The Good: Nutritious, Great taste
The Bad: I often find myself wishing cereal was less expensive . . .
The Basics: Quaker Life Cinnamon cereal is a perfect cereal and the best flavor of the Life-style cereals!
I figured that it was about time I review a cereal that I consider perfect. For that, I had to turn to Life Cereal. I have loved Life cereal my entire life. In fact, there were a few years where I did not have any and when I picked up my next box after three (or more) years of having none, I fell in love with it all over again! This may seem contradictory considering the comparatively low rating I gave to Maple & Brown Sugar Life ( here!), but Quaker Life Cinnamon is an entirely different box of cereal!
I picked up Cinnamon Life again last week, knowing I would review it and at the time, my biggest concern was that the health aspects might underwhelm me, which I have since dismissed, and the new packaging. Quaker, rather bafflingly, has made the packaging for Cinnamon Life virtually identical to that of traditional Life cereal. This is asinine, but because the packaging changes so frequently, it is my hope that this will not remain a concern for very long!
Basics
Quaker Life Cinnamon cereal is an old cereal – it has been around my entire life! - with baked square oat flour pieces. It looks like a refined cereal with each Life square having an open grate-like form that is generally uniform throughout the package. Each piece of Life cereal is approximately 3/4” by 3/4” wide and long and 1/8” thick. The light brown Life are fairly uniform in their appearance, though they tend to have dark brown stripes – the cinnamon flavoring – that give each one some differentiation. The holes in this cereal are ideal for allowing milk to penetrate the cereal and release the full flavor hidden within.
The standard box of Life Cinnamon cereal is 13 oz. That represents approximately twelve servings, but I never seem to get the full twelve out of the box (I suspect my wife snacks on it when am not looking!). This cereal is comprised of just the square cereal bits themselves, with nothing else in them.
Ease Of Preparation
Life Cinnamon 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 Life Cinnamon cereal, pour out three-quarters of a cup (I’ve taken to using a measuring cup) 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. Given that I have been monitoring my intake for several weeks now, I am now able to enjoy only a proper 3/4 cup serving of Life Cinnamon cereal in a sitting, but Quaker makes it hard to stick to just that because of how delicious this cereal is!
For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk with cereal.
Taste
Opening the box, the Cinnamon Life is surprisingly light on aroma. I do not usually associate strong scents with cereal, but the Cinnamon Life has almost no scent when I open the box, which surprised me because it does have a decent flavor.
In the mouth, the Cinnamon Life cereal is dry, but sweet. Cinnamon Life is a cereal that takes a moment on the tongue, at least dry, to reach its full flavor potential. But when it does, it really reaches it! While the outside of each square is sugary and sweet, the center is richly spicy and very dry, just like what one would expect from cinnamon.
Soaked in milk, Cinnamon Life is more overtly flavorful from the outset. The milk seems to act as a conduit, blending the sweet and spice so that every bite tastes uniformly cinnamon-flavored. This cereal is like eating a liquefied cinnamon bun when there is milk in the bowl with it!
Nutrition
Quaker Life Cinnamon cereal is fairly nutritious on its own and with skim milk! Made primarily of whole grain oat flour, sugar, and corn flour, the Life Cinnamon ingredient list degenerates into a chemistry equation after “cinnamon.” This cereal has a lot of preservatives in it.
A single serving of Quaker Life Cinnamon cereal is 32 grams, 3/4 cups. In that serving, there are 120 calories, with 15 calories coming from fat. There is no saturated fat in this cereal, nor is there any cholesterol. With 150 mg of sodium and 2 grams of dietary fiber, this is not a bad dietary choice for those striving to improve heart health. With three grams of protein and 80mg potassium, Cinnamon Life has some decent nutritional elements other cereals do not. On its own, this cereal has significant percentages of nine vitamins and minerals, most notably 100% of the RDA of Folic Acid!
It was when considering Cinnamon Life that I realized that I like the nutritional elements of this cereal just fine. It is a balanced cereal. Unlike some cereals that essentially try to be vitamin pills and squeeze in every possible nutrient, at the greatest possible concentration, Cinnamon Life offers a decent amount of nutrients on the assumption that one will eat other things throughout the day and fill out the rest of the nutrients one needs. I like that thought and Cinnamon Life truly lives up, then, as a part of a day’s healthy meals.
Storage/Cleanup
Life Cinnamon is a cereal, so as long as it is kept sealed in its box, it ought to remain fresh for quite some time. The box of Life Cinnamon cereal I purchased on May 3, 2012 had an expiration date of March 21, 2013. 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 Life Cinnamon cereal is simple as well. Simply brush away crumbs left by it and you are done! It is that simple! This is a cereal that does not even discolor the milk added to it!
Overall
Life Cinnamon cereal is exceptionally healthy and even more delicious, easily making it a perfect cereal!
For other cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Quaker Honey Nut Oatmeal Squares
Special K MultiGrain Oats & Honey
Kellogg’s Fiber Plus Antioxidants Cinnamon Oat Crunch
10/10
For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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