Okay, here's a chance for people to put in their two cents over some of the commercial low-carb products out there. This stuff is expensive, so it's probably worth getting someone else's opinions on it before you invest.

Here are a few odds-and-ends that I've tried:

Atkins brand shakes: Yeah, yeah, the staple item. I've only had the Chocolate Royale (very good) and the Vanilla (tastes like Ensure...gack!). They run around $8-9 for a 4-pack in my area.

EAS Advantage shakes: I've only tried the vanilla (another Ensure taste-a-like...never liked that flavor). They run around $7-8 for a 4-pack in my area.

Carb Solutions shakes: I've tried the Rich Chocolate flavor. It's drinkable, and a bit thinner than most other low-carb shakes. They run around $7-8 for a 4-pack in my area.

CARBORITE shakes: Virtually identical to the Atkins brand shakes. Very, very good. I've tried a couple different chocolate versions from them. These are my favorite shake right now. They run around $6.50 for a 4-pack, so the price is right as well.

HERSHEY's Sugar-Free candies: I'm not sure about all the counts, but they seem to be effectively 1-3 carbs per serving of 5 candies (they vary by product). They have Reeses Peanut Butter cups, Hershey Milk Chocolate bars, Hershey Dark Chocolate bars, and Hershey Milk Chocolate bars with Almonds. Great, great, great! I just found them today, and had to try one of each real quick. The candies are a bit smaller than the usual 'miniatures'. They run around $1.50 for a bag of, maybe, 12-15 candies (I haven't counted them).

Atkins bars: Again, tops of the bars, but expensive. I think I've tried all the flavors so far, and I don't have a single negative thing to say about them, other than the price. They run $1.57 per bar here. A box of 6 is over $8.

Carb Solutions Bars: I've tried the Mint Chocolate so far, and have a box of another flavor I haven't tried yet. They are a lot more greasy than most other bars. If you like marzipan, you'll like the texture--but you'll be a minority. They are edible and fairly inexpensive. This is more of a tradeoff between flavor and price than most bars, though. Most boxes come with a $1 off coupon for the next box of 6 bars. Before coupon they run about $6 for a box of 6 bars.

EAS Advantage bars: I have only tried one of them, an apple something-or-another that was meant as a breakfast bar. This is, by far, the most vile, nasty, disgusting, putrid bar I have ever had. I ate one bite and threw away the rest. To make matters worse, they are even more expensive than Atkins. They run $1.75-$2.00 per bar. I will NEVER buy one of them again, even to give another flavor a try.

CARBORITE candies: I've had the "caramel crisp bar" or some such so far. You'll be deceived by the box as to their size--they are less than half the size of your typical low-carb bar. They are, however, very, very good. The chocolate was good, the caramel was very very good, and it had mock rice crisps in the chocolate. I also have another flavor that I haven't tried yet, but I'll report back on them. They run around $4.86 per 6-candy box. Pricy, but good to handle a sweet-tooth urge.

Blue Bunny ice cream bars: I picked up a box of them tonight--it was a 6-pack of Fudge and Fudge/Vanilla Swirl ice cream bars (Fudgecicle type bars). Excellent! I'd swear they were the 'real' thing. I'm not certain off hand, but I think they were around $4 or less for a 6-pack.

CARBORITE Chocolate Bake Mix: It's just soya protein powder with chocolate flavoring and a sweetener, so I've used a bit of it for a couple ice-blended shakes. I haven't used any for baking yet, so I'll report back on it. It has a distinct flavor--it almost has more of a peanut flavor rather than chocolate. As usual, it's around $10 for a 2lb or so canister.

Anyone else care to share their experiences?

Side note that I'd rather post seperately than as an edit:

Most of the talk you hear from people is that nitrates/nitrites, aspartame, sugar alcohols, and products using them (including all the shakes and bars) can stall weight loss. Personally, I haven't found this to be the case with myself. I've experimented with all of them, and nothing seems to affect me. I may just be one of the lucky few.

If you found something stalled you, feel free to add that in. I'm sure it will affect someone else the same way.

BradH:

I agree with you 100% about the Blue Bunny ice cream! I have been eating their various sugar & fat free ice cream concoctions for about a year now and I swear you can't tell the difference between those and the stuff with sugar. They use Splenda in their sugar free ice creams so maybe that is why. I got hubby hooked on the BB ice cream too now. He had been eating some and didn't even know it was sugar free. :P

Noodles

Ive tried the Fruit2o and its wonderful $3.49 for a 6 pack. I'll use it as my base for my protein drink once in a while and it works great.

Atkins Enduldge icecream. $5.99 for 4 its good, but Im better off staying away from it. Besides it causes some major gastro problems!

SoyCrisps....very good if you need a crunch and dont like pork rinds. $1.99 for a bag (dont remember the size) about 6 carbs per serving and 7g of protein

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head that hasnt already been mentioned

Here is what I have tried:

Atkins Morning Start Bars.... cinnamon bun and apple crisp. I am not an apple lover, in fact hate them, but the sales girl talked me into them and I have to say I prefer them to the cinnamon ones. They are crispy, more like a breakfast bar. The cinnamon ones have that "carb bar" texture, but the taste is okay, not sure I will buy the cinnamon again, I will stick with the apple. I see they have blueberry muffin too, I hope to find those too and chocolate crisp!

I have also tried the carb solution bars. I think three kinds...chocolate mint, it was okay, some other I can't remember, (that will tell you) and chocolate cappuccino...YUM!!!!! I will definitely look for those! Might run to Walmart right now!!!

I also have bought the Ascher candy bars. I tried a caramel walnut one. I t was kind of like a turtle. It was good; I have a caramel filled and peanut butter one too!

Like Brad I don’t seem to really be having a problem with these items, but I only eat them maybe once a week. The breakfast bar, when I have to hit the road early and the “sweet treats” only once every to weeks. I don’t want to depend on them!

Lily

I'm not sure if I was stalling from the products, or from too many calories, but something did make me stall. I am leaning towards too many nuts and cheese snackies!

This isn't a complete list, but here is what I can think of from the top of my head:

Atkin's Morning Start Bars. I have had Apple and Cinnamon, and I like them both. Cinnamon Bun does taste like it has cream cheese frosting. Of course not cream cheese texture, but it does have that taste! I like Apple because it is crunchy, and about the only thing crunchy I get to eat these days are raw veggies.

Atkin's meal replacement bars: I like the Mocha. The cinnamon were TOO cinnamony for my taste. The others were 'ok'

Ross Chocolate Bars: Mmmmm! I bought them on the internet, and got several flavors. White chocolate was nice.

Golden Farms Candy - I have had Creamy Caramel, Golden Pecan and a Mint Fudge. The caramel and pecan are both like Turtles. Really good, and to me not distinguishable as SF. They are very chewy. The nuts in the pecan candy are ground, and the caramel in both is chewy and tasty, so they last a while. $1.09 at Walgreens, and $1.29 at Food City. By far my most favorite candy!

Atkins shakes - I've only had the chocolate. Pretty good, but sometimes I am tasting them for a while... Oh Brad, I get them a couple of bucks cheaper at the Health Food Store than at the grocery.

La Tortilla Low Carb Tortillas - Really good! The texture is strange...I don't like them in place of tortillas for burritos, but I do like wrapping roast beef and cream cheese in the green onion ones, and I like the whole wheat heated in the oven, then torn and dipped in salsa and/or cheese dip. Also, I like to put pizza toppings in them and roll them up.

Low carb shakes - I make my own in my smoothie maker. I use Designer Whey protein and EAS whey protein. I buy them online in 5 pound jugs, and they are WAY cheaper than any other way I have found. If anybody is interested, I can look in my files and see where I bought them at.

Off the top of my head, that is it!