Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder, Banana Cream, 5 Pound (Packaging May Vary)

First off, I've purchased a bunch of different flavors of ON Gold Standard Whey. All of them have close to the same nutritional value, but they vary greatly in taste. Both my wife and I drink these protein shakes as part of our daily diet, and as a product, Optimum Nutrition is great. I've mixed with both milk and water, and all of the shakes mix well and don't seem to clump. I've tried other manufactures whey, and I keep finding myself going back to ON for the price, nutritional value, and above all the taste.So the flavor question. As I mentioned, each flavor has a different characteristic from the others. Some are bland, some taste sweet, some taste overly fake. We loved some, and we hated some. Below is a list based on what we like so far and why. Bear in mind that I hate diet drinks for their bad aftertaste. The drinks don't have to be sweet for me to like them, but I can't stand the garbage aftertaste of fake sweeteners.The best flavors:Rocky Road - By far the single best tasting flavor. The downside is that it does taste a little sweet. The nutritional value is right on with the other flavors, but it is a bit sweet. I could drink this all day. If you only buy one flavor, this is it. There is no real aftertaste, and the flavor is great.Extreme Milk Chocolate - Another good flavor with almost no aftertaste. This one tastes like chocolate, and doesn't have a fake taste to it. If you are looking at the chocolate flavors, this one is perfect.Natural Vanilla - This is a slightly different product, and it comes in a tub with yellow labeling instead of the red. It's on Amazon for the same price, and it has the same nutritional values. They claim it has less artificial sweeteners in it, hence the natural label. In any case, this is the best vanilla out there. There is no aftertaste, and it tastes like vanilla milk. It is not as sweet as the others, but it the single best vanilla flavor I've found.The middle of the road flavors:Cookies and Cream - This one is both good and bad. If you like the creamy vanilla taste, you will like the flavor. It doesn't have a bad aftertaste, but it is sort bland. It is sweet, but bland. Also, the cookie chunks in it don't dissolve. This is the only flavor so far that has bits of stuff that you are swallowing when you drink it. It's odd. That said, I have reordered it in the past.Chocolate Malt - It's just OK. The flavor is a little odd because of the malt. Given the choice, just order the Extreme Milk Chocolate.Caramel Toffee Fudge - Again, just OK. They tried too hit to many flavors with this one, and it just turned out odd. Not a bad flavor, but don't start out here. I got bored so I tried it. I doubt I'll order it again.And the bad:Double Rich Chocolate - This flavor sucks. It tastes like fake chocolate. Not good fake chocolate, but generic fake chocolate. It has that bad aftertaste of fake sweetener, and is all around not good.Vanilla Ice Cream - Another swing and a miss. This flavor tastes like bad fake powdered milk. It has that bad aftertaste, and is probably the single worst flavor they have. If you are looking for vanilla, avoid this at all costs and get the Natural Vanilla.Tropical Punch - Another fake tasting flavor. When I got this, I could barely get through the first few shakes. Eventually it grew on me a little bit, and I was able to drink it without hating it. It tastes like strawberry milk with a bunch of fake sweetener. It's just wrong, and is not something you want to drink after a workout.I know that taste varies from person to person, so take this with a grain of salt. I hate the taste of fake sweetener, so this list draws from that. I've taken to buying the 2lb tubs to try out a flavor, and then going with the 5lb tubs if I like it. It costs a bit more that way, but it means there is only 2lbs to choke down if you get a flavor that you hate.Enjoy!

t doesn’t taste chalky or fake like some protein powders. The chocolate flavor actually tastes good, and it mixes smooth in just a shaker bottle. I use it after workouts and sometimes even toss it in my oatmeal. Works great, no weird aftertaste, and keeps me full.

I just started working out again after being out of it for years. Now that I’ve been steady for a few months, I wanted to work some more protein into my daily routine so I wanted to try this. I like to drink coffee each day, so the mocha cappuccino flavor was suggested.At first, I tried to mix it in with my daily coffee to see if I could make a combination, but that didn’t taste great. However, using cold water and ice cubes, if you mix two of the scoops with 14 ounces of water, it tastes almost exactly like Yoohoo. I placed it in the freezer for about 30 minutes already mixed up and then shook it really well afterwards, and it was incredibly easy to drink, tasted great and did not have any crazy aftertaste. Even my kids tried it and agreed with the Yoohoo opinion.I will probably continue purchasing this flavor because it’s very easy to drink and has very low sugar as well. It seems to mix really well without any clumps.

It was packaged tight and nicely. Nothing spilling out or bent or anything. Package got here fast. Wasn't too expensive for the 29 servings which was great. This is my husband's favorite flavor. It's creamy and mixes well. I enjoy it as well. Very good protein powder.

I'm not sure this is truly 10lbs of the product. I have been using the same product for a while but I have always purchased it in the 2lb canisters which I never discarded after emptying them. I knew I'd find a use for them one day. And I did. I thought I'd save some money, buy in bulk and purchase the 10lb bag. The thought of scooping out of a flimsy bag seemed less easy than scooping out of a rigid canister with a wide opening. So I decided to pour the 10lb bag into my empty 2lb canisters. To my surprise it only filled four of the 2lb canisters. That's 8lbs.I'm sure someone will say the product is sold by weight and not volume but that doesn't make sense in this scenario. It's the same exact product. When sold as a 2lb canister it comes filled to the top. How could I possibly get more than 2lbs of product into one of those canisters when the manufacturer couldn't? And if anything, me pouring the product from the bag into the canister would have the reverse effect of product settling. It would potentially unsettle, fluff up and take up more volume. Not less. It should either take up the same amount of space or even more space due to reversing the product settling. Something isn't right and I think I'm not receiving the benefit of buying in bulk and saving money.I thought I'd pass that info along. Something to think about for sure. Its a great product that mixes well, tastes good and can supplement your protein intake to reach your daily intake goals.

I work out with a personal trainer and he was surprised by the struggles that people with celiac disease face when trying to put on muscle. Not only do we deal with reduced ability to absorb nutrients from regular food, we also have to navigate the never-ending labyrinth of products that claim to be gluten free, but still have gluten contamination from factory environments.As someone who is extremely sensitive to even the smallest amount of gluten, I can say that this protein powder has never let me down. It helps me get extra protein easily so I can fill in my deficiencies and fuel muscle growth, and I haven’t ever had a bad reaction to it. It tastes good, it dissolves extremely easily with just a shaker bottle and it’s one of the most affordable quality powders I’ve found.