A Jiggs Dinner nutrition bar? Food company looking for N.L. ideas

A Halifax-based company is looking for flavourful ideas from Newfoundland and Labrador to expand its line of healthy food products.

Halifax-based Made with Local's products now available at more than 100 Atlantic Canadian stores

Curtis Rumbolt · CBC News · Posted: Oct 17, 2016 6:30 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 17, 2016

The mushy, salty goodness of Jiggs Dinner, stuffed into a bar: would you eat it? (CBC)

A Jiggs Dinner-based nutrition bar: Too far-fetched? Or does it just hit the spot?

A Halifax-based company is looking for flavourful ideas like that one from Newfoundland and Labrador to expand its line of healthy food products.

"I feel like a Jiggs Dinner bar probably wouldn't be salt beef and turnip. Maybe it could be a mixed basket of things. Jiggs Dinner could be a good name," Made with Local's Kathy MacDonald told the St. John's Morning Show on Monday.

"Our peanut butter molasses bar is currently called Sticky Squirrel. Obviously, it's not full of squirrel. For some reason, a friend suggested 'Sticky Squirrel' and we were like... that's amazing. Let's do that."

Sheena Russell (left) and Kathy MacDonald started their nutrition bar business Made with Local in Dartmouth in 2012. (Made with Local)

MacDonald, who is from St. John's, and her business partner Sheena Russell started Made with Local four years ago. They began selling their line of nutrition bars made with local ingredients at farmers' markets in Halifax and Dartmouth.

"We thought we could bring a bunch of local Atlantic Canadian ingredients together and make something that is super easy to eat on the go," she said.

"So that's when we started with our Real Food bars... high in protein and high in fibre, naturally, and absolutely no weird stuff."

"There's no weird ingredients in there, that's our whole vibe. It's just real ingredients and locally grown and produced, supporting and telling the story of our farmers and producers in Atlantic Canada."

There's no weird ingredients in there, that's our whole vibe. It's just real ingredients.- Kathy MacDonald

Word spread quickly. Now their products can be found in more than 100 stores throughout Atlantic Canada, including The Natural Health Shop on Stavanger Drive and three St. John's area Sobeys.

The grocery giant recently started carrying Made with Local's nutrition bars and its Loaded Oats instant oatmeal products.

Berries, chocolate, or both?

Now MacDonald and Russell are looking to extend their company's ethos to Newfoundland and Labrador with products based on local ingredients and recipes.

"We always talked about regional flavours. There's amazing growers and producers here in Newfoundland — Dark Tickle, the berries from there, Newfoundland Chocolate Company; all these sort of things."

Made with Local products are now carried in more than 100 stores in Atlantic Canada, including Sobeys. (Made with Local)

"Basically, if we can come up with some Newfoundland-specific flavours, that would be awesome as we grow our product line."

If anyone has a idea for MacDonald, you can contact her through email at [email protected]

"Some people have said a jam jam bar which I think would be awesome. I think it would be cool to do something with partridge berries and white chocolate, you know, anything."

If you don't live near a store that sells the company's products, you can order them online via its website,