One Good Thing Wrapper Free Oat Bar Review

OGT Energy Bar Review - The Future of Ultra Fuel?

If there is one universal truth in ultra running, it’s that at some point, your pockets will become a sticky graveyard of empty gel packets and flapjack wrappers. We’ve all been there, 60km into a run, tired, hangry and fumbling with a plastic wrapper that refuses to tear, only to stuff the sticky debris back into a pocket because we’re conscientious about not littering.

Enter One Good Thing (OGT)

I’d heard about these "wrapper-free" energy bars for a while and honestly, I was little sceptical. The concept sounded great on paper, but I had questions. Is it hygienic? Does it taste like I’m eating a candle? Will it leave a mountain of crumbs in my pocket?

Thankfully, One Good Thing (OGT) were kind enough to send me a variety box to test out on a my training runs.

100% Wrapper Free Energy Bar

The headline feature here is obvious, there is no plastic wrapper. Instead, OGT bars are coated in a thin, 100% natural beeswax layer which is edible, waterproof and protects the oat bar inside.

This solves one of my biggest nuisances when fuelling on the move, faffing about with wrappers. You literally reach into your pocket, pull it out, and eat it. No rubbish to stash, no sticky residue on your fingers.

I was genuinely interested to find out how the coating would taste, and I’m happy to report that it’s essentially flavourless. It leaves a few tiny residual bits in your mouth, but otherwise, it’s invisible to the palate. The brand compares it to the skin on an apple, you know it’s there but you just eat it without thinking.

Durability: The Rain Test

In true British fashion, I took these out on a training run where the weather was less than ideal (standard UK conditions really). Despite the rain, the OGT bars held up brilliantly. Because of the beeswax seal, they didn’t turn into a mushy oat-soup in my pocket. They remained fresh and intact.

You can rinse them off under a tap or with a flask if they’ve gathered pocket fluff, but I never found the need to.

Taste and Texture

They come in 5 flavours (Lemon Drizzle, Cherry Bakewell, Honeycomb, Chocolate & Orange and Salted Caramel) with my favourite being Chocolate & Orange. Flavour-wise, they're good! They aren’t aggressively sweet or pumped full of artificial flavourings. They taste "real" which is likely due to the all-natural ingredient list and it's a welcome change from the over sweetened aftertaste of some processed foods.

The texture was a slight surprise. Looking at them, I expected a flapjack-style crunch or at least some chunky oats. Instead, once you break through the coating, the consistency is very uniform.

At first, I was caught off guard, waiting for a bite that never came. But mid-run, it makes total sense. The uniformity makes them a lot easier to chew and digest, which is a massive bonus when your stomach is settling during a long effort.

The Specs

For those tracking their macros, here is the breakdown. The bars sit in the sweet spot for hourly intake:

• Calories: 156 - 159 kcal per bar
• Carbs: Approx 23g - 24g per bar

OGT pitch them as being "pocket-sized", which they definitely are, and perhaps running a little bit on the smaller side. However, this design feels intentional. Because the wrapper is the bar, you can’t really take a bite and save the rest for later easily. You commit to the bar and eat it in one go. For me, the smaller size is an advantage here, it’s a quick injection of fuel without the heaviness of a massive slab of oats.

The Niggles

No review is fair without looking at the downsides.

1. Shelf Life: Because OGT uses all-natural ingredients and no preservatives, the shelf life is relatively short at around 4 months, however they are hoping to increase this to 6 months in the near future. You can’t buy a box and leave it in your kit bag for a year like you can with some processed bars. You buy them to use them.
2. Price: At roughly £2.25 per bar (when they're not on offer), they are certainly on the premium end of the spectrum. However, you can bring this down significantly, to around £1.25 per bar, if you sign up for their monthly subscription boxes. When compared to other specialist, sport-specific nutrition products (which often come with a bit of a “sport tax”), the price may be justifiable, especially if you value convenience and the environmental benefit of zero waste.

Final Verdict - Yay or Nay?

Overall, I went from sceptic to impressed. The wrapper-free concept isn’t just a gimmick, for ultra runners it solves a genuine headache. The ease of going straight from pocket to mouth without breaking stride or dealing with litter is fantastic. If they could work on nudging the price down a little bit further they'd be a no-brainer for every runner!

If you are tired of sticky pockets and want a natural, stomach-friendly fuel source that's also plastic (wrapper) free, I recommend giving One Good Thing a go.

OGT Wrapper-Free Bar Discount Code

If you fancy giving them a whirl, the kind folks at OGT have provided a discount code for 20% off your first order. Simply use code: gbultra20 at the checkout. 

If you do give them a go, leave me a comment on Instagram and let me know what you think!

OGT Wrapper-Free Energy Bars

Variety Pack of 12 - From £14.99

Nutrition (Cherry Bakewell)

Ingredients (Cherry Bakewell)

Oats (46%) (Contain Gluten), Brown Rice Syrup, Honey, Glucose Syrup, Date Paste, Sunflower Seeds, Beeswax, Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil, Shea Butter, Chicory Root Fibre, Agave Syrup, Tapioca Starch, Concentrate (Beetroot and Carrot), Emulsifier (Sunflower Lecithin), Natural Flavouring, Vitamin E Oil (Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Vitamin E), Citric Acid.