Serial Cereal Reviews: Active Lifestyle

I haven't done one of these in a while, but then again there really hasn't been any cereal I felt like talking about. Finally I have tried a new cereal, Active Lifestyle which is Kroger's version of Special K. Now I know Special K (and by default Active Lifestyle) is marketed for women, but taste is taste and Active Lifestyle tastes pretty damn good. For a flake style cereal it holds up pretty well in the milk, and doesn't get mushy too fast. If you like Special K, you will probably like this one too.

3.5 out of 5 bowls. Short and sweet

Serial Cereal Reviews: Cocoa Puffs Combo

Today we get a surprise guest. I didn't know Cocoa Puffs Combo existed until I opened up the box, and thought to myself, "What the hell are these white things in here?" Apparently, these are vanilla flavored puffs. My one worry was that one of the flavors would overpower the flavor of the other. No worries here as they are really well balanced. It is nice for a change of pace cereal. Although normal Cocoa Puffs is a change of pace cereal for me since I hardly ever buy it.

It doesn't kill you on the calories either at 150 a serving. Which is less than a lot of the "healthy" cereals. It just doesn't have as many of the vitamins you are looking for, but hell take a multi-vitamin and you will be fine I would think. Don't ask me though, I'm eating Cocoa Puffs Combos.

I give it a very respectable 3.5 out of 5 bowls

Serial Cereal Reviews: Wheat Chex

This time I go back and try what I have always considered the red-headed stepchild of the Chex line. Growing up this was my absolute least favorite of the cereals. I would finally eat this after I had burned through the corn and rice flavors. I recently went back and revisited this most despised of flavors.

After eating a box of this. I have to rethink everything. This is actually a pretty tasty cereal. The wheat flavor really distinguishes itself from all of the corn and rice cereal you normally get. Like the rest of the Chex line it stays pretty crunchy in the milk. I may not put it ahead of the other Chex cereal, but it has definetely closed the gap.

Nutritionally it is pretty good compared to rest of the brand. One serving will give you 40 more calories than corn or rice, BUT it the wheat gives you 80% of iron and 100% of the folic whereas you get 50% of both from rice and corn. The one that is a slightly better nutritional value is Mulit-Bran Chex which I have never seen at any of my local grocery stores.

I am going to surprise myself and give this cereal 4 out of5 bowls. I really dig it.

Serial Cereal Reviews: Special K Cinnamon Pecan

Another new cereal in the Special K line, and this one gets it right. I am not a huge pecan fan, but in this cereal it works great. The nuttiness and the cinnamon really compliment each other well. It really does taste great. Whatever problems I had with the blueberry flavor, I have none of those here. Like the weird textures the blueberry flakes had.

Nutritionally it is comparable to all of the other flavors. I really liked this one 4 1/2 bowls out of 5

Serial Cereal Reviews: Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch

This time I revisit an old favorite: Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch. It has probably been about 10 years since I last had this cereal, and I loved it then. I have just neglected the whole line this past decade. Well I had a coupon and they were on sale: sold! I crack open the box and it smells like I remember it. I pour myself a bowl and bite into it. Hmmm, something seems off. What is it? Not much of a peanut butter taste. I remember it having a much stonger taste before. I was really disappointed in this cereal. Doens't taste as good, and doesn't seem as crunchy as before. Which sucks for a Cap'n Crunch cereal.

Nutritionally? Well it is a kid's cereal so don't expect much. Except I compared it to some other cereals I had around. Even the adult, healthy variety. Cap'n Crunch stacked up pretty well. In most cases had less calories (although more from fat), and was equal in some of the vitamins and minerals. A few it completely fails at though. That was surprsing to me.

Still a disappointing experience, and maybe it is from nostalgia I can only give it 2 out of 5 bowls.
For those of you who really want to try it, and can't find it, you can buy it here on eBay. I guess people do sale everything there.

Serial Cereal Reviews: Special K Blueberry

Let's jump right in today. Kellogg's has rolled out a bunch of new flavors for Special K lately, and the newest seems to be Blueberry flavor. I love berries: blackberries, boysenberries, raspberries, frankenberries. They are all great. I like Special K, even if the texture has always been a little weird to me. This is a completely average cereal though. Nothing really bad, and nothing really great. The blueberry flavor is not little dried pieces of blueberry like you would normally get, but blueberry flakes instead.

Nutritionally it looks like all of the varieties are pretty much the same.

2 1/2 bowls. Like I said average.

Serial Cereal Reviews: Frosted Flakes Gold

Last year Kellogg's deigned it necessary to unleash a new flavor of Frosted Flakes upon the public. That is the new Frosted Flakes Gold. I will put it bluntly this cereal sucks. It isn't just crunchy it tastes kind of hard and stale right out of the box probably from baking the honey on. The honey flavor doesn't work either. The whole thing just seems off to me. Same calories and nutritional value as regular Frosted Flakes, but it comes with a much worse flavor.

Also I don't know were they get this "long-lasting energy" crap from. Long lasting? How long? What are we comparing its lasting effects to?

Save your money on this one kids
1/2 bowl out of 5

Serial Cereal Reviews

I want to kick of this new year off right! This time we grab a bowl of Fruity Cheerios. In this consumer's opinion one of the best new cereals to come out in years. They are basically Froot Loops for adults. I personally like them better than Froot Loops. It isn't nearly as sweet, and has a fruitier flavor. They also stay crunchier in milk than Froot Loops. I buy a box of this cereal pretty much every time I go cereal shopping.

Nutritionally, it is comparable to the other cereals in the line for the most part. It has 25% more calories than regular Cheerios and 20% more than the Multi-grain flavor. It has the same or less than the rest. It is pretty close to the whole line when it comes to your vitamins and minerals, except for the Multi-grain variety. Yet, that one kicks all of their butts by having 100% in a bunch of categories.

I give this cereal 5 out of 5 bowls. A gold star. A blue ribbon. Whatever, this cereal rules.

Serial Cereal Reviews: Total Cinnamon Crunch

I've always enjoyed the idea of Total cereal (100% of certain vitamins and minerals), but its execution has usually left me cold. The original wheat flakes have always tasted kind of weird to me. Kind of hard with a slight metallic taste. Not horrible, but I am only good for about a box of it a year. The one flavor I did like was Total Cornflakes, which they naturally discontinued. I've never even tried any other flavors, but Honey Clusters and Cranberry Crunch to intrigue me. I have never been a fan of raisin bran cereals though.

About a month ago, I see there is a new flavor: Total Cinnamon Crunch. I have a coupon, so I buy me a box. This is a pretty good cereal. Basically it is Cinnamon Toast Crunch for adults, but healthier. Total doesn't have as potent a taste as its little kid cereal brother, but it does stay pretty crunchy in the milk.

How does it fare nutritionally? Depends. Yes, it does provide 100% of your daily needs of some vitamins and minerals. Ones that Cinnamon Toast Crunch only provides 25-35%. You're caloric intake is a bit higher though. Total: 230 calories per serving with milk. CTC: 170. "Wait!" You might say. Total's serving size is 1 cup and CTC is 3/4 cup. I accounted for that, and if you extrapolate the numbers out CTC is still 212.5 calories. Not a humongous difference but every calorie counts.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 bowls.

One last note, this is one of the few cereals that I think tastes better without milk.

Serial Cereal Reviews

Now we all know that maple & brown sugar is a popular flavor for cereal, oatmeal, and as a pizza topping. Life cereal recently introduced their own version of a maple and brown sugar flavored cereal. Let us see how it does.

First off let me me comment on how much I like the new packaging on the Life brand. The logo is similar enough to the old one that it isn't shocking, but with just enough change to look new.

The look and texture of this cereal is just like all of the other brands, as you would expect. The taste? I don't know there is just something off with this cereal. It just doesn't come together for me that I can't put my finger on. I was going to drill it after just one bowl last week, but I wanted to make sure about how I felt. I do, and I don't like it. Sorry Quaker maybe next time.

Nutritionally it is pretty much exactly the same as all of the other flavors. Particularly, in the calorie department, with all four flavors containing 160 with the milk. They also all have 100% of your folic acid if that concerns you at all. All things, literally, being equal here my money would go to the regular or cinnamon flavored cereals.

I debated on how I should score this one. If it was a different brand I might be more generous, but this one had big footsteps to follow. I can only give this 1 1/2 bowls.

Serial Cereal Reviews

I wouldn't say I was never a fan of the Fiber One brand of cereal. I had never even tried their cereal before. Whenever I looked at the box on the original flavor. It looked like little twigs in a bowl, and it of course just reminded me of the old Saturday Night Live faux commercial for Colon Blow. Not too long ago I got a coupon for Fiber One, and they were advertising a new flavor. The one on the right: Caramel Delight.

It is a decent cereal. Obviously it had some sweetness to it, and the caramel taste is there but not overwhelming. Which for me is fine, as I don't want a strong caramel flavor in the morning. It also stays pretty darn crunchy in the milk. Even once I got to the bottom of the bowl it wasn't soggy. That was a pleasant surprise to me.

Nutritionally it is the weakest out of the Fiber One line. Tied for the highest calories per serving (220 with milk compared to 100 from the original flavor). It also has the least amount of...uh.. fiber out of all four flavors. Still a pretty good cereal. I give it 3 out of 5 bowls

Life is just a bowl of Life

We delve into another cereal, and this time it is Life Chocolate Oat Crunch. I am a big fan of the Life brand of cereal. It is sweet without being too sweet. This continues that trend, and provides us with a kiss of chocolate to the cereal.














The chocolate oat cluster thing is a perfect little nugget of chocolate that really enhances the joy of eating Life. there are enough to add to the cereal, but they don't overpower it. The only problem is this:

See the problem? It looks like some sort of rodent turd. Very unappealing. The taste is excellent though. I will give it 4 out of 5 bowl.
Oh yeah, and don't bother looking for the cereal either. They quit making it months ago, the picture of the rat turd is old.