Delightful For What It Is: Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars Satisfy!

The Good: Very tasty, Very healthy, Surprisingly filling
The Bad: Comparatively expensive
The Basics: Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars are a decent meal replacement bar with a surprising number of nutrients and a yummy flavor!


There are very few meal replacement bars that I truly love. So many of them taste like something mealy and gross and unlike their promised flavor. So, when I find one that actually tastes like what it promises to be, I actually get excited. I am excited about the Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars!

Basics

Special K is perhaps best known for making the breakfast cereal that is a classic, but a little bland. Special K Protein bars are part of Kelloggs’ expansion into meal and snack bars. Their Meal Bars come in several flavors and I chose the Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bar because I love chocolate mint foods.

Each Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bar is in a 1.59 oz. bar that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and the Meal Bars are each 1 1/8” wide by 5/8” thick by 4 1/8” long. The Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars are unsurprisingly breakable or squishable. A box of Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars contains only five bars. Each bar looks like a simple chocolate bar.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars is simple. After removing the foil wrapper, simply pull out the bar and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating this meal bar; it is an entirely ready-to-eat food!

Taste

Unwrapping the Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bar, I was thrilled by how the bar smelled strongly of chocolate and mint. The mint and mild chocolate aroma is distinct and enjoyable to those who like those flavors (which includes me).

In the mouth, the Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars are sweet with a fairly light milk chocolate coating. The sweet milk chocolate melts way fairly quickly to expose the minty center. The sweet, cool, peppermint is muted by the chocolate coating and its protein isolate medium - which tastes like uncooked cookie batter. The batter-like flavor is delightful and enjoyable and accurately represents a chocolate mint flavor.

The Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars leaves a mild, minty aftertaste in the mouth for about five minutes after the last of the bar is consumed.

Nutrition

Special K Protein Meal Bars are intended as a meal replacement and they seem to work to fill a consumer up fairly well. These 1.59 oz. Meal Bars represent a single serving and they are surprisingly healthy. Made primarily of sugar, soluble corn fiber, and soy protein isolate, what surprised me was how there was nothing in these bars that was unpronounceable. This is a mostly-natural food product and these Meal Bars were produced on equipment that may leave the bar with traces of peanuts, wheat, almonds, soy, wheat and milk, so they are not Vegan-compliant.

Special K Protein's Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars have 190 calories, 50 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 23% of one's RDA of saturated fat and they have 15 mg. of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 140 mg (6% RDA) per serving and there are an impressive 8 grams of protein to be had by eating a full bar. These are a significant source of ten vitamins and minerals, with several B vitamins in the 20% RDA range.

Storage/Cleanup

As a healthy meal bar, Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bar remain fresh so long as they are kept in their wrappers. Our box had an expiration date of June 5, 2018, so these last for a while. As long as the bars are not heated up, they remain fresh and the only real clean-up for them comes from wiping up crumbs.

If the Chocolatey Dipped Mint bars get hot, though, the chocolate coating on them will melt and cleaning that up can be a little more tricky, especially from light fabrics. Consult a fabric guide if the chocolate melts onto your clothes.

Overall

Special K Protein Chocolatey Dipped Mint Meal Bars are a pleasant surprise in that they are a delightful meal bar well worth trying!

For other bars, please check out:
Larabar Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars
Quest Beyond Cinnamon Roll Cereal Protein Bar
Clif Builder's Bar Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar

8/10

For other food and drink reviews, please check out my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Expensive, But Interesting: Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola Cereal!

The Good: Very nutritious, Does not taste bad, Good ingredients
The Bad: Comparatively expensive
The Basics: Kellogg's Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal is a flavorful granola that adds some important nutritional benefits to one's diet!


One of the nice aspects of living in the literal middle of nowhere is that premium products seldom have time in our stores to catch on. As a result, I often manage to get all sorts of premium products on clearance at my local grocery store. I was utterly unsurprised one day, then, when I walked into my grocery store and saw the little bags of Special K Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola With Quinoa cereal. The Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola is a blend of chocolate-flavored oats granola, crispy rice, chocolate chunks, and coconut flakes . . . at almost the cost of a full box of cereal for a five-serving bag.

Basics

Kellogg’s Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal is a relatively new cereal with bunches of oat clusters, puffed/crispy rice and flakes of coconut and tiny blocks of chocolate.

The standard bag of Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal is 10.6 oz. That represents approximately five servings and I was able to get just that amount out of the bags I bought.

Ease Of Preparation

Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal is a breakfast cereal, so this is one of the low-impact breakfast options as far as preparation goes! Simply open the bag of Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal, pour out 2/3 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 years now, I am now able to enjoy only 2/3 cup of Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal in a sitting, though it is not as filling as some other cereals I have had.

For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk with cereal.

Taste

Opening the bag, Special K Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola smells powerfully of coconut. The coconut aroma is strong and overpowers any other scent from this cereal.

On its own, the Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola is very dry and surprisingly sweet. The Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola tastes strongly of dark chocolate, crispy rice (like Rice Krispies) and coconut. This is a very dry granola cereal; with its sweet bits coming from the chunks of chocolate in the cereal.

With milk, the Special K Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola remains surprisingly dry and grain-flavored. The chocolate flavor is delightfully dark, but while it infuses the cereal with a slight hit of sweetness, the coconut and oats overwhelm the other flavors. This is a very dry cereal.

This cereal has a fairly strong, dry aftertaste to it.

Nutrition

Kellogg’s Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal is exceptionally nutritious on its own and with skim milk! Made primarily of whole grain oats, crisp rice and sugar, there is nothing unpronounceable in Special K Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal. Given that there is a separate listing of vitamins and minerals, Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal is one of those cereals where the nutrients are then sprayed onto the cereal, making it important to drink the milk with this cereal in order to get all of the nutritional benefits out of it.

A single serving of Kellogg’s Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal is 61 grams, 2/3 cup. In that serving, there are 260 calories, with 70 calories coming from fat. There are 3.5 grams saturated fat in this cereal, but there is no cholesterol. With only 95 mg of sodium and 5 grams of dietary fiber, this is a good dietary choice for those striving to improve heart. With six grams of protein and 220 mg potassium, Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola is very healthy. On its own, this cereal has significant percentages of eight vitamins and minerals.

Storage/Cleanup

Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola is a cereal, so as long as it is kept sealed in its bag, it ought to remain fresh for quite some time. The bag of Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola cereal we purchased two weeks ago had an expiration date of February 9, 2018, so it does not have the longest shelf lift. Obviously, when you are done pouring the cereal from the bag, reseal it to help maintain the cereal’s freshness.

Cleaning up after Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola 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 discolors the milk put in it and that will definitely stain. Consult a fabric guide for getting the chocolate and milk out of any fabric the milk gets on.

Overall

Special K Nourish Dark Chocolate Coconut Crispy Granola is good, but very dry and comparatively expensive, making it a little tougher of a sell than it otherwise could be.

For other Special K products, please check out my reviews of:
Special K Southwest Ranch Cracker Chips
Special K Fruit & Yogurt cereal
Special K Multigrain Oats & Honey cereal

7/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Kellogg's Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats Will Disappoint Anyone Who Loves Blueberries!

The Good: Decent nutrition, Reasonably priced, Does not taste bad
The Bad: Tastes nothing like actual blueberries, Unexceptional ingredients
The Basics: Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats Blueberry cereal has nothing on adding actual blueberries to Frosted Mini-Wheats . . . on the flavor or nutrition fronts!


I feel bad, sometimes, for breakfast cereal manufacturers. The breakfast cereal market seems to be a pretty competitive one and the manufacturers seem to be in a constant battle to innovate, as opposed to duke it out in the marketplace with their tried and true, "greatest hits." And part of the appeal to the cereal concept is convenience. So, it seems like a natural progression for the cereal companies to try to add fruit - or fruit flavors - to their standard cereals and try to market the cereals as something new. Sadly, in the case of Frosted Mini-Wheats, adding fruit flavor to the frosting does not yield the same - or even comparable - results as adding fruit to the cereal. Such is the downfall of Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats.

Part of the ever-expanding line of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereals, the Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats is one of the few unremarkable selections in the line.

Basics

Kellogg’s Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is a newer twist on the tried and true Frosted Mini-Wheats formula. Instead of simply being a generic sugar flavor, the Blueberry cereal strives for more complicated sweet flavors, but it fails to accurately replicate the flavor of blueberries.

The standard box of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is 15.5 oz. That represents approximately eight servings and my box made it to the full eight servings when I measured each one out to 25 pieces per serving. The actual Blueberry cereal is comprised solely of 5/8” wide by 3/4” biscuits of shredded wheat. One side has the light purple frosted side (it is also where the rest of the flavoring is apparently painted on) and one “naked” shredded wheat side.

Ease Of Preparation

Frosted Mini-Wheats 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 Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal, count out twenty-five biscuits and put them in a bowl. 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 a couple of months now, I am now able to enjoy a single serving of only 25 pieces of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal in a sitting!

For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk when reviewing Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal.

Taste

Opening the box, Frosted Mini-Wheats Blueberry cereal smells weakly of fruit. The Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats are not very aromatic and the blueberry aroma is more vague than distinct.

On its own, the Blueberry cereal is very sweet and generically fruity in its flavoring. The Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats are dry and grainy with the frosted side providing a somewhat underwhelming sweetness. The aroma from the Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal foreshadows its weak and barely fruity-flavor. The Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats taste more like a diluted flavor of what people think blueberries might taste like as opposed to anything realistically blueberry-flavored.

With milk, the Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal loses the dryness, but becomes no more flavorful than it is when it is dry. In fact, the Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats have a strong wheat flavor and the milk takes on the sweet frosting flavor . . . without taking on any more flavor of actual blueberries.

The Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats have a slightly dry aftertaste that endures in the mouth for several minutes after the last of the cereal is consumed.

Nutrition

Kellogg’s Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is fairly nutritious on its own and with skim milk! Made primarily of whole grain wheat, sugar, and milled corn, there is nothing unpronounceable in the Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal. There is, however, nothing resembling actual blueberries in the Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats, so it is somewhat unsurprising that there is very little in the way of blueberry flavoring in the cereal. Given that there is a separate listing of vitamins and minerals, I suspect that Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is one of those cereals where the nutrients are then sprayed onto the cereal, making it important to drink the milk with this cereal in order to get all of the nutritional benefits out of it.

A single serving of Kellogg’s Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is 55 grams, 25 biscuits. In that serving, there are 190 calories, with ten of those calories coming from fat. There is no saturated fat in this cereal, nor cholesterol. With no sodium as well, one might think this shredded wheat could be devoid of any real nutrition, but it has 6 grams of dietary fiber, which is 22% of the RDA! With five grams of protein and 190 mg potassium, Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats has more nutritional benefits than the average sugary cereal. On its own, this cereal has 25% or more of the RDA seven vitamins and minerals, with significant quantities of Iron (90% RDA) and Folic Acid (50% RDA).

Storage/Cleanup

Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats 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 Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal we purchased last week had an expiration date of November 19, 2018. 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 Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats 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 significantly discolors the milk added to it, though, so if the milk gets on your clothing consult a fabric guide to clean it out. Still, it is a cereal that will easily stain light colored clothes.

Overall

Frosted Mini-Wheats Blueberry cereal is interesting, even if it is not entirely evocative of actual blueberry flavor.

For other Kellogg’s cereals, please check out my reviews of:
Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows
Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice Cereal
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Chocolatey Almond

3/10

For other cereal reviews, please visit my Cereal Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Kellogg's Makes Heating Up Orange Soda Work With Their Frosted Crush Orange Pop Tarts!

The Good: Very accurate flavor, Affordable, Easy to prepare
The Bad: Packaging/environmental impact, Not terribly nutritious.
The Basics: The Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts are surprisingly aromatic and flavorful making for a surprise winner from Kellogg's expanding line.


One of the delights of being an open-minded reviewer is that there are still some things that can pleasantly surprise me. I try to go into my reviews of Kellogg's Pop Tarts appropriately neutral, but the truth is, the dry pastries are not my favorite - mostly because they are more reminiscent of pie than cake (I prefer cake to pie, every time!). So, when I encounter a Pop Tarts flavor that makes me buy multiple packs, it truly says something about how good they are.

That is exactly what happened with the Frosted Crush Orange Pop Tarts!

Basics

Kellogg’s Pop Tarts are toaster pastries, which are basically semi-hard flat bread pouches filled with a flavored filling. The filling has the consistency of peanut butter and some, like the Limited Edition Frosted Orange Crush flavor, come with frosting on them. The frosting is hard and on the Frosted Orange Crush flavored Pop Tarts has a lighter frosting swirl atop the plain white frosting, perhaps to indicate subconsciously to the consumer that the pastry is orange flavored.

Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts come in a box of eight with the Pop Tarts paired up in thin foil pouches. The foil pouch helps to protect the Pop Tart and keep it fresh.

Ease Of Preparation

Pop Tarts are one of the easiest foods in the world to prepare. Simply tear open the foil pouch and pull a Pop Tart out to eat it. It is truly that simple. Of course, you should dispose of the foil wrapper in an environmentally appropriate manner. Outside that, preparation is unnecessary as Pop Tarts taste great at room temperature, though these Pop Tarts definitely have more flavor when heated.

But, for those who like them hot – which makes the filling more like a warm pie – Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts may be heated in a toaster, toaster oven or microwave. I actually like heating the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts in the microwave for thirty seconds because it makes the corners softer and makes the pastry a little less dry.

Taste

One of the aspects of the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts that surprised me was their aroma. Even at room temperature, the Frosted Crush Orange Pop Tarts smell delightfully of orange. The familiar sweet citrus scent it instantly evocative of orange soda. That the scent effervesces some from the Pop Tarts is surprising and inviting.

At room temperature, the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts taste initially like a soft pie crust. More than any other Pop Tart I have yet tried, the Frosted Crush Orange Pop Tarts have a sweet pastry crust, more analogous to cake than to pie. The moment the crust is broken, the filling touches the tongue and embodies both the flavor and sensation of orange soda. The strong citrus flavor of the Frosted Crush Orange Pop Tarts is enhanced by a sensation on the tongue that the Pop Tarts filling is actually fizzing, like a soda pop. The result is a surprisingly true flavor to what the Pop Tart is supposed to be.

Served warm, the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts are aromatic and the scent is clearly and strongly that of sweet oranges. The fizzy quality of the Frosted Crush Orange Pop Tarts is enhanced by serving them warm. The orange soda pop flavor truly pops in the mouth and the flavor is like a fresh baked fruit cake!

Regardless of temperature, the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts have a minorly dry aftertaste to them, though it does not last long after one has consumed the last one.

Nutrition

Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts are not the worst option as a component of a breakfast. A single pastry is considered a serving, which is odd given that they come sealed as two-packs. One Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tart has 200 calories, 45 of which are from fat! With 5 grams fat, one Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tart gives you 8% of your RDA of fat and 7% of your RDA of sodium. The 36 grams of carbohydrates provide 12% of your daily recommended intake! On the plus side, this flavor Pop Tart does have 10% of your RDA of Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Iron and Vitamin B6, which makes it more nutritious than some juices!

While there is not a lot to laud in the nutrition department, the ingredients in the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts are not actually bad. Made primarily of Enriched Flour, corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup, it is actually a surprise how the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts are not worse in the nutrition department than they are! The ingredient list quickly becomes a chemistry equation after gelatin, though.

There are notations that the Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts contain wheat and soy ingredients. They are not marked as Kosher, though I am not certain why that is.

Storage/Clean-Up

Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts are very easy to clean up. Simply throw away the foil wrapper in an appropriate place, brush up the crumbs and you are done! Kept in their foil wrappers, Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts will remain fresh for a while; the ones we bought on clearance last month have an expiration date of October 11, 2017.

Overall

Frosted Orange Crush Limited Edition Pop Tarts are one of the few limited edition flavors of Pop Tarts that are so flavorful, I hope they are only being clearanced locally; this is a wonderful flavor well worth picking up. Had I not already bought out my local grocery store of their stock, I would have definitely made a stockpile of these!

For other Pop Tarts, be sure to check out my reviews of:
A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts
Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts
Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butter

7.5/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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For A Limited Time, A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts Were Oddly Fun!

The Good: Good flavor, Affordable, Easy to prepare
The Bad: Packaging/environmental impact, Not terribly nutritious.
The Basics: The A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts are a lot of fun, even if they are best when heated . . . which can be unsettling for those who love root beer!


Every now and then when I see a new product hit the shelves of my local grocery store, I just say to myself "I'm going to wait this one out." I live in a comparatively small community and as a result, new products are often slow to catch on. The net result is, many new products hit the shelves and hit the clearance rack there disproportionately fast. The Kellogg's A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts were a product that, when I first saw them in our store, I said "I give it three months." Well, last week, it was three months and boom! . . . there they were on the clearance rack at 40% off. And I was still eager to try them!

The A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts are a Pop Tart that are somewhat undermined by their own concept. These are a Pop Tart that taste best warmed . . . which is pretty much the opposite of its intended flavor, root beer (which is generally better cold). Despite that weird contrast, the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts end up being pretty good.

Basics

Kellogg’s Pop Tarts are toaster pastries, which are basically semi-hard flat bread pouches filled with a flavored filling. The filling has the consistency of peanut butter and some, like the Limited Edition A&W Root Beer flavor, come with frosting on them. The frosting is hard and on the A&W Root Beer flavored Pop Tarts has a lighter frosting swirl that is akin to the foam atop one's mug of root beer.

A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts come in a box of eight with the Pop Tarts paired up in thin foil pouches. The foil pouch helps to protect the Pop Tart and keep it fresh.

Ease Of Preparation

Pop Tarts are one of the easiest foods in the world to prepare. Simply tear open the foil pouch and pull a Pop Tart out to eat it. It is truly that simple. Of course, you should dispose of the foil wrapper in an environmentally appropriate manner. Outside that, preparation is unnecessary as Pop Tarts taste great at room temperature, though these Pop Tarts definitely have more flavor when heated.

But, for those who like them hot – which makes the filling more like a warm pie – A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts may be heated in a toaster, toaster oven or microwave. I actually like heating the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts in the microwave for thirty seconds because it makes the corners softer and makes the pastry a little less dry.

Taste

A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts smell surprisingly neutral. Their coating has a more generic chocolate scent to it than the scent of root beer, which surprised me. Regardless, these are a Pop Tarts flavor that is only truly aromatic when it is warmed.

At room temperature, the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts taste like a sweet pie crust. The bready portion of the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts is sweet, only slightly dry in its flavor, but not distinct or clearly root beer flavor. The root beer flavor comes out only through the filling. The filling is a very true root beer flavor - dry, earthy, sweet and with an odd element to its flavor that actually insinuates fizz! Plain and unheated, the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts taste like a bready version of what they are supposed to; root beer.

Served warm, the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts are aromatic and inviting with a weird root beer scented steam. In the mouth, they burst with dry, sweet, root beer flavor, managing to overcome the simple dry cake flavor of the pastry shell. The center seems to flavor the entire pastry when served warm, so the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts taste like a lot of hot root beer!

Regardless of temperature, the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts have a slightly dry aftertaste to them, though it does not last long after one has consumed the last of them.

Nutrition

A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts are not the worst option as a component of a breakfast. A single pastry is considered a serving, which is weird given that they come sealed as two-packs. One A&W Root Beer Pop Tart has 200 calories, 45 of which are from fat! With 5 grams fat, one A&W Root Beer Pop Tart gives you 8% of your RDA of fat and 7% of your RDA of sodium. The 36 grams of carbohydrates provide 12% of your daily recommended intake! On the plus side, this flavor Pop Tart does have 10% of your RDA of Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Iron and Vitamin B6, which makes it more nutritious than some juices!

While there is not a lot to laud in the nutrition department, the ingredients in the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts are not actually bad. Made primarily of Enriched Flour, corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup, it is actually a surprise how the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts are not worse in the nutrition department than they are! The ingredient list quickly becomes a chemistry equation after gelatin.

There are notations that the A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts contain wheat and soy ingredients. They are not marked as Kosher, though I am not certain why that is.

Storage/Clean-Up

A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts are very easy to clean up. Simply throw away the foil wrapper in an appropriate place, brush up the crumbs and you are done! Kept in their foil wrappers, A&W Root Beer Pop Tarts will remain fresh for a while; the ones we bought last week have an expiration date of September 20, 2017.

Overall

A&W Root Beer Limited Edition Pop Tarts are good, if not especially good for you, but for a breakfast pastry, they hit on just the right side of weird and delicious, especially when heated, to be worth recommending.

For other Pop Tarts, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts
Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts
Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butter

6.5/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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It Could Use More Marshmallows: Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows Cereal!

The Good: Surprisingly decent vitamins and minerals, Neat idea
The Bad: Generically sugary flavor, Not enough marshmallows to sell the concept
The Basics: Kellogg’s Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal is a neat idea, but it fails to live up to its promise.


My wife is a huge fan of Froot Loops and Lucky Charms. I've seen her, in the past, remove the cereal pieces from her Lucky Charms and eat the milk-soaked marshmallows as a breakfast treat. So, when I found Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows at my local discount store, I was super-excited to bring it home to her. My wife quickly came to love the Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal and I've been sampling it.

In contrast with my wife, I found the Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal to be a good idea with a less-than-ideal execution. I found the cereal wanting on the marshmallow component and the fruity promise of the cereal seemed lacking.

Basics

Kellogg’s Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal is the standard Froot Loops cereal with additional pieces added to the mix. The standard Froot Loops are blue, purple, green, orange, yellow and green and are approximately 5/8” in diameter. The standard pieces are augmented by tiny marshmallows that are in the shape of fruit and Toucan Sam.

The standard box of Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal is 12.6 oz. That represents approximately twelve servings and I got eleven servings out of my box.

Ease Of Preparation

Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows 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 Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows 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.

For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk with cereal.

Taste

Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows smell vaguely fruity, with a decent, sugary quality to it. There is a faint berry and lemon aroma to the Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows.

On the flavor front, dry Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal is incredibly sweet. There is almost no genuine fruit flavor to the Froot Loops and the overwhelmingly sugary flavor finishes dry and like corn meal. The Fruity Shaped Marshmallows do not add a more fruity flavor to the palate; they just make the cereal even more sugar-flavored.

Covered in milk, the Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows are sugary for the first few bites, but after the milk sits for a moment or two on the cereal, the cereal takes on a very basic puffed corn flavor. There is nothing truly fruity in the flavor, even after the milk is added. Even the marshmallows do not carry much in the way of flavor. The Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows does not taste bad, but it does not taste very distinct and it does not have a lot of marshmallows in it.

The Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows leave a slightly sweet aftertaste in the mouth, but it does not last for very long in the mouth.

Nutrition

Kellogg’s Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal is surprisingly nutritious on its own and with skim milk! Made primarily of sugar, corn flour blend and wheat flour. The Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows ingredient list degenerates into a chemistry equation after “gelatin.” This cereal has some preservatives in it and it also has a separate list of vitamins and minerals, which means that this is a 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 Kellogg’s Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal is 29 grams, 1 cup. In that serving, there are 110 calories, with 5 calories coming from fat. There is no saturated or no trans fats in this cereal, nor is there any cholesterol. With 115 mg of sodium and two grams of dietary fiber, this is actually a really good dietary choice for those striving to improve heart health. With a gram of protein and 30 mg potassium, Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows has more going for it on the dietary front than one might suspect. On its own, this cereal has significant percentages of eight vitamins and minerals.

Storage/Cleanup

Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows 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 we purchased last week at our local discount store had an expiration date of December 30, 2017. 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 Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows 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 barely discolors the milk added to it, but because you should drink that up to get all the vitamins and minerals Kellogg’s added to the cereal, that shouldn’t be an issue with staining.

Overall

Froot Loops With Fruity Shaped Marshmallows cereal is all right, but it does not accurately convey a fruit flavor and it does not delight consumers with a sufficient volume of marshmallows to be a true blend of Froot Loops and Lucky Charms.

For other Kellogg's cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Cinnabon Cereal
Frosted Flakes Chocolate
Krave Double Chocolate

4/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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An Average Cinnamon Cereal With A Great Name: Kellogg's Cinnabon Cereal Is All Right!

The Good: Good flavor, Decent nutrition, Good scent
The Bad: A little more expensive than other, comparable, cereals, Not the most distinctive flavor
The Basics: Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is all right, but not as incredible or distinctive as one might hope for with the Cinnabon name.


When it comes to prepared foods, one of the oddest trends in the past few years has been the random licensing of major restaurants to home-based foods. One supposes that the restaurants, seeing their popularity plateau or having reached optimum market penetration within their specific niche, look to continue growing or offset losses when their fad food falls out of favor. As such, companies like Taco Bell, Panera Bread, and Dunkin' Donuts license their brand name to other companies to appear on the packaging of similar products to their restaurants' menu. One of the latest companies to move into the home foods market is Cinnabon and rather than just sell their cinnamon rolls in more stores than their restaurants and carts, Cinnabon has leased its name to Kellogg's for a cinnamon bun cereal.

And Kellogg's Cinnabon cereal is all right, but hardly extraordinary or distinctive, which is somewhat surprising given that Cinnabon bothered to put their name on the product.

Basics

Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is a fairly obvious sweetened corn cereal made to look like tiny cinnamon rolls. The standard box of Cinnabon cereal is 9 oz. That represents approximately nine servings and I managed to get eight and a quarters servings out of the box before it was just broken pieces and cinnamon dust. The Cinnabon cereal is comprised of tiny cinnamon roll pieces that are approximately 3/4" in diameter and 3/8" thick.

Ease Of Preparation

Cinnabon 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 Cinnabon cereal, pour out 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 the last two years, I am now able to enjoy only 1 cup of Cinnabon cereal in a sitting!

For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk when reviewing Cinnabon cereal.

Taste

Opening the box, Cinnabon cereal emits a powerful cinnamon aroma. The cinnamon scent is strong and distinctive, though there is nothing that clearly links the aroma to cinnamon rolls specifically. The scent from the Cinnabon cereal is good, but not distinctive to cinnamon rolls as opposed to any other cinnamon-based cereal or baked good (like coffee cake).

On its own, the Cinnabon cereal is sweet and dry. The Cinnabon cereal is predictably cinnamon flavored, but it is coated with a sweet sugary that mimics well the flavor of icing on a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon and sweetness are quite good, even if the cereal is not so potent that it instantly reminds the consumer of a cinnamon roll.

With milk, the cinnamon flavor flows into the milk, though the sweetness is maintained in each of the pieces of Cinnabon cereal. The flavor of the sugary and cinnamon pieces does not get diluted, even with the milk in it. The flavor is maintained in each and every bite.

The Cinnabon cereal has a strongly sweet aftertaste that does not stay in the mouth for very long after the last of the cereal is consumed.

Nutrition

Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is surprisingly nutritious on its own, though it does have vitamins and minerals sprayed on it. Made primarily of degerminated yellow corn meal, sugar and cinnamon topping, there is nothing unpronounceable in Cinnabon cereal. Given that there is a separate listing of vitamins and minerals, it is clear that Cinnabon cereal is one of those cereals where the nutrients are then sprayed onto the cereal, making it important to drink the milk with this cereal in order to get all of the nutritional benefits out of it.

A single serving of Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is 30 grams, 1 cup. In that serving, there are 120 calories, with 20 calories coming from fat. This cereal has 2 grams of fat (3% of the RDA) without any saturated or trans fats in it. There is also no cholesterol in the Cinnabon cereal. With 115 mg of sodium and a single gram of dietary fiber, this is a fairly good choice for those striving to improve heart health. With two grams of protein and 40 mg potassium, the Cinnabon cereal has a decent number of vitamin benefits to it. On its own, this cereal has 25% of the RDA eight vitamins and minerals.

Storage/Cleanup

Cinnabon 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. The box I picked up two weeks ago had an expiration date of January 29, 2018, so this seems like a safe cereal to stock up on!

Cleaning up after Cinnabon 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 discolors the milk added to it, though, so if the milk gets on your clothing consult a fabric guide to clean it out.

Overall

Cinnabon cereal is all right, but in no way exceptional.

For other Kellogg’s cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Cinnamon Frosted Flakes
Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Chocolatey Almond cereal

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!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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More Dry Than True, Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts Are A Tough Sell!

The Good: They do not taste bad, Affordable
The Bad: More bready than coffee flavored, Packaging/environmental impact, Not terribly nutritious.
The Basics: The Limited Edition Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts are mediocre at best and not doing Dunkin' Donuts any favors on the flavor front.


I am fascinated by how a wide number of restaurant chains try to affiliate themselves with at-home products. While I understand the advertising benefits of associating home-based products with chain restaurants (for the restaurants), the at-home products seldom match the flavor or quality of the restaurant that licenses its name. To wit, the brand new Limited Edition Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts, which trade on their affiliation with Dunkin' Donuts (reviewed here!) does very little to mimic the flavor of any Dunkin' Donuts product.

While my wife and I were eager to try the Dunkin' Donuts Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts, she was more impressed with them than I was. Then again, she's a pie woman and I'm prefer cake. The Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts are much more like pie than cake and more generically sweet than the delightful coffee flavor I had hopes for.

Basics

Kellogg’s Pop Tarts are toaster pastries, which are basically semi-hard flat bread pouches filled with a flavored filling. The filling has the consistency of peanut butter and some, like the Limited Edition Vanilla Latte flavor, come with frosting on them. The frosting is hard and on the Vanilla Latte flavored Pop Tarts has a lighter frosting swirl that is akin to the mixing of cream in one's coffee in appearance.

Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts come in a box of eight with the Pop Tarts paired up in thin foil pouches. The foil pouch helps to protect the Pop Tart and keep it fresh.

Ease Of Preparation

Pop Tarts are one of the easiest foods in the world to prepare. Simply tear open the foil pouch and pull a Pop Tart out to eat it. It is truly that simple. Of course, you should dispose of the foil wrapper in an environmentally appropriate manner. Outside that, preparation is unnecessary as Pop Tarts taste great at room temperature.

But, for those who like them hot – which makes the filling more like a warm pie – Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts may be heated in a toaster, toaster oven or microwave. I actually like heating the Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts in the microwave for thirty seconds because it makes the corners softer and makes the pastry a little less dry.

Taste

Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts have a pretty wonderful coffee aroma to them. These Pop Tarts actually smell like coffee, which is very inviting to those of us who love coffee and coffee beverages.

At room temperature, the Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts taste quite a bit like pie crust. The frosting on their top is sweet and sugary and compliments the bready crust. The frosting flavor is not enough to overcome the dryness of the rest of the pastry. The center of the Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts is sweet and only vaguely coffee flavored; the filling is not enough to overcome the dry pie crust-like pastry.

Served warm, the Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts pop with a distinctive coffee flavor, which is kept from being a full-throated strong, dry coffee flavor by the sugary flavor. The generic sweetness of the filling does not overwhelm the coffee flavor, though it does cut it.

Even warm, the Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts have a pretty strong dry aftertaste to it.

Nutrition

Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts are not the worst option as a component of a breakfast. A single pastry is considered a serving. But one Vanilla Latte Pop Tart has 200 calories, 50 of which are from fat! With 5 grams fat, one Vanilla Latte Pop Tart gives you 8% of your RDA of fat and 8% of your RDA of sodium. The 35 grams of carbohydrates provide 12% of your daily recommended intake! On the plus side, this flavor Pop Tart does have 10% of your RDA of Calcium, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin C, Iron and Vitamin B6, which makes it more nutritious than some juices!

Still, there is not a ton to laud in the nutrition department. Right after Enriched Flour in the ingredients comes sugar and dextrose, so it is unsurprising these are not terribly nutritious. The ingredient list quickly becomes a chemistry equation after cornstarch.

There are notations that the Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts contain wheat, milk and soy ingredients. They are not Kosher.

Storage/Clean-Up

Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts are very easy to clean up. Simply throw away the foil wrapper in an appropriate place, brush up the crumbs and you are done! Kept in their foil wrappers, Vanilla Latte Pop Tarts will remain fresh for a while; the ones we bought a week ago have an expiration date of November 6, 2017.

Overall

Vanilla Latte Limited Edition Pop Tarts taste fine in a vague, somewhat unsatisfying way, but are not at all exceptional.

For other foods for breakfast, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts
Quaker Cap’N Crunch's Oops! All Berries cereal
Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice English Muffins

3.5/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Best Without Milk, Cinnamon Frosted Flakes Cereal Is Fun!

The Good: Affordable, Good aroma, Decent nutrients
The Bad: Milk washes away most of the flavor.
The Basics: One of the best cereals to eat dry, right out of the box, Kellogg’s Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is fun!


I love my local grocery store. My local grocery store gets in all sorts of new products and tries to entice shoppers with promotions to get consumers to sample. Last week, they had a promotion on Kellogg's Cinnamon Frosted Flakes, a new cereal that they just began stocking. The Cinnamon Frosted Flakes are a worthy addition to the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes line, though it seems to be one of the most temporary flavors; the flavored glaze washes off the flakes with milk.

Despite that, the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes are pretty wonderful!

Basics

Kellogg’s Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is the traditional sweetened corn cereal that has a slightly different glaze on the corn flakes. Cinnamon Frosted Flakes is a surprising direction for Kellogg's to take the traditional frosted flakes cereal in and it works very well.

The standard box of Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is 13.6 oz. That represents approximately thirteen servings and I managed to get a full twelve servings out of the box we picked up with very little left over. The actual Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is comprised of basic flakes, nothing more.

Ease Of Preparation

Cinnamon Frosted Flakes 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 Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal, pour out 3/4 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 the last two years, I am now able to enjoy only 3/4 cup of Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal in a sitting!

For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk when reviewing Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal.

Taste

Opening the box, Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal emits a powerful cinnamon aroma. The cinnamon scent is cut with something sweet, which might be why the aroma of the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes is instantly evocative of a T.J. Cinnamon Bun store (fond childhood memories there!). The scent of the Kellogg's Cinnamon Frosted Flakes is very inviting.

On its own, the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is sweet and dry. The Cinnamon Frosted Flakes is much less generically sweet than traditional Frosted Flakes. The Cinnamon Frosted Flakes manages to alternate effectively on the tongue between sugary and cinnamon flavored, without the corn flakes that are coated in the flavoring truly manifesting their flavor. The sweetness of the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes makes for a fun and flavorful cereal experience without tasting generic or overbearing.

With milk, the cinnamon flavor flows into the milk and the corn flavor of the frosted flakes cereal below begins to manifest in the palate. The overall flavor of the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes is sweet and corny, but a bit dryer than the flakes on their own. Most of the flavor of the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes washes off into the milk, leaving a dry, bland, corn flake cereal for any bites that are not immersed in milk.

The Cinnamon Frosted Flakes have a sweet, dry aftertaste that lingers in the mouth for several minutes after the last of it is consumed.

Nutrition

Kellogg’s Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is surprisingly nutritious on its own, though it does have vitamins and minerals sprayed on it. Made primarily of milled corn, sugar and malt flavor, there is nothing unpronounceable in Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal. Given that there is a separate listing of vitamins and minerals, I suspect that Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is one of those cereals where the nutrients are then sprayed onto the cereal, making it important to drink the milk with this cereal in order to get all of the nutritional benefits out of it.

A single serving of Kellogg’s Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is 29 grams, 3/4 cup. In that serving, there are 110 calories, with no calories coming from fat. This is a fat-free cereal and there is also no cholesterol in the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes. With 150 mg of sodium and no dietary fiber, this is not the best choice for those striving to improve heart health. But, with a gram of protein and 30 mg potassium, the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes has a decent number of vitamin benefits to it. On its own, this cereal has 25% of the RDA seven vitamins and minerals.

Storage/Cleanup

Cinnamon Frosted Flakes 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. The box we got in last week had an expiration date of February 13, 2018, so this seems like a good cereal to stock up on!

Cleaning up after Cinnamon Frosted Flakes 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 discolors the milk added to it, though, so if the milk gets on your clothing consult a fabric guide to clean it out.

Overall

Cinnamon Frosted Flakes cereal is a flavorful cereal to eat dry, even if the usual way one would consume it is with milk. Despite that, Kellogg's got a whole lot right with the Cinnamon Frosted Flakes!

For other Kellogg’s cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Jif PB&J Strawberry Cereal
Cinnamon Jacks
Kellogg's Krave Double Chocolate

8/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry Cereal Is A Fun, Worthwhile Cereal!

The Good: Very flavorful, Not entirely lacking in nutritional value
The Bad: Not the most nutritious cereal ever, Peanut butter flavor does not hold up in milk
The Basics: Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is fun and a good dry cereal, even better than with milk!


While I have a tendency to enjoy limited edition cereals, so many of them get discontinued before I discover just how much I like them. Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is one of those that I did not quite find and appreciate until after my local grocery store put it on clearance. The truth is, the Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal tastes like what it is supposed to as it is sweet for the pieces that have strawberry jam flavor and a dry flavor for the peanut butter flavored squares.

Basics

Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is a puffed corn cereal that is heavily sweetened. The Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is made up of two cereal shapes. There are 1/2" in diameter red berry-shaped pieces to embody the strawberry flavored element of the cereal and 1/2" by 1/2" squares that are essentially window-shaped, 3/16" thick and have a hole through the center, like Cheerios.

The standard box of Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is 10.4 oz. That represents approximately eleven servings and we managed to get ten full servings out of our box, with just shy of a full final serving.

Ease Of Preparation

Jif PB&J Strawberry 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 Jif PB&J Strawberry 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 months now, I am now able to enjoy only a proper 3/4 cup serving of Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal in a sitting.

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 Jif PB&J Strawberry has a strong, predictably nutty scent to it. The Jif PB&J Strawberry smells like peanut butter as one might expect. When one smells just the berry-shaped pieces, the strawberry scent actually comes out.

In the mouth, the Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is very sweet and somewhat dry. The standard puffed corn flavor is dry and sweet and it tastes like exactly what it is supposed to; a blend of peanut butter and strawberry flavors. The proportions of the flavors in each bite of Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal changes based on how many of each piece is in a bite.

With the addition of milk, Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal becomes sweet and fruity; the strawberry flavor truly begins to pop. Unfortunately, the peanut butter flavor gets sublimated by the strawberry flavor in the milk.

Nutrition

Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is a sugary cereal that is not as bad as one might suspect of a sugar cereal. Made primarily of whole grain yellow corn flour, sugar, and degerminated yellow corn meal, the Jif PB&J Strawberry ingredient list degenerates into a chemistry equation after “brown sugar syrup.” This cereal has a lot of preservatives in it as well as a separate list of vitamins and minerals, so it means that the cereal has added nutrition sprayed upon it. That means one has to drink the milk in order to get the most out of this cereal.

A single serving of Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is 26 grams, 3/4 cups. In that serving, there are 100 calories, with 10 calories coming from fat. There is no saturated fat in this cereal and no cholesterol. With 150 mg of sodium and two grams of dietary fiber, this is not a bad dietary choice for those striving to improve heart health. With a gram of protein and 45mg potassium, Jif PB&J Strawberry has some decent nutritional elements other cereals do not. On its own, this cereal has significant percentages of eight vitamins and minerals.

Storage/Cleanup

Jif PB&J Strawberry 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 Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal I purchased on clearance two weeks ago had an expiration date of November 2, 2016, though we ate it up well before then. 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 Jif PB&J Strawberry 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 discolors the milk added to it, so consult a fabric guide to clean it out of light colored fabrics it gets on!

Overall

Kellogg's Jif PB&J Strawberry cereal is good and deserved a chance in the marketplace that it did not seem to get before it was discontinued. For those who can still find it, it is worth trying!

For other Kellogg's cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice Cereal
Froot Loops Treasures
Krave Double Chocolate

6/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Mundane Limited Edition: Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice Cereal

The Good: Good nutrition, Good ingredients, Reasonably priced, Does not taste bad
The Bad: Not the most impressive flavor, Requires milk to get the most out of it
The Basics: Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice cereal is a limited addition to the Mini-Wheats line that is very much hit or miss.


Despite how much more often "pumpkin spice" flavored items released in autumn are cinnamon and nutmeg dominated, as opposed to anything that tastes like actual pumpkin, I actually enjoy a lot of pumpkin spice flavored foods. Because I enjoy the standard limited edition flavor of autumn, I was inherently biased toward Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice cereal when I picked it up. And the execution . . . was mediocre, not exceptional.

Part of the expanding line of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereals, the Pumpkin Spice flavor is one of the non-fruit flavored selections in the line and only available for a limited time each year in autumn.

Basics

Kellogg’s Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is a new, limited edition, twist on the tried and true Frosted Mini-Wheats formula. Instead of simply being a generic sugar flavor, the Pumpkin Spice cereal strives for more complicated sweet flavors and it largely succeeds.

The standard box of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is 15.5 oz. That represents approximately eight servings and my box made it to the full eight servings when I measured each one out to 25 pieces per serving. The actual Pumpkin Spice cereal is comprised solely of 5/8” wide by 3/4” biscuits of shredded wheat. One side has the trademark white (and orange for this flavor) frosted side (it is also where the rest of the flavoring is apparently painted on) and one “naked” shredded wheat side.

Ease Of Preparation

Frosted Mini-Wheats 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 Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal, count out twenty-five biscuits and put them in a bowl. 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 a couple of months now, I am now able to enjoy a single serving of only 25 pieces of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal in a sitting!

For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk when reviewing Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal.

Taste

Opening the box, Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice cereal smells like cinnamon and nutmeg, which is exactly what one might expect from a Pumpkin Spice cereal. The smell is very inviting to anyone who loves the traditional autumn flavor.

On its own, the Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is sweet and dry. The wheat flavor is occasionally overwhelming, but especially when one puts the frosted side down, the cinnamon flavor comes strongly out. When the wheat side encounters the tongue first, though, the flavor is more or less lightly cinnamon-flavored shredded wheat.

With milk, the Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal changes flavor. The sweetness spreads through the milk and there are more subtle pumpkin flavors that come out. The cinnamon, nutmeg and a maple-like flavor comes out with something a little more squashlike for the aftertaste. The wheat flavor of the Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats is completely cut by the milk and the milk has a pretty flavorful, spicy taste to it after the cereal is consumed.

Dry, this cereal has a very dry aftertaste. With milk, the Pumpkin Spice flavor has a sweet and dry flavor (as if from cinnamon) that lingers in the milk, but does not endure in the mouth more than three minutes after one is done consuming it.

Nutrition

Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice cereal is fairly nutritious on its own and with skim milk! Made primarily of whole grain wheat, sugar, and brown rice syrup, there is nothing unpronounceable in th Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal. Given that there is a separate listing of vitamins and minerals, I suspect that Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is one of those cereals where the nutrients are then sprayed onto the cereal, making it important to drink the milk with this cereal in order to get all of the nutritional benefits out of it.

A single serving of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal is 55 grams, 25 biscuits. In that serving, there are 190 calories, with only ten of those calories coming from fat. There is no saturated fat in this cereal, nor cholesterol. With no sodium as well, one might think this shredded wheat could be devoid of any real nutrition, but it has 6 grams of dietary fiber, which is 24% of the RDA! With five grams of protein and 200 mg potassium, Pumpkin Spice has more nutritional benefits than the average sweet cereal. On its own, this cereal has 25% or more of the RDA seven vitamins and minerals, with significant quantities of Iron (90% RDA) and Folic Acid (50% RDA).

Storage/Cleanup

Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats 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 Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal we purchased last month had an expiration date of July 12, 2017. 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 Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats 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 only minorly discolors the milk added to it, though, so if the milk gets on your clothing consult a fabric guide to clean it out. Still, it is not a cereal that is likely to stain clothes from its milk.

Overall

Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice cereal is all right, but not extraordinary. Were it not for its nutritional benefits, it might not be worth picking up, but as it is so healthy and tastes good, it is worth trying at the very least.

For other Kellogg’s cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Frosted Flakes Chocolate
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Chocolatey Almond cereal
Fiber Plus Antioxidants Cinnamon Oat Crunch

6.5/10

For other cereal reviews, please visit my Cereal Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the cereal reviews I have written!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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