/90% multi-layer packaging of today. But who other than the packaging manufacturers benefit from the change? Modern packaging is a major element in the choking and poisoning of the biosphere, including we humans. Yet vested interests keep it in vogue.
"It's convenient!" No it ain't - it's just yet another bad habit foisted on us by the producer-consumer madness. And it adds to the cost of what's swaddled in all that packaging. (Materials plus cost of designing the printed-logos, pics of happy eaters and lies about the content).
Cutty Sark is still with us.
She was still there in Greenwich when I cycled past her on Wednesday!
Wot!? Such a goodly ship wasted as an attraction for gawpers with nothing better to do but gawp!?
Why has The Admiralty not recommisioned that boat and sent it not for tea but the coffee beans & chocolate ones* that I prefer, nay, need to fuel the bike thrusters with full-go? It could pick up dates, figs and bananas too.
Cardigan / Aberteifi still has a quay / cei for unloading purposes. I can cycle there and back in a day, even with full panniers. I know 27 different routes via various backroads and even one cycle path.
* Tea is for olde touristers that spend more time in a cafe than pedalling to and from it.
More t'the point why not pressed into service to repel small boats full of migrants? (or for those who insisted on the importance of "deterrence" possibly just sink them?)
A wrapper wraps, whereas a box is boxy. One thing can't do both at the same time, therefore no intersect. They are both examples of containers, and also packaging, but that wasn't at issue
We might equally pertinently ask: does this stuff come with less rubbish/trash/litter/landfill/etc. than an equivalent product that comes in wrappers and also a box, which a potential customer might purchase instead?
Surely please get down on your knees, rappers rap about gats not cats and foil isn't made from oil and can hold your all told
Perhaps you could start the balling rolling by providing an example of such an article, divesting some of your vast knowledge and experience?
*Thinks*
I bought my copy when aged 11, because of the titter-inducing title. My hormones are settling or even fading away now, so these days I tut at such innuendo albeit still enjoying a child-like inner amusement. I mean - just look at the expressions on them two's fizogs. Wot is the Johhnie up to behind the Fanny? To what unholy uses will them chickens be put!?
David Coleman, famously, introducing Grandstand following on from Mrs Craddock's show, "I hope you enjoyed the previous programme and that all your doughnuts turn out like Fanny's."
Definitely comes with a mental side order of puns, a la mode for the 1970s...
For you? Some Cugel recipes?
One feels that your nozzle is already turned up and sniffing distanefully at such things. Shirley you will prefer a large and garishly decorated box of the latest sugary stuff wrapped in a piece of litter with a large logo on it and an endorsement from some TdF sleb?
The Cugel I knew typically prevailed on others to prepare food. But I was always curious about the porridge of drist and raisins enjoyed on the Galante.
Definitions aside, that is a ridiculous amount of cardboard. Is the double wall really necessary to protect the product?
I'm presuming internet obtained goods so would have to survive postage.
I make my own flapjacks, and a lot of very delicious and sweet traybakes, but each to their own.