Let me start out by saying that I’m not much of a breakfast girl.
I mean, you got cereal, which is cold and unforgiving, and better suited as a late night snack if you ask me. (Especially if the cereal is Cap’n Crunch.) Then there’s oatmeal, which sometimes I will force myself to eat because while nutritionally it’s good for you, it’s kind of gross; especially if you make it from scratch. And I figure if either it’s artificially sweetened and flavored, overly processed gloppy glop from a packet or it’s naturally prepared gloppy glop from the canister, I guess I’ll take the gloppy glop from the canister and enjoy the benefits of a regular bowel movement. Oh, and yogurt? Don’t even get me started on effing yogurt.
Pretty much the only breakfast foods I enjoy are the ones that aren’t good for me, and as summer approaches and I go through my yearly ritual of “Operation Fitting Into Shit Again,” it really limits my options. Sometimes I will literally go the whole day without eating just to avoid breakfast, and then 5 o’clock hits and I eat things like a giant take-out burrito the size of a baby. And that is about as counterproductive as it is delicious.
One “healthier” option I’ve found that I do enjoy eating for breakfast is a low-fat or whole wheat English Muffin. Sure, I can deal with that. However, my last trip to the English Muffin aisle in my local grocery store yielded an unexpected and delightful surprise: Thomas’ Bagel Thins. Really Thomas’?
You mean to tell me that I can have all of the deliciousness of a bagel for roughly the same amount of calories as an English Muffin? And that I no longer have to stare with envy at my boyfriend’s Trader Joe’s Sesame Seed bagels sitting on the shelf, because he’s a bastard with fast metabolism and can eat giant doughy balls of seed-studded carby goodness for breakfast? This is the best thing to happen to my waistline since that time I got my wisdom teeth out and I couldn’t eat solid food for an entire week. And Bagel Thins won’t even give me the dry socket!
With an impressive four grams of fiber, Bagel Thins are nutritionally comparable so I don’t even have to feel guilty about replacing it with my usual whole wheat English Muffin. And with a couple of tablespoons of 1/3 less fat cream cheese — because everyone knows that fat-free cream cheese is basically like eating caulk — the whole shebang still clocks in under an impressive 200 calories. Heck, I can even throw in a glass of low-sugar orange juice into the mix for those numbers! Another way Bagel Thins are better than English Muffins is that, for about the same price, Bagel Thins come eight to a package whereas English Muffins only come with six. You don’t have to be a Harvard-educated mathematician to know that eight is better than six.
Thomas’ Bagel Thins are chewy and bagely, basically just like a regular bagel, and are about the same size, so it actually feels like you’re eating something substantial. Unlike one of Thomas’ sad little “mini bagels,” anyway – I mean, what are those even good for? My only real (albeit minor) gripe with the Bagel Thins was that because of their thinness, they unfortunately got cold really fast — especially if you’re slathering it with cold cream cheese from a cold refrigerator. Although on the other side of the coin, I could see the thinness lending itself perfectly as a bread/roll replacement for a sandwich or veggie burger. Quite frankly I’m surprised it took this long for America’s obsession of thinness (models, cell phones, televisions, etc.) to revolutionize the modern bagel, but it’s a trend I would like to see continue.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 Bagel (46 grams) – 110 calories, 1 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 210 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein and 8% iron.)
Item: Thomas’ Plain Bagel Thins
Price: $3.29
Size: 8 Bagel Thins
Purchased at: Supreme Shop N’ Bag
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Low-calorie. Tastes like a real bagel. Only 110 calories. Eight is more than six. Fitting into shit again.
Cons: Fat-free cream cheese. Oatmeal. Boyfriends and their stupid fast metabolisms. The aftermath of gorging on baby-sized burritos.
My fiancé and I love to make bagel sandwiches on these. his are Sausage patty, egg slice of cheese, I make mine with 1/4 cup off egg beaters and a slice of Canadian bacon or egg whites and veggies. The Everything kind are great too!
This is actually a good idea since many bagels can have hundreds of excess calories. The bagel thins allow the same size without the extra bread (aka calories).
Love these – try the Everything variety too. (For those on Weight Watchers, they’re only one point.)
My local bagel shop has had something like this for a number of years now, but they call them flagels (flat bagels).
After I submitted this review I happened across a package of the Everything kind at a different grocery store. Oh. My. Goodness. They would have gotten a 10 out of 10 rating.
those are the ones I have right now! 😀
Are these normal size? (width) Can I put them in the toaster without burning my fingers reaching down to pull them out?
I thought these were very disappointing. There’s absolutely no wash on the crust, and it looks like they were formed on cheese cloth. I’d much rather have the Thomas’ Mini Bagels that are actual bagels with the chewy exterior, than these weird cardboard rounds.
I shall stick with kids cereals for breakfast.
Cold pizza is much better.
Try other hot cereals like Cream of wheat or Malt O Meal. Less gloppy than oatmeal
these are one point on Weight Watchers, and the other ones, including everything flavored…is 2 points
These rock my frikkin world btw! When I don’t feel like indulging in a 6 point bagel
Thanks for posting this review! I love bagels so much but I always get over-full in the mornings when I eat a whole one. You were right, these bagel thins are practically perfect, except for the fact that they get cold so quickly. Still totally worth it and so much easier to make a sandwich out of. YUM.
I love the everything bagel thins, but will buy them no more because they can’t seem to figure out a way to slice them in two equal halfs which makes toasting or heating evenly an impossibility. I’ve emailed them asking why they can’t seem to be able to maintain a simple quality cut size, and they don’t bother to reply so I won’t buy their bagel thins anymore.