I can’t remember what started it, exactly, but a few days ago I found myself in the middle of a very entertaining conversation about cereal.
And just in case you’re thinking that the last part of that sentence is clearly an oxymoron, I will explain.
I’m a fan of cereal, but I don’t buy it all that often because I have a husband who prefers hot food and a son who doesn’t like the same cereals that I do. So whatever cereal I buy usually ends up going stale before we can finish it, and if I’m going to shell out the big bucks for a box of high fructose corn syrup, then you’d better believe I want to get my money’s worth.
And don’t worry – I really do try to avoid the cereals with high fructose corn syrup. We much prefer the ones that are smothered in melted butter and then dipped in milk chocolate.
ANYWAY, somehow a couple of friends and I got on the subject of cereal last Friday, and since David was going to be out of town for a couple of days (which means I wasn’t even going to glance in the direction of my stove, much less turn on a burner), I thought cereal sounded like the perfect food for the weekend. My friends started telling me about a few of their favorite kinds, and I was so inspired by their suggestions that I actually made a list of cereals I’d like to try.
LIVING ON THE EDGE, I AM.
But first, some critical background information.
I grew up eating Frosted Flakes, and it remained my favorite until my sister introduced me to Golden Grahams when I was around eleven or twelve. Golden Grahams and Frosted Mini-Wheats were at the top of my list until I went to college, at which point I fell head over heels in love with Cracklin’ Oat Bran. At some point along the way I decided that it had too many fat grams or calories or something, so I put the COB on the shelf and moved onto less tasty cereal pastures.
I’ve chosen to block all those less tasty cereals from memory. Since they tasted like cardboard and all.
When I was pregnant I was completely addicted to Smart Start, and after Alex was born I returned to my Golden Graham heritage. A few years ago D and I discovered Kashi Go Lean Crunch, and it’s remained a solid favorite, along with the Kashi Oat Flakes and Blueberry Clusters.
By the way, this information is riveting, isn’t it? Almost as riveting as if I were to write a post entitled “Reflections On Soaps I Have Enjoyed Through The Years.”
ANYWAY, this past Friday afternoon Alex and I went to the grocery store, and in light of my goal to not turn on the stove, I couldn’t wait to try a couple of the cereals on my list. I bought these two boxes.
I would now like to report my findings.
(And please know that nobody asked me to talk about these cereals. I only do review stuff through BlogHer, and when I do a review through them, it goes on a separate page on my blog. Just so we’re clear. Aren’t disclaimers fun?)
(SO fun.)
Okay. The cereals.
Cheerios Crunch – Delightful. Not too sweet. Bits of granola, which are always a plus. Not nearly as sugary as a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, but way more flavorful than a bowl of regular Cheerios. Will definitely buy these again. A. liked them, too. This would be a really good dessert cereal, and if you’re unfamiliar with occasionally eating cereal for dessert, then clearly I have overshared.
Blueberry Muffin Frosted Mini Wheats – Enjoyable. Blueberry flavor smells a little artificial (because, well, it’s artificial), but it tastes a whole lot like the blueberries in blueberry muffin mix. Very filling and not nearly as sweet as you think it would be (which is a plus). Will definitely buy again – but only when we’re having company, because I’m the only person in our house who liked these.
So. All that being said – what are your cereal favorites right now? Any recommendations you’d like to share? Any hidden treasures on the cereal aisle?
I’ll just be sitting here making a list of my favorite soaps while I read your comments.
Lucky Charms, Apple Jacks, Honey Bunches of Oats, Raisin Nut Bran.
I love the oat cluster cheerios! Some other favorites:
Quaker oatmeal squares
Raisin Nut Bran
Honey Nut Chex
and dessert cereal – fruity pebbles
I enjoyed this post, just as I’m sure I’d enjoy “Reflections On Soaps I Have Enjoyed Through The Years.†The title made me LAUGH, in the best way. :)
kashi golean crunch is a favorite mixed into yogurt or mixed with plain cereal for added sweetness, but not too much. I need to try that Quaker Oat Square cinnamon cereal—seems to be quite the favorite.
Quaker Oatmeal Squares will change your life. A big thanks to my college roomie who introduced me to the goodness. Yum! I might go have some for dessert right now!
Favorite cereal for dessert choice: Reese’s Puffs…..mmmmm! (As long as you like pb and chocolate) :)
Raisin Nut Bran Crunch remains my number one cereal – and sometimes I’m a rebel and put a spoonful of sugar on top. The Boy lives for Honey Nut Cheerios. The husband? For Frosted Mini Wheats.
Growing up I had Fruit Peebles (the best part was drinking the fruity milk at the end!), Apple Jacks (I’ve since found out I have an apple allergy so no more AJs for me le sigh), and Frosted Flakes – and for a real treat my mom would cut up a banana in our frosted flakes (living.on.the.edge)
Oh we were super fabulous one time and got the Ghostbuster Cereal – now that stuff was goooood
We heart cereal at our house. A current list of our shelf would put the top of Seinfeld’s fridge to shame: Cheerios (original, multi-grain, and chocolate ~ that last one was a freebie from Pssst and my children’s new fave); Cascadian Farms: Fruitful Os (no fake colors or preservatives like the other fruit cereals), cinnamon crunch, Clifford and multi-bran squares; Cracklin’ Oat Bran (hubby’s fave); Raisin Bran (my fave); Rice Chex, corn chex and Crispix. Everyone but me mixes multiple cereals together. It is an every day b-fast plus our snack after we get home from church late on Wed. nights.
I really should invest in some General Mills stock!
Multi Grain Cheerios are the bestest! love ’em!
I know I’m going to sound like MeMaw here, but I like Fruit and Fiber with Dates, Raisins and Walnuts.
LIFE cereal is a house hold favorite (with a coule scoops of sugar!!) Raisin Bran Crunch, yummy little crunchy yogurt things in it..Pops are big in our house as well…..and if I am feeling overly generous, or have a sweet tooth, we go for Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, and our household fav right now..Golden Crisp..they used to be Honey Smacks when I was a kid!!
Soooo I just loveeeee your blog!! You’re hilarious! I subscribe to your blog via email, and it makes me laugh every time I open up a new post! :) Anywho, on to the nitty gritty…. The.Best.Cereal.Ever = Rice Krispy Treat Cereal! I don’t know if they have it in stores anymore… but it’s one of the finer things in life. I’m pretty sure God, himself created it. He rested on the 7th day, and then He created Rice Krispy Treat Cereal! :)
Christina
fabulousiseverywhere.blogspot.com
I wish you would write a book. I would pre-order that book, oh yes I would…without a doubt!!! I had to run (not walk) with my laptop into the bedroom where my husband is getting ready to go to sleep and read him your latest post about cereal and soap! Haha.
My #1 favorite is Reese’s Puffs…both in a bowl covered with ice cold milk…and in a 9X13 after being covered in marshmallowy-buttery “goo” courtesy of the Rice Krispy Treats recipe! (I just follow the recipe exactly but substitute Puffs for Krispies…and OH MY WORD!!)
As for flaky cereals…Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds in the blue box are terrific!
As for granola cereals…I really like Banana Nut Granola by Sunbelt. It isn’t carried in all stores, but if you can find some, it is pretty darn delicious! (I read a couple opinions of the Banana Nut Cheerios and I have to throw my opinion into the mix as well…not a big fan!! It does leave a filmy, no-good taste in your mouth. I was super disappointed because I am a HUGE Cheerios fan!)
Corn Pops are a great sugary treat as well.
Happy cereal shopping!! Can we expect a follow-up post?
Oh how I do hope you’re not through reading all the comments.
I am just so excited about this cereal post! Really I am.
In fact, my recent post has much to do with a bowl of cereal for supper. You really should fix you a bowl of those Cheerios and read it. I was eating Cheerios, by the way. The plain kind. Boring. But with Sweet-n-low.
Growing, Fruit Loops was my main food group. Peanut butter and jelly was my other main food group which, incidentally, is another important factor in my current blog post. But that has nothing to do with my favorite cereals.
Peanut butter Captain Crunch. (oops, Capn’) was also a fav because, well, PEANUT BUTTER!
Now, I try to eat healthier cereals and food. Doesn’t always work, though.
I like the Yogurt Burst Cheerios but unlike you, if I buy a box of cereal that no one else eats, I just eat if for days in a row until it’s gone. FOR DESSERT! We would so get along well.
Sophie (my three-year-old) recently told me when I asked her if she wanted some of the Yogurt Burst for breakfast, “NO! That’s not my cereal. I don’t even like that. I like the other kind. That’s just your cereal.”
Well.
Now we have plain Cheerios, hence, my eating PLAIN STINKIN’ Cheerios the other night. Oh, and tonight. After The Women Tell All. Really wish I would’ve had something with a little more zing after watching it.
I love Special K Red Berries or Blueberry. In fact, I’m trying to talk myself into trying that Blueberry Muffin cereal you mentioned. I do prefer that it not have a high sugar content.
Then, if it’s not sweet enough, I just add Sweet-n-low.
Does that make me a Cereal Offender?
My dessert cereal of choice – Captain Crunch Berries. They are painfully sweet and they tear up the roof of my mouth but they are a great treat!
I love cereal! My husband works in the oil field so there are many an evening that I spend in my recliner with a nice bowl of cereal that I slaved over! Right now, I am addicted to Chocolate Cheerios! SO good! It really is a great chocolate fix, plus…for they are only 2 points–for Weight Watchers. Also, I love vanilla almond Special K.
Best of luck in your research!
My favorite cereal is right now at this very moment Banana Cheerios. It tastes like crunchy banana bread. Deeelicious. I mean it. Simply deeelicious.
I am a Cinnamon Life kind of girl! Yum, yum, yum. In a pinch I’ll eat Honey Nut Cheerios.
Or I LOVE cream of wheat, which I realize you didn’t ask about. I just can’t help myself.
Growing up it was Chex, Cherrios or Kix with the occasional appearance of Cap’n Crunch Berries if my brother didn’t get to it first.
For the last year it’s been Kashi Go Lean with plain non-fat Greek yogurt, a few pecans and fresh or frozen berries. Though I realized the other day that fresh blueberries are only good when accompanied by milk rather than yogurt.
Real oatmeal (not add water instant variety) is ALWAYS a welcomed option.
I am cuckoo for cocoa puffs right out of the box! they are whole grain now, you know. sounds healthy to me!
Yeah, Cracklin’ Oat Bran is awesome. I stopped buying it for a while because the price shot through the roof ($6!) and was not a good deal of fun with the potty-training wipe-learning crowd. :) It also does have a lot of fat — I think it must be the coconut oil or something. Might have even been a trans fat issue (though I’m guessing that has changed, along with the cereal).
My favorites: multi-grain cheerios and all bran with yogurt bites. But I do love me some blueberry muffin mini-wheats as well. I’m really uptight about getting cereal that has at least 3-5 grams of fiber per serving. And the flaky stuff doesn’t do it for me — gets too soggy too soon I guess.
Love the title.
I absolutely love Cracklin’ Oat Bran. It’s an oldie but a goodie. I just like how, I don’t know, CRACKLIN it tastes. So crunchy and nutty. Although I now feel compelled to awkwardly disclose that it does not always treat me well. Remember those old SNL Colon Blow skits. Yeah, about that . . .
My kids believe it or not love Honey Bunches of Oats or as my little guy says, “Honey boats of boats”! They also love, of course, the new Chocolate Cheerios.
there’s a cranberry ginger oat healthy something or other on the Greenwise aisle at Publix that is pretty darn tasty to me right now. and the kids are ecstatic to have found chocolate cheerios on the shelf recently! I don’t let them buy junk cereals, but this one I caved on and let them get. it’s been O Happy Day ever since.
Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds….oh my goodness, we love those here. As a matter of fact my 4-yr-old calls them “special cereal” and will say “Mommy, can I have special cereal today?”! Oh the honey-oaty-almondy-goodness!
The kids and I all LOVE Honey Nut Cheerios but those bad boys are $5/box (small box plus 3 children equals one breakfast) here in Morocco, so we just never buy them.
I also LOVE Shredded Wheat bite-size honey nut. They feel healthy even though they aren’t really. My MIL buys them and when we stay with them I eat embarrassing amounts, like taking a handful everytime I pass the pantry. She is a gem who never says a word about it :)
I had to laugh when I got to comment #26 because I’m thinking, “What on earth do barbecue sauce and cereal have to do with one another?”
Anyway, I’ve realized because of the diet I’m on, that I dearly LOVE cereal and I can’t wait until two weeks from now when I can have a bowl for breakfast! (It’ll be the first time in about two months!)
I love, love Cinnamon Life and Grape Nuts. (Although it kind of freaks me out that Grape Nuts actually have nothing to do with grapes.) I also love Cocoa Pebbles and Fruit Loops and Honeycomb and pretty much any kids cereal that doesn’t have fake marshmallows in it. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever met a cereal that I didn’t like.
Ah, the love of cereal, from sweet to healthy and all of the above. I love Raisin Bran Crunch, various mini-wheats, and on the rest.
Ginger
my hub bought some chocolate cheerios for the kiddos and i ate some this am, and well they were delic, and made the milk turn into chocolate milk..yumm. i also love great grains..the one with pecans in it.
Ok – this is so funny becuase when my husband is out of town I eat cereal – all meals if my jaw can stand it! I love Rice Chex, Kashi Go Lean (great in yogurt), Corn Bran (it really is yummy!), any kind of Mini Wheats and if I can sneak it into the house, the ‘Capt’ and I have a lovely time while HB is gone! ;o) The Capt and I don’t need milk either – I just go completely crazy right out of the box! Yum….now I want cereal for dinner. My hubbie doesn’t believe in ‘breakfast products’ for dinner either….sigh. His parents are just no fun- mine however, gave us Lucky Charms, Boo Berry and all kinds of crappy, delicious treats whenever we asked! Dinner, Lunch – snack, you name it. It was fortified with vitamins right??
Thanks for the giggles today!
JLM
Okay, I’m not really answering your question, but I have a cereal-related dessert that you should try sometime.
Chex cereal (any kind – I usually do rice)
Cheerios
peanuts
raisins
M&M’s
pretzels
Put some of the above in a big bowl. Melt some vanilla almond bark. Pour over contents of bowl to coat. Spread on wax paper. Enjoy!
Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries. We like most of the HBO, but this one is really really good. And it makes an excellent dessert!
We are cereal freaks. My sister stayed with us for a while and was beside herself with the joy of our cereal offerings.
Current inventory:
Frosted Flakes
Apple Jacks
Tropical Granola
Special K red berries
Special K fruit & yogurt
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Lucky Charms
Honey Nut Cheerios
Cocoa Krispies
Smart Start
Rice Krispies (for treats, nobody eats it in a bowl)
Apple & Cinnamon oatmeal, but it doesn’t get tapped for dessert…
I love cereal, but my newest favorite is Cinnamon Chex. It says on the box “with a hint of real cinnamon”. That made me laugh because is there fake cinnamon. Anyway, it’s very tasty!
I love Posts Banana nut crunch, I dont normally like cereal, except that and cheerios
I just bought a box of the Blueberry Muffin flavored Frosted Mini-Wheats. They were pretty good but they are giving me some major gas. I guess it’s the fiber.
Is that TMI??
I am ALL about the cereal for dessert. . .in fact. . .cereal is a GREAT dessert because it has so many vitamins in it. Of course, so does fruit, but Honeycombs are NOT fruit, so there.
I LOVE Corn Chex, and PLAIN Cheerios, and Honeycombs.. .but I stick to the first two.
I would also love to hear about your soaps. When I was a teenaged gal, there was a BRAND NEW SOAP OUT called “Liqua 4.” It was a LIQUID soap. . .in a container that looked like a bar of soap–only it was liquid. It was a precursor to body wash, because this was the very, very young ’80’s. Anyway–I loved the smell of it–I can smell it in my dreams–but I’ve searched both high and low and have never found the likes of it again.
I may go drown my sorrow in Corn Chex.
two that really matter to me: steel cut McCann’s Irish oatmeal (the long cooking kind) and multi grain cheerios. both yum. however… i do prefer potatoes for breakfast. as i do for every meal. just saying.
Kashi Go Lean Crisp is delightful, as are Grape Nuts and Frosted Mini Wheats. Who buys the non-mini’s anyhow as you can’t actually fit that whole sucker into your mouth and need to break it up anyhow. You break it up, it becomes soggy. If you get the Mini Wheats, the ends are sealed so you are still good to go for a while.
So this brings me to the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase talking about his “nutritive food varnish.” Does such a thing exist?
Deep down, I still have a true love for Fruity Pebbles. I hide them, though. I don’t share with my daughter. I buy a box every few years and snarf it in a sitting or two. Deeeelicious! :)!
I’m a big fan of Blueberry Morning! My kids eat cereal everyday for breakfast. What would we do without it?!
Honey Bunches of Oats!! A box every week, I am a creature of habit. However, they recently came out with a new type that has pecan clusters. I’m a good ol’ southern girl, so those pecan clusters are delicious.
Long time reader… first time commenter (the cereal post really did bring me out of the woodwork)… ahem. So in our house, I’m the only who eats the cereal (aside from our cat who will stalk me for the milk remnants). I’ve discovered the cereal aisle at Target recently and it’s now my favorite stop on our weekly runs. The smaller cereal tubs you can get for a dollar? Such a good deal and really practical.
Kashi Go Lean Crunch and Kashi Heart to Heart are definitely two favorites, but I LOVE Cranberry Almond Crunch. Post makes one (I think it’s post), but believe it or not, I actually like our store brand one better. The Post brand flakes in it are a bit like cardboard and taste a little stale even though they’re not. Cost*co also sells a really great Cranberry Macadamia Nut Crunch cereal, but you have to buy the Big box there so if you’re the only one who will eat it, it will likely go stale before you can get to it all. And even at 34, I still enjoy Trix and Frosted Flakes now and again ;)
We love Market Pantry faux Lucky Charms from Target. They aren’t *quite* as sugary tasting as LC’s and they are actually better. And oh so delicious for dessert.
Quaker Oat Squares are the tops for me. Crunchy goodness and they are good for you!!
Honey Nut Chex seems to be the family fave at the moment. I can’t attest to it’s deliciousness, though, as the lactose is currently not agreeing with me. And I’m not agreeing with the color of soymilk.
But in case you would like to have an honest opinion from someone who has actually eaten the cereal, I asked Wog what he thought about the square cereal. His reply: “BOOLAH” (which is 3 year-old for Boo-yah! I heart preschool.)
Mama Mia recently reintroduced us to Sugar Smacks. Life as we know it has changed forever. FOR*EV*ER!