Tag: Cereal

REVIEW: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream

Dustin 4 Comments

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream

At the beginning of the year, Nestlé’s Coffee-mate released a Cinnamon Toast Crunch coffee creamer, and I was heartbroken by its underwhelming execution.

When I saw Nestlé’s Dreyer’s was introducing a Cinnamon Toast Crunch ice cream, I knew I had to set my expectations appropriately before trying it. I kept reminding myself that there was a distinct possibility it was going to be another dud.

When I finally found it in the store, my realistic expectations were overcome by giddy excitement. There’s something about that colorful font in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch logo that makes my heart tingle with nostalgia. I was powerless.

Thankfully, Nestlé did not fail me this time.

The carton states that the ice cream is “cinnamon light ice cream with a cinnamon graham swirl and cereal pieces.” The “light ice cream” portion of the description reminded me to tone down my expectations, but everything else had me salivating.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream 2

Peeling the lid off the carton, I could immediately smell cinnamon. There were generous flecks of the spice throughout the ice cream and hints of the “cinnamon graham swirl” eagerly greeting me. One corner of a lone cereal piece peeked out of the top.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream 4

Each splendid bite was absolutely full of cinnamon. It was superbly sweet, but not so much that the warm spice was subdued. It instantly reminded me of the cereal I’ve been eating for as long as I can remember. Every single spoonful screamed, “Cinnamon Toast Crunch.” The swirl infused an extra shot of the sublime spice and some pleasant grit. It was the surprising star of the show. If presented with a bucket of the swirl, I would eat it by itself until I became sick.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream 3

The cereal pieces, although sparse, added a nice crunch to the occasional spoonful. A few more would have been wonderful, but the swirl made up for their small numbers.

The ice cream itself is what one would expect from a light offering by Dreyer’s. It’s a tad thin and airy, but the abundance of flavor makes me not even care. Had this been made with a more premium, full-fat ice cream, it would have been close to a perfect 10 for me.

This ice cream perfectly captures the essence of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Nestlé, I forgive you.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: 1.5 Quarts
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 170 calories, 6 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Honey Bunches of Oats Frosted Cereal

Marvo

Honey Bunches of Oats Frosted Cereal

Honey Bunches of Oats Frosted Cereal confuses me, much like the puzzle on the back of its box.

I’ll get to the cereal in a moment, but the Arctic Water Park puzzle is lame. The game asks, “Who’s going to make a splash? Follow the slides and see who ends up in the Polar Bear pond!” Now, I believe almost every solver will look at the numbered flags and start with Slide #1. And guess what? Yeah, SPOILER ALERT, Slide #1 leads to Polar Bear pond.

Why make the first choice the correct choice that turns the slide into a drive-thru window for the polar bear? Because it’s so quick to solve, children will now be forced to avoid conversations with their parents by watching TikTok videos on their phones.

As for the cereal itself, it confuses me because I thought all Honey Bunches of Oats varieties had only frosted flakes. I guess that wasn’t the case, and maybe I should start taking my time eating Honey Bunches of Oats so I can catch whatever nuances they have, instead of scarfing it down before the flakes get super soggy.

Honey Bunches of Oats Frosted Cereal Closeup

Every corn flake in the box is frosted, but I kept wondering how much of the coating is on them because they’re not as sugary as Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes or what General Mills has been using. They are sweeter than the flakes with other Honey Bunches of Oats varieties, but the cereal overall tastes less sweet than my go-to Honey Bunches of Oats variety, Honey Roasted.

The coating may not make the cereal as sugary as I expected, but it helps the flakes remain crunchy for a little longer than other Honey Bunches of Oats varieties. So all the crunch lifting isn’t done by just the granola clusters, and I don’t have to scarf it down to avoid Sogsville. But, sadly, the bunches themselves taste bland.

Even though I’d like it to be a little sweeter, Honey Bunches of Oats Frosted is a satisfying cereal. But unlike the answer to the slide puzzle on the back of the box, it’s not choice #1 when it comes to Honey Bunches of Oats.

Purchased Price: $3.50
Size: 20 oz. box
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup) 160 calories, 2 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Peeps Marshmallow Froot Loops Pop

Mark

Peeps Marshmallow Froot Loops Flavored Pops

What is the Peeps Marshmallow Froot Loops Flavored Pop?

Since last year gave us cereal flavored like Peeps, it’s only fitting that this year would give us Peeps that taste like cereal. Green, blue, red, and orange Peeps, allegedly flavored like Froot Loops, are skewered on a stick, hence the “pop” in the name.

How are they?

When I sniffed them after removing them from the package, they had a vague “Froot” scent. It kind of smelled like Froot Loops, but it was fruitier.

Peeps Marshmallow Froot Loops Flavored Pops Cereal

But when I bit the Peeps, the flavor was entirely fruity. I don’t know whether Just Born meant it to taste like Froot Loops cereal or just Froot, but it certainly didn’t taste like the cereal. The fruit flavor was surprisingly faint. Most of the other flavored Peeps have a more pronounced taste, but if you were mindlessly eating the contents of your Easter basket, you might not notice that these are different from plain Peeps.

With Froot Loops, all the colors are the same flavor, but for the Peeps, you might ask, “Are the different colors different flavors?” My answer: “Maybe?” The red seemed slightly less citrusy than the green and orange, but the flavors are so faint that I don’t know whether that was intentional or if it was my brain playing tricks on me because of what it expected the color to be.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Peeps Marshmallow Froot Loops Flavored Pops Easter

For me, the most aggravating part is the packaging and the price. At two dollars a pop (literally), they are ridiculously expensive for a disappointing candy. If I wanted to eat Peeps on a stick, I could provide my own skewer; the stick seems wasteful.

Conclusion:

If they sold these in standard Peeps packaging at standard Peeps pricing, they would be worth a try. But in pop form, I can’t recommend them to anyone. They would only be useful in candy bouquets, which are expensive already.

Purchased Price: $2.00
Size: 1.38 oz. package
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (4 chicks) 120 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 28 grams of sugar (including 28 grams of added sugar), and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats ‘N Honey Cereal

Meghan 4 Comments

Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats N Honey Cereal

What is Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats ‘N Honey?

Debuting as the second member of the brand’s Oat Crunch family of cereals, Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats ‘N Honey features honey-sweetened clusters of multigrain Cheerios and whole-grain oats.

How is it?

One thing’s for sure – General Mills really nailed the crunch factor here! I personally have never found regular Cheerios to be particularly lacking in the texture department, but this variation definitely has an edge in terms of crunchiness. It’s not quite on the level of Cap’n Crunch, but it’s certainly got enough heft to it that holds up well in milk.

Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats N Honey Cereal Dry

The oats are bound to the Cheerios themselves using a delicious coating of sugar and honey. This causes the formation of little cereal and oat clusters that have a striking similarity to granola, making this perfect for topping yogurt.

Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats N Honey Cereal Milk

Taste-wise, Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats ‘N Honey isn’t much to write home about. It’s much more muted than its cinnamon sister cereal, but still not bad in its own right. It comes across as notably less sweet than Honey Nut Cheerios, which I found rather odd considering both variations have about as much sugar as one another on a gram-per-gram basis. But that’s part of what makes it a great option if you’re in the market for a hardier breakfast that’s not going to cause a 10 a.m. sugar crash.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Calorie counters should remain conscious of their portion size here since this cereal’s similarities with granola don’t end with its consistency. A single serving of this has more than twice the calories and fat than most other members of the Cheerios family, and it’s way too easy to power through two or three servings in a single bowl.

Conclusion:

If you’re in the market for a cereal to hold you over until lunch, or if you’re looking for something a little more wholesome to top off parfaits, I’d say to give Cheerios Oat Crunch Oats ‘N Honey a shot. If nothing else, you can always use it as an excellent base for homemade trail mix.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: 15.2 oz box
Purchased at: Food Lion
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup) 230 calories, 5 grams of total fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 42 grams of total carbohydrates, 4 grams of dietary fiber, 15 grams of total sugars, 15 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

REVIEW: General Mills Jolly Rancher Cereal

Mike 2 Comments

General Mills Jolly Rancher Cereal

What is Jolly Rancher Cereal?

Regular readers of The Impulsive Buy will have noticed in recent years the bounty of breakfast cereals based on other sweet confections. Whether it be Twinkies, Pop-Tarts, or Dippin’ Dots, there seems to be no limit to manufactures’ desire to rebrand known properties into something that will fit in a bowl.

The latest is General Mills’ Jolly Rancher Cereal. A hard candy doesn’t seem like a natural candidate to convert to breakfast time (we get these before Ding Dong or Ho Hos cereal?), but let’s see if The Big G can move these from the office candy bowl to the kitchen cereal bowl.

How is it?

General Mills Jolly Rancher Cereal Dry

Upon opening, I can tell these are going to be more than a rebranded Trix. There’s a tangy scent that I’ve never encountered in a cereal before. I pour a measured 36 gram portion into my bowl and am once again disappointed at how small a suggested serving of cereal is.

General Mills Jolly Rancher Cereal Wet

As I pour in the milk, I notice that the cereal pieces are more pillow-shaped than the spherical pieces on the front of the box. The flavor has some of the tang I detected, and that really works to remind me of the cereal’s candy namesake. Each different fruit piece has a distinct flavor, though you can’t really tell in a mixed spoon. The green apple has an especially nice green apple flavor.

Is there anything else you need to know?

I have to admit I’ve never really cared for the original Jolly Rancher candy. It’s amazing how they manage to take an ordinary flavory like “cherry” and make it taste just a little bit weird, like the manufacture gave free rein to the guy who designed the artificial watermelon flavor.

Still, I have to admit this cereal somewhat won me over. Most fruit cereals only manage to be overly sweet and generically “fruity.” These manage to offer a more distinct fruit flavor, at least if you manage to get a spoonful of a single flavor. Which I did. Multiple times. Because I live a full and interesting life.

Conclusion:

I’m not going to wake up excited to have my bowl of Jolly Ranchers, but it’s a good option if you’re looking to change things up. I have a feeling that we’re at peak novelty cereal, so I don’t know how long these will last on store shelves. Give them a try.

Purchased Price: $3.64
Size: 18.7 oz. box
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (36 grams) 140 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 160 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.