I haven't tried the Natural Valley trail mix, but their other bars are generally much better tasting than clif bar. Heck at least they look like food, unlike clif bar which looks like a blob of goo from ground up horse feed and old leather shoes.

Although be careful the chewey bars become bricks below freezing, almost chipped a tooth on one. Clif bar will be harder but still soft enough to chew.

I have it on good authority that only NEW leather shoes are used in the production of Clif bars...

Actually, for what they are, they serve rather well as back up chow. Just don't eat them regularly.

Yeah, I eat them as quick energy boost while on ski lift, clif bar isn't the best tasting but isn't the worst either, I've certainly had worse.

But there an advantage to not being the best, I actually use them for what they are bought for, instead of late night snacks...

Oh and the wrapper on clif bar feels like those recycled plastic (I think Lay's chip used them at one stage but changed after many complaints), so that might be one of the reasons for short shelf life.

All these commercial energy, protein bars are a triumph of marketing over substance with a premium price to match. Bake your own, just throw the ingredients into a bowl, stir then bake. Once cool, vacuum seal or mylar bag them up with an oxygen absorber and save about 4/5th of what you would have paid for a commercial product.

Too much upfront cost.