The Good: Good ingredients, Wonderful flavor
The Bad: Surprisingly not terribly nutritious!
The Basics: General Mills Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond gives Fiber One a granola twist that is not unpleasant, but not incredibly nutritious, either!
Over the years, one of the cereals that has intrigued me most with the way it has been franchised is Fiber One. I enjoy Fiber One cereal (reviewed here!), but I know that it is something of an acquired taste and that I am in the minority of loving the “fish food” cereal. So, trying to diversify from the original cereal makes sense to me and seems to be a good strategy for General Mills. The latest flavor of the franchise I have tracked down is Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond. Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond is notable in that it is a granola cereal, instead of a flake or “pellet” cereal like other Fiber One variants I have reviewed.
At $3.99 a box (locally), Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond is competitively priced for a granola cereal. I lucked out and found mine on clearance, so I am unsure how much longer Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond granola cereal will be on the market.
Basics
General Mills Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal is a very basic granola cereal with a limited dried fruit additive. The cereal comes in a 15.8 oz. box and that’s a little larger than traditional granola boxes. The cereal is comprised of entirely irregular clusters and pieces that range from looking like flat oats to puffed rice pieces. Occasionally, there are tiny pieces of dried cranberries. The almonds are so broken up that they blend entirely with the rest of the granola.
The standard box of Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal is 15.8 oz. That represents approximately eight servings and that is about what I managed to get from my box. This cereal is comprised of just the clusters and dried fruit without any other embellishment or additives.
Ease Of Preparation
Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal is a breakfast cereal, so this is one of the low-impact breakfast options as far as preparation goes! Simply open the box of Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal, pour out a one cup serving (I recommend actually using a measuring cup, especially if you are monitoring your intake) and add 1/2 cup of milk to it. I have discovered, as part of getting healthy, that one of the biggest challenges one might have with breakfast cereal is actually eating the serving size recommended by the manufacturer. This is not a problem with Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond, though, as the one cup serving seems to be a pretty decent amount of the cereal!
For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk with cereal. When milk is added to Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal, much of it gets absorbed into the cereal over the course of ten minutes (so eat it quickly if you want milk and crunchy cereal!).
Taste
Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond smells like honey without any hint of cranberry to it. The aroma is very faint and is accented by the addition of milk. On its own, it only has a scent when one gets one’s nose right up in it!
Without milk, the sweetness of the honey competes with the fairly bland, oat flavor of the granola clusters. The sourness of the occasional cranberry piece is limited to the bite in which the cranberry appears. There is no distinct or noticeable flavor from the almonds in this granola. The honey flavor is fairly weak, especially compared to the grainy granola that dominates the palate.
With milk, the sweetness spreads throughout the entire bowl. Milk also manages to help eliminate the cereals inherent dryness and grainy primary flavor. Interestingly, the addition of milk completely sublimates any flavor from the dried cranberries in the Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal. With the addition of milk, Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond simply becomes a honey-flavored crunchy cereal.
The Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond granola leaves no distinct aftertaste once one is done consuming it.
Nutrition
General Mills Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal is fairly nutritious on its own and with skim milk! Made primarily of whole grain oats, sugar and crisp rice the Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond ingredient list is mostly natural and familiar. This cereal has some preservatives in it, but it also has a separate list of vitamins and minerals, which implies that this is another cereal that has nutrients sprayed onto it. That makes it very important to drink the milk after one has consumed the actual cereal.
A single serving of General Mills Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal is 55 grams or 1 cup. In that serving, there are 220 calories, with 45 calories coming from fat. There is half a gram of saturated, but no trans fats in this cereal, nor is there any cholesterol. With 140 mg of sodium and 5 grams of dietary fiber, this is not a bad dietary choice for those striving to improve heart health. With an impressive six grams of protein and 115 mg potassium, Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond is not bad, but it is not one of the more nutrient-loaded breakfast cereals on the market. Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal only has more than 10% of the RDA of one nutrient (15% of one’s daily Iron).
General Mills includes an allergy warning for wheat, soy, almonds, milk, and pecans, so it is not vegan compliant. It is not marked as Kosher, either.
Storage/Cleanup
Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond is a cereal, so as long as it is kept sealed in its box, it ought to remain fresh for quite some time. Obviously, when you are done pouring the cereal from the box, fold down the plastic inner wrap to help maintain the cereal’s freshness.
Cleaning up after Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal is simple as well. Simply brush away crumbs left by it and you are done! It is that easy! This is a cereal that barely discolors the milk added to it, but because you should drink that up to get all the vitamins and minerals General Mills added to the cereal, that shouldn’t be an issue with staining.
Overall
Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond cereal is not bad, but it is hardly an extraordinary rendition of granola. That makes it a very average breakfast cereal.
For other General Mills cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Peanut Butter Toast Crunch
Multigrain Cheerios Peanut Butter Cereal
Cinnamon Burst Cheerios
5/10
For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!
© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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