Grenade
Shop Grenade protein bars, ready to drink shakes, protein spreads and energy drinks. We explain how the formats differ, when a bar is the practical choice and what to check on the label before you buy.Read more →
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Grenade protein bars, shakes and snacks explained
Grenade is a British sports nutrition brand, started in 2010 by Alan and Juliet Barratt. It grew around one product: the Carb Killa® protein bar, with more than 20 grams of protein and little sugar. That same idea, protein you can eat with one hand, still shapes the range.
What sits in the Grenade range
The line-up is wider than the bars most people know. You will find full size and snack size protein bars, ready to drink protein shakes, protein spreads for toast or porridge, and energy drinks. There are also vegan bars, protein biscuits and oat based bars. Flavours rotate faster than the recipes do, so the choice changes through the year. Grenade sits in our sports range next to the other names in our overview of brands.
Bars, shakes and powder do different jobs
A bar is a snack, not a shake in solid form. It carries fat and fibre as well as protein, so it sits heavier and takes longer to digest. That makes it useful between meals, in a bag or a desk drawer. It is less useful in the ten minutes after a hard session, when something liquid goes down easier. A ready to drink shake is lighter and quicker, which is why many people keep both at home. You can compare formats across brands in our protein bar range.
Why we stock Grenade
We judge sports food the same way we judge a capsule: the form, the dose and whether the combination makes sense. A bar only earns its place if the protein figure is real and the sugar is genuinely low, not hidden behind syrup. Grenade meets that test, and taste matters too, because a bar you dislike stays in the cupboard. We buy directly from the brand, with no intermediaries, so every batch is authentic. Our compliance team checks each product before it goes live, and we test products ourselves. Read how we select our brands.
Honest notes before you buy
Low sugar bars usually rely on sweeteners and fibre instead of sugar. Most people handle them well. A few notice a heavy or bloated feeling after two or three in one day, so start with one and see how you get on.
- Calories still count. A protein bar is food, not a free extra on top of your meals.
- Not a meal. It fills a gap; it does not replace a plate with vegetables and a protein source.
- Read the label per product. Protein and sugar differ between the bar types and the biscuits.
Texture is worth knowing about as well. Chocolate coated bars soften in a warm car and firm up in the fridge. Straight from a cold bag they can be hard work on the jaw, so give one a few minutes in your hand first.
Not everything here is vegan. The vegan bars are marked as such, while the classic bars are built on dairy protein. If you avoid dairy, check the individual product rather than the brand as a whole. The same goes for nuts, since several flavours contain peanuts.
Grenade suits you if you train regularly and find it hard to reach your protein through meals alone, or if you want something sweet that brings more protein than a chocolate bar. If you eat mostly at home, powder gives you more protein per pound spent, and the bars work best as your back-up for busy days. Prefer drinking your protein on the move? The ready to drink shakes cover the same need in a lighter form.
Frequently asked questions
Grenade is a British sports nutrition brand, founded in 2010 by Alan and Juliet Barratt. It became known for the Carb Killa® protein bar, a chocolate coated bar with more than 20 grams of protein and a low sugar content. Since then the brand has grown into a wider range of high protein food: bars, ready to drink shakes, spreads and energy drinks. The focus stays on convenience, food you can eat between a meeting and a training session.
More than most people expect. Alongside the full size and snack size bars, the range includes ready to drink protein shakes, protein spreads you can put on toast or stir through porridge, protein biscuits, oat based bars and energy drinks. There are vegan bars too. The bars remain the core of the brand, but the other formats cover moments when a dense chocolate coated bar is not what you want.
It depends on when you eat it and how hungry you are. Use this as a rough guide, then check the label of the specific product.
| Format | Best for | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Full size bar | Between meals, on the go | Filling, digests slowly |
| Snack size bar | Smaller gap, afternoon dip | Less protein per bar |
| Ready to drink shake | Straight after training | Lighter, less filling |
| Protein spread | Breakfast, home use | Adds protein to a meal |
| Energy drink | Before a session | Contains caffeine, no protein |
There is no fixed moment. A bar works well as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, on a commute, or after training when you cannot get to a proper meal for a while. Because it contains fat and fibre as well as protein, it digests slowly and keeps you satisfied longer than a drink. Right before a hard session it can feel heavy in the stomach, so most people leave an hour, or pick a liquid option instead.
For most people one bar a day is plenty, with two on a heavy training day. Low sugar bars use sweeteners and fibre in place of sugar, and eating several in a row can leave some people feeling bloated. There is also the simple point that a bar carries calories, so it should replace another snack rather than sit on top of your usual food. Build the rest of your protein from meals where you can.
Only the products labelled vegan. The classic bars are based on dairy protein, so they suit vegetarians but not vegans. Grenade does make vegan bars, and these are clearly marked on the pack and in the product details. Allergens matter too: several flavours contain peanuts or other nuts. Because recipes and flavours change over time, check the ingredient list on the product you are actually buying rather than assuming it matches an older version.
For hitting a protein target, powder is usually the cheaper route per gram of protein, and you control the serving size. A bar buys you convenience, not a better protein source. It also brings fat, fibre and carbohydrate, which is useful when you need a snack and unhelpful when you only want protein. Many people use both: powder at home, a bar in the bag. You can compare options in our protein powder range.
No, and it is not designed to. A bar delivers protein and calories, but not the vegetables, varied fats and micronutrients a meal provides. Used as a stopgap when lunch is not going to happen, it is a reasonable choice and better than a chocolate bar of similar size. Used every day in place of meals, it narrows your diet. Treat it as a snack that happens to carry a useful amount of protein.
To keep sugar low while staying sweet and chewy, bars of this type lean on sweeteners and added fibre instead of sugar. Both are poorly absorbed in the small intestine, so part of them reaches the large intestine, where gut bacteria ferment them. That can cause gas or a bloated feeling, especially at higher intakes or if you are not used to them. Introduce them gradually, drink enough water, and keep to one bar a day at first.
