There’s a new company putting out products called “Unreal – Unjunked Junk Food”. Basically, they’ve taken the five most popular (I assume) chocolate bar type candies (M&Ms original, M&Ms Peanut, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Milky Way, and Snickers — all trademarks of their respective owners) and they’ve recreated them (not unlike copy cat recipes) using natural ingredients and natural dyes.
This is great and all but is unjunked candy really all that good? Even if it’s “better” for you? and I put better in quotes because is it really better? It’s certainly not healthier, or lower calorie, but it does come with fewer chemicals.
So here’s the comparison – and this review is brought to you by BzzAgent, where I get free products in return for my unbiased review of said products. If I like them, I tell others about them. If I don’t like them, I tell BzzAgent and the company — but just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s not good and won’t work or be liked by someone else. Which is why BzzAgent also sends along samples to give to others and coupons you can give to other people so they can try the product as well.
In this particular Bzz Kit I was provided with one coupon for a free Unreal product, and five buy-one-get-one. I used three of those and gave the other two to the cashiers at Michael’s (where I finally found the product) because they wanted to try them. Naturally I let them know about BzzAgent so they could check it out as well.
Speaking of finding the product, I searched for WEEKS for these. I checked Walgreens locations and CVS all over St. Louis to no avail. Finally I posted on the Unreal Facebook page and they told me I could find them on Euclid (a bit of a drive) or at Staples or Michael’s. Not really places I’d expect to find candy but sure enough today I was out near a Michael’s and stopped in and was able to find all five products.
Update 10/01: I was at my local Walgreens just down the street, and after seeing someone else post on BzzAgent that they found them in the clearance area I checked there and sure enough $0.49 each on clearance. Not a good sign for this product.
As you can see, they have great packaging. It’s very eye catching and modern. And you know what’s inside because of the (very realistic) photos on the packages. Kudos to them for doing this.
Peanut Butter Cups (Unreal 77)
Once I got home I decided to try each product so I could get a taste for what I was dealing with. I started with the Peanut Butter Cups (called Unreal77).
They look a fair amount like their national brand competitor, a little smaller (18 g each instead of 21 g) and the flavor was close to the national competitor just not as sweet. The chocolate had more of a bittersweet taste to it than milk and the peanut butter filling was missing the butterscotchness of the national competitor but still had the slight grainy feeling one expects when eating a peanut butter cup. They aren’t as sweet as the national competitor … however, that doesn’t mean they’re any healthier.
Here’s the comparison that UnReal provides:
Upon first glance it looks good right? Only 11 g of sugar, that’s 10 g less than the competitor! But wait … it’s not quite that clear cut.
When broken down and compared gram for gram, which comes out on top? There are more calories and more fat in the Unreal product than in the competitor’s product. But … there is more Fiber and more Protein in the Unreal products. So which wins out? I say Unreal in this case. The fiber and protein make up for the small increase in fat.
| Size | Unreal | Per 10 g | Competitor | Per 10 g |
| Calories | 190 | 52.78 | 210 | 50.00 |
| Sugar | 11 | 3.06 | 21 | 5.00 |
| Total Fat | 12 | 3.33 | 13 | 3.10 |
| Carbs | 18 | 5.00 | 24 | 5.71 |
| Fiber | 3 | 0.83 | 1 | 0.24 |
| Protein | 5 | 1.39 | 5 | 1.19 |
Chocolate Caramel Nougat Bar (Unreal 5)
Let’s move onto the next product, the Chocolate Caramel Nougat Bar.
Looks pretty standard right? When I tasted it, it tasted okay, but really reminded me of a protein bar. A little gritty, hard to chew. Tasty, not too sweet, but not something I’d buy again. Let’s check out the Unreal comparison:
Nineteen grams of sugar vs 35? Sounds like a winner doesn’t it? Let’s compare gram for gram.
| Size | Unreal | Per 10 g | Competitor | Per 10 g |
| Calories | 170 | 37.78 | 270 | 46.47 |
| Sugar | 19 | 4.22 | 35 | 6.02 |
| Total Fat | 7 | 1.56 | 11 | 1.89 |
| Carbs | 28 | 6.22 | 41 | 7.06 |
| Fiber | 5 | 1.11 | 1 | 0.17 |
| Protein | 4 | 0.89 | 2 | 0.34 |
It really is a winner. It has fewer calories, less sugar, less total fat, fewer carbs, more fiber (A LOT more), and more protein than the competitor. Definitely a winner in the healthier category.
Chocolate Caramel Peanut Nougat (Unreal 8)
This one tastes pretty good, very much like a snickers without the overwhelming cloying sweetness. I would definitely eat this one again. It had a very nice texture, good flavor, but really just a bite or two will do.
Though it looks like the caramel is a little gritty it’s actually not bad at all. Now onto the comparison …
Looks good, almost half the sugar … fat though, 12 g vs 14 g, that’s not looking too good.
| Size | Unreal | Per 10 g | Competitor | Per 10 g |
| Calories | 200 | 40.82 | 280 | 47.70 |
| Sugar | 17 | 3.47 | 30 | 5.11 |
| Total Fat | 12 | 2.45 | 14 | 2.39 |
| Carbs | 25 | 5.10 | 35 | 5.96 |
| Fiber | 5 | 1.02 | 1 | 0.17 |
| Protein | 5 | 1.02 | 4 | 0.68 |
Now … while the total fat is slightly higher than the competitor, the increase fiber, increased protein, and lower calories make it worth while. If you’re going to buy your kids any of these (and they like Snickers) then get them this one. This is a good swap and tastes good.
Candy Coated Chocolates (Unreal 41)
Like M&Ms? You’ll like these. They taste about the same. The funny thing … I don’t like M&Ms. So I can’t recommend these based on my taste but based on taste specifically, they taste like those little Mmmmm candies. Oh – the key with these ones, the dye that makes them those beautiful colors — all natural!
Something you’ll notice above is the chocolate inside is nice and smooth and a deep cocoa color and flavor. Delish if you enjoy these. But here we go again with the comparison. Looks good on the surface but look at that fat … 10 g for a 42 g serving versus 9 g for a 47.9 g serving. What does that work out to per 10 g?
| Size | Unreal | Per 10 g | Competitor | Per 10 g |
| Calories | 190 | 45.24 | 230 | 48.02 |
| Sugar | 19 | 4.52 | 31 | 6.47 |
| Total Fat | 10 | 2.38 | 9 | 1.88 |
| Carbs | 24 | 5.71 | 34 | 7.10 |
| Fiber | 3 | 0.71 | 1 | 0.21 |
| Protein | 4 | 0.95 | 2 | 0.42 |
Yup, the fat still is a bit of an issue. And in this case, even the increased fiber and protein doesn’t make them worth it.
But what about the peanut ones?
Candy Coated Chocolates with Peanuts (Unreal 54)
These were enjoyable, great chocolate flavor, nice crunch, fresh peanuts. I’d eat these again.
The colors are nice too. Especially that purple, really beautiful. And onto the sad thing … or is it?
Nutritionally how does the Unreal brand work out?
| Size | Unreal | Per 10 g | Competitor | Per 10 g |
| Calories | 200 | 47.62 | 250 | 50.71 |
| Sugar | 16 | 3.81 | 25 | 5.07 |
| Total Fat | 11 | 2.62 | 13 | 2.64 |
| Carbs | 20 | 4.76 | 30 | 6.09 |
| Fiber | 3 | 0.71 | 2 | 0.41 |
| Protein | 6 | 1.43 | 5 | 1.01 |
Not too bad. Lower calories, fewer g of sugars, less total fat, fewer carbs, a little more fiber, and a little more protein. These are a good alternative to the national competitor and taste pretty good.
So what’s the overall review? For the Snickers clone and the Peanut M&Ms, go ahead. For the others – stick with your own homemade copycat or go with the original. In moderation of course.
