CLIF Pizza Margherita Energy Food

I tried CLIF’s new squeezable Energy Foods, including this Pizza Margherita flavored food. It’s pretty good.


CLIF  Energy Gels

CLIF Energy Foods

CLIF Energy Foods

Have you ever eaten a warm, mushy brown banana halfway through a fondo ride and slapped yourself on the forehead while shouting “I coulda had a V-8!” Avoid your banana remorse with the pizza margherita flavored CLIF Energy Food, which tastes a lot like tomato vegetable juice. It’s surprisingly tasty when you’re craving electrolytes and a little protein and want something with more substance than a sweet energy drink, with a good texture that goes down much better than your standard energy gels.

This Pizza Margherita squeezable is part of CLIF’s new line of organic Energy Foods made with simple ingredients. The salty and savory foods contain protein, fats and electrolytes in addition to a boost of carbs to sustain you on longer activities, while the smaller, sweet fruity varieties provide a good energy boost.

My teen son stole the Sweet Potato with Sea Salt savory sample. He tells me — and I quote — “it tastes like a pureed CLIF bar.” Take that however you will.

The sweet varieties — Banana Beet with Ginger and Banana Mango with Coconut — are wonderful. The flavors are balanced and not cloyingly sweet. If “Banana Beet with Ginger” scares you, don’t worry — the ginger and beet add a nuanced enhancement rather than anything exotic or weird, and I think it beats cleaning a slimy banana peel and fig newton crumbs from your jersey pocket by a long shot. Please remember to pack your trash, which is recyclable.

A 120 gram serving of savory Pizza Margherita contains 9 grams of fat, mostly from organic olive oil and sunflower seed butter; 17 grams of carbs from can syrup and vegetable ingredients including tomato and carrot; and organic quinoa contributing to the 5 grams of protein.

Savory Sweet Potato with Sea Salt contains 12 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs and 4 grams of protein.

The 90 gram serving of Banana Mango Coconut provides 17 grams of carbs, one gram of protein, and 2.5 grams of fat, while Banana Beet Ginger provides 23 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams protein and half a gram of fat.

All CLIF Energy Foods are made from 100% vegan, non-GMO ingredients. That’s right, there’s no cheese or other animal ingredients in your pouch of pizza flavored goodness.

You can find CLIF Energy Food at your usual sports-oriented retailers or buy it by the case online from Amazon.

3 Comments

  1. I coulda swore I mentioned the baby food connection, but I guess it dropped out in editing. The packaging is identical, but the taste and texture are quite different (yes, I’ve sampled baby food 🙂 )

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