General Mills Lucky Charms

Product name: General Mills Lucky Charms
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 49g pot (Poundland)

Calories: 190 per pot (232 per pot with 125ml skimmed milk)
Country of origin: USA

 

General Mills Lucky Charms is another cereal that, like Kellogg's Froot Loops, I’d always wanted to try but never had. For that reason, I was really pleased to find this single-serving  tub that still managed to contain 19g of whole grain within its ‘frosted toasted oat cereal with marshmallows’. I’d never actually realised that this was a frosted cereal so this aspect increased my interest and, what with the marshmallows, I couldn’t think of ever having tried a similar product.

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes take words for granted, so I’d never made the connection between this cereal’s name and what it actually was! However, I quickly realised that the red pot featured things that are often considered to bring luck, such as a leprechaun. This theme continued with the tiny, shaped Cheerio-like cereal and colourful marshmallows – these featured horseshoes (which I initially thought were fish!) and shooting stars, as well as other more general items like hearts. (If anyone can figure out what the shape on the bottom right of my picture is, I’d love to hear from you!)

Imported by Innovative Bites Ltd, there were some negative aspects of this product too. The corn it contained was genetically modified, and the ‘adverse effect’ the colours could have on children was also highlighted – not great but I couldn’t let that deter me!

The overall scent from the tub was gorgeous. It was like a cross between Kellogg’s Rice Krispies: Squares and real toasted marshmallows. The cereal had a slightly sticky glaze that possibly contributed to this but, on the whole, it seemed to be from the hardened ‘charms’ that were also a little sticky. I was impressed to see that the colours of these marshmallows went throughout each piece too – they weren’t just for show on the surface.

I did try a tiny dry sample of the product, out of matter of interest, and found the cereal to be nicely sweetened and the marshmallow to be very sugary with a slight crisp. The different colours used didn’t impact the flavour. They all tasted like toasted marshmallows – it was just a shame they didn’t have the warm, gooey centres to accompany the flavour!

I figured the idea was to pour the milk into the tub so this is what I did...only to find it all went to the bottom (don’t ask what I thought would happen!). This ended up being fine, though, as the cereal still got a good moistening. The only problem I found was that the bits at the bottom did go soft and slimy pretty quickly but, on the whole, the cereal was quite chewy and I adored the sugary hits from the marshmallows. The flavour combination really reminded me of something which I couldn’t work out until I remembered I had actually had this cereal in bar form a while ago so it was probably that!

Once the cereal had gone, I enjoyed using up the remaining milk. It didn’t look very appetising as the blue food colouring had leaked and created a grey appearance, and its texture had also become a bit starchy, but it did have a slightly sweetened taste.

Aside from this cereal’s deliciousness, what impressed me most was the good balance between the two elements – there was no shortage of either the oats or the marshmallows and they were both very enjoyable. If I’m honest, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this so much...I just wish it was healthier!

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

General Mills Reese's Puffs

Product name: General Mills Reese’s Puffs
Purchase details: £5.50 for a 368g box (United States Grocery)
Calories: 120 per 29g dry serving (160 per 29g serving with 112.5ml skimmed milk)
Country of origin: USA 

Now, before you go accusing me of anything, I haven’t cheated! This may be my first ever review of a breakfast cereal but I have only eaten it in the evenings as part of my ‘something to look forward to’ way of thinking. I can assure you that I am still starting my days with a trusty bowl of Sultana Bran!

Being a Reese’s product and, therefore, containing peanut butter, I’ve wanted to try this cereal for ages but I’ve always avoided it due to high import prices. I was delighted to effectively get this box for half price, though, with my Living Social voucher for United States Grocery which meant a £10 spend only cost me £5.

If you’re familiar with Reese’s, you won’t be surprised to see that this product came in an orange box, and I loved the way the image used a Peanut Butter Cup chocolatey shell as a bowl for the ‘sweet’ and ‘crunchy corn puffs’ that contained Hershey’s Cocoa in addition to Reese’s peanut butter.

The box contained around 12 servings, the details of which were recommended using the American cups system. Whilst the weight of the cereal was also provided in grams, I used this helpful website to translate the milk measurement into millilitres.

The packaging also stated that the ‘first ingredient’ was whole grain which, in this case, was corn. In fact, it contributed to 11g of each serving. On the downside, the second ingredient was sugar, although there were lots of vitamins included too.

Despite a whole list of colourings being provided, the box only contained two different shades of maizey-looking puffs. The dark brown ones were chocolatey whilst the lighter, yellowy coloured pieces were peanut butter. However, both varieties were coated in a thin peanut buttery layer. The balls were small and light in size which meant there were a lot in a 29g serving and I was surprised by just how much of a peanut butter scent they gave off. 

I did try a couple of dry pieces before I took the plunge with the milk and found them to be nutty, sweet and crispy. The peanut butter puffs were obviously nuttier but, due to the outer layer, both varieties had a nuttiness to them. The other variety was more sugary and, whilst not obviously chocolatey by itself, it did have an additional flavour going on.

With milk, this cereal was so good! It was sweet and chocolatey to the extent that it reminded me of chocolate-filled pillow cereals but there was an added saltiness form the peanut butter which took it to a new level. This saltiness seemed to mix really well with the milk so it kind of caught the edges of the back of the tongue, resulting in a whole-of-mouth experience. I also loved how, although the cereal tended to get ever-so-slightly chewy towards the end of the bowl, it remained crunchy throughout – just what I want from a cereal.

Despite containing quite a lot of sugar, I didn’t find this too sweet at all. I’ve known for a long time that chocolate and peanut butter work really well together but I was delighted to find adding milk also makes for a great flavour experience. There was a perfect balance between these three ingredients since none of the flavours dominated but each unique taste could be identified. Of course, that does mean that if you want a product that is either extremely chocolatey or extremely peanut buttery, this may not be the cereal for you but, if you appreciate a combination of the two with added milk, you’ll love this! 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10