REVIEW: Post Hostess Donettes Cereal

Post Hostess Donettes Cereal

Hitting shelves just in time to take advantage of America’s nationwide diet-fatigue following a month of calorie counting and gym-going, Hostess has recently collaborated with Post to release a dynamic duo of breakfast cereals drawing inspiration from two of their most iconic treats!

Advertising miniature donut-shaped pieces coated in a dusting of superfine powdered sugar, it’s easy to see why Hostess’s Donettes cereal would lure weary resolutioners away from Post’s more “healthful” (i.e. boring) offerings. After all, why settle for Shredded Wheat when you can chow down on a bowl of Donettes for breakfast?

Tempting premise aside, my less than awesome experience with Kellogg’s recent Pop-Tarts cereals caused me to be a just a bit skeptical towards how accurately Post would be able to portray the nostalgic fried delights in spoonable form.

Post Hostess Donettes Cereal w Cheerios

My trepidation turned out to be unjustified, though, because Post actually did a really good job with these. Each piece truly resembled the famous mass-produced dough rings, and dwarfed Cheerios by size alone. The sugary outer dust of each miniature donut directed the cereal’s flavor profile, much like with actual Donettes. I think the ultrafine sugar arguably worked even better in this instance, since it wasn’t thick enough to require you to have a glass of water on hand to help you get them down.

Post Hostess Donettes Cereal Bowl

It holds up surprisingly well in milk, too, especially since it’s just shy of 50% sugar by weight. This isn’t Captain Crunch or anything, but I was able to finish my bowl before it got soggy. Better yet, the sweet dust surrounding each morsel was similarly robust, and I was able to detect its presence even on my final few bites.

Post Hostess Donettes Cereal Closeup

At the end of the day, is this the most unique breakfast item out there? Probably not. That dubious honor undoubtadly belongs to Jimmy Dean’s Blueberry Pancakes & Sausage On-A-Stick. Even so, Donettes Cereal is still tasty in its own right, and it’s the marketing that really allows eating this to be an experience of its own. If nothing else, I would tell people to give this a shot just so they could experience the simple joy of shoving donuts into their mouth by the spoonful.

Now, please excuse me while I pour myself another bowl of Donettes.

Purchased Price: $3.98
Size: 18 oz. box
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup) 150 calories, 50 calories from fat, 6 grams of total fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 25 milligrams of potassium, 24 grams of total carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 13 grams of total sugars, and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Kellogg’s Limited Edition Peeps Cereal

Kellogg s Limited Edition Peeps Cereal

What is Kellogg’s Limited Edition Peeps Cereal?

Forget winter. It’s a marshmallow world in the springtime, and Kellogg’s has joined the trend of Peep-ifying everything by creating Peeps Cereal. It consists of yellow, pink, and blue marshmallow-flavored rings and small marshmallows.

How is it?

Kellogg s Limited Edition Peeps Cereal Dry

When I first opened the box, I got a strong whiff of generic sweetness. It reminded me of Sugar Cookie Pop Tarts. The rings look exactly like Froot Loops or Apple Jacks, just with different colors, and the marshmallows are small, white pieces.

Kellogg s Limited Edition Peeps Cereal Wet

When I eat the cereal, there’s not really a flavor to it. I can’t say it tastes like marshmallows, but then again, I can’t say that marshmallows really taste like anything. It’s sweet enough that I enjoy eating it, but there’s nothing groundbreaking here. I can totally see them swapping the pink and blue rings for red and green and calling it Sugar Cookie Cereal for Christmastime.

Kellogg s Limited Edition Peeps Cereal Swimming Peep

The flavor is mostly identical whether it’s dry or in milk, so enjoy it however you prefer cereal. The milk at the bottom of the bowl is enjoyable, but again, I don’t think of Peeps. I do appreciate that the marshmallows aren’t too crunchy compared to the cereal, which is sometimes a problem with other cereals.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Kellogg s Limited Edition Peeps Cereal Box Back

I absolutely love the cheerful packaging: the spring colors, the iconic chick and bunny, the flowers made of the cereal. On the back of the box is a Candy Land knockoff, called Peeps Land (what else?). Instead of drawing a card from a pile to determine how many spaces to move, you draw a cereal piece. See, it’s better than Candy Land, because you actually get something out of it.

Conclusion:

As a cereal, it’s OK. As a seasonal novelty product, it’s simply adorable.

Purchased Price: $3.79
Size: 18.7 oz. box
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup) 110 calories, 5 calories from fat, 0.5 grams of total fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 0 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 35 milligrams of potassium, 26 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Kellogg’s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes

Kellogg s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes Cereal

I want to start this review by writing about the back of the box of Kellogg’s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes.

It’s pure edutainment. It’s as if a Highlights for Children magazine, Where’s Waldo book, and the Wikipedia entry for honey got put into a stew.

I haven’t been paying attention to the back of cereal boxes lately, but this one is mwah. You might be thinking puzzles on the back of a cereal box are super easy and you could solve them before the third spoonful enters your mouth. But these aren’t. I mean, they aren’t as difficult as a Saturday or Sunday New York Times Crossword puzzle, but they seem to stimulate my mind slightly more than the cereal impresses my tongue.

Kellogg s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes Cereal Spoons

Kellogg s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes Cereal Clovers

Kellogg s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes Cereal Honeycomb

The puzzles include finding six spoons in the scenery, finding a four-leaf clover in a patch of three-leaf clovers, and going through a honeycomb maze. Plus, there’s this tidbit (or tidbuzz?) on the box: Honeybees visit more than 2,000,000 flowers just to make one pound of honey. Did you know that? I didn’t, but now I do thanks to this box.

As others on the internet have pointed out, Kellogg’s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes seems like it’s meant as payback at General Mills for coming out with Lucky Charms Frosted Flakes last year that featured a font similar to what Kellogg’s uses with its Frosted Flakes. A later box design came with a different font, but it seems Kellogg’s didn’t forget what the Big G did. So here we are with a cereal to compete with Honey Nut Cheerios.

While they both are “honey nut” cereals, their flavors are entirely different. Both use real honey, but Buzz the Bee should be jealous because the frosted corn flakes are noticeably sweeter than the whole wheat oat pieces. But what might be helping with that is the natural sweetness from the corn itself.

Kellogg s Honey Nut Frosted Flakes Cereal Closup

Honey Nut Cheerios may have a lighter sweetness, but it’s much nuttier. This might be because natural almond flavor is one of the cereal’s main ingredients, while the Kellogg’s cereal makes no mention of nuts in the ingredients. This difference is perhaps the reason why the flakes taste, at times, like original Frosted Flakes. Because of that, I slightly prefer Honey Nut Cheerios over its corn flake competition.

But if you want something that’s flavorful and a little functional, then Honey Nut Cheerios is the clear winner. Both are fortified with vitamins and minerals, but because Cheerios is made with whole grains, they provide two grams of fiber per 3/4 cup serving. As for Honey Nut Frosted Flakes, its box has more fiber than the zero grams the cereal has.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free sample of the product. Doing so did not influence my review in any way.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 13.7 oz. box
Purchased at: Received from Kellogg’s
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (3/4 cup) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 35 milligrams of potassium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Kellogg’s Limited Edition Banana Creme Frosted Flakes

Kellogg s Limited Edition Banana Creme Frosted Flakes

Banana Frosted Flakes is one of my favorite cereals of all time. ALL TIME. I miss it dearly.

So much so that I’ve written about them and have a recurring dream where I fight Tony the Tiger to enter the discontinued cereals vault, which he is guarding, so that I can eat another bowl of my beloved cereal. But he always defeats me and right before the knockout blow he says, “You’re gr-r-reatly mistaken that I’ll allow you to enter this vault.”

But now, there’s Limited Edition Frosted Flakes Banana Creme. Will it be the reason why I no longer have to write cereal odes or fight Tony the Tiger in my sleep? Unfortunately, the written and violent pleas will have to continue.

The flakes have a faint pleasant banana aroma mixed with the familiar scent of Frosted Flakes. They’re coated with a layer of frosting that makes them look similar to the original variety. There aren’t any dried fruit bits on them or the word “banana” in the ingredients list.

Kellogg s Limited Edition Banana Creme Frosted Flakes Closeup

There’s an adequate amount of banana flavor at first. But, by the fifth or sixth spoonful, it changes into something different from the first few dips into the cereal bowl. The fruitiness takes a backseat, and the frosting’s sweetness takes control. This happened whether I ate them dry or with milk. But those first spoonfuls brings a smile to my face.

While there’s sufficient flavor, I can’t help but think Kellogg’s could’ve added more, which might’ve helped make it a little more lasting. It could’ve taken the dried fruit from its Banana Raisin Bran (one of my favorite cereals of 2018) and added them to this. That addition might’ve made this one of my early favorites of 2019. But they weren’t so this ends up being a little disappointing to me.

If I weren’t a child of the 80s and 90s who got to experience the Golden Age of Breakfast Cereal that included Banana Frosted Flakes, I’d probably like this more than I do.

I do like it because I LOVE banana flavored products and there are traces of it. But its lack of a lasting flavor makes me go bananas.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free sample of the product. Doing so did not influence my review in any way.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: N/A
Purchased at: Received from Kellogg’s
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (3/4 cup w/o milk) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 150 milligrams of sodium, 30 milligrams of potassium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Cap’n Crunch’s Chocolate Berry Crunch Cereal

Limited Edition Cap n Crunch s Chocolatey Berry Crunch Cereal

What is Cap’n Crunch’s Chocolate Berry Crunch?

It’s Cap’n Crunch’s newest creation and ode to Valentine’s Day – Chocolate Berry Crunch. According to the box, this cereal is “decadence – if you like the taste of chocolate – Love. This. Crunch.” Combining the Cap’n’s classic red crunch berries with a choco-fied version of his usual yellow lined rectangles, this is a cereal that wants to lure you seductively into its milky bowl.

How is it?

Limited Edition Cap n Crunch s Chocolatey Berry Crunch Cereal 2

Truth be told it’s not nearly as sexy as the Cap’n wants us to think, but it’s also far from bad. The leading flavor is the very familiar nondescript fruit and sugary pop of red crunch berries, which comes along with a solid fluffy yet firm texture that soaks pretty easily in milk.

The chocolate pieces seem to be outweighed by the berries at around a 1-to-3 ratio, being much less dominant in most bites. The pieces themselves carry a mild cocoa flavor without any bitterness or sharp notes like in Cocoa Puffs. A little chocolate comes through the berry-forward mix, but even on spoonfuls of mostly crunchy rectangles, the chocolate is gentle, almost to a fault.

Is there anything else you need to know?

Limited Edition Cap n Crunch s Chocolatey Berry Crunch Cereal 3

The chocolate pieces stay firmer and soak up less milk than the berries, which towards the bottom of the bowl creates an interesting textural contrast. I also noticed that the leftover dairy carried a more chocolaty flavor than most of the eating experience, which made for a nice finish.

Conclusion:

This is a tasty cereal that falls right in line with the things most people love and expect from Cap’n Crunch, but it isn’t anything super new or groundbreaking you need to rush out and get before some new version of the Cap lines the shelves.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 12.5 oz. box
Purchased at:
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (3/4 cup) 100 calories, 1 gram of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 160 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 0grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.