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

Clif Bar: Crunchy peanut butter

Product name: Clif Bar: Crunchy peanut butter
Purchase details: £1.28 for a 68g bar (tesco.com)
Calories: 254 per bar
Country of origin: USA

I bought this Clif Bar: Crunchy peanut butter at the same time as the White chocolate macadamia nut that I’d previously reviewed. Despite my love of peanut butter, I had actually been more excited about the concept of white chocolate, although I did still hope that this variety would be better than the other peanut butter energy bar I’ve tried: Lenny & Larry's Muscle Brownie.

Understandably, this bar had the same history and features of the White chocolate macadamia nut version. The packaging was also identical apart from the mountains being brown instead of white.

Described as an ‘oat and peanut butter energy bar’, it contained 15.2% rolled oats, 6.3% peanut butter, as well peanut flour and peanuts. It was the same shape as the other variety but was darker in colour (even more akin to a flapjack), had no drizzle decoration, and was sticky to the touch.

The aroma was different but still slightly strange. The waxy element remained, and it didn’t smell natural, but there was the subtlest hint of nut and no floral aspect.

Thankfully, the flavour on offer here was also nicer. The peanut butter wasn’t as strong as I’d have liked but there were hints of it and, every now and then, I hit a ‘clump’ of it which felt like a nice treat and had a toasted nut aspect to it. However, I did find each mouthful had a bit of a journey – it started off nice and relatively nutty, then tasted a bit weird and artificial just before the swallow, but had a pleasant aftertaste to follow!

The moist texture remained good and was actually improved. There was still a chewy/crispy combination but with an added starchy feel, as well as the odd crunchy nut, and thick flake of oat.

There is no doubt in my mind that this Crunchy peanut butter bar was nicer than its White chocolate macadamia nut sibling, as well as the Lenny & Larry's Muscle Brownie: Peanut butter competitor. As I’ve come to expect by now, I do prefer more general snacks than these functional ones, but I definitely wouldn’t complain if I was given one of these as an energy boost! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.88/10

Clif Bar: White chocolate macadamia nut

Product name: Clif Bar: White chocolate macadamia nut
Purchase details: £1.28 for a 68g bar (tesco.com)
Calories: 263 per bar
Country of origin: USA

As a huge fan of Subway White Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies, I’ve had my eye on this variety of Clif Bar for a while. However, I did wait for it to be reduced before I took the plunge since I was a bit nervous about the fact it was an energy bar, following my not-so-great experience with the peanut butter Lenny & Larry's Muscle Brownie – proof that my favourite ingredients don’t always taste amazing!

The Clif brand was named after the founder and owner’s Dad, Clifford, who was his ‘childhood hero and companion through the Sierra Nevada mountains’ – this description didn’t half make me feel bad for munching on my bar as I sat on my bum in front of the telly! Anyway, it was clearly designed with active people and adventurers in mind, which is why the wrapper featured an illustration of a man climbing on a cliff. Despite the wrapper’s beige background colour, the blue from the sky and red from the logo really prevented the product looking boring.

On reading the description of the ‘oat, macadamia nuts and white chocolate flavour energy bar’, I realised the word ‘flavour’ didn’t sound great. The ingredients did list 16% rolled oats and 5.2% macadamia nuts, but the ‘white chocolate’ came in the form of ‘soy cocoa butter chips’ (6%). In fact, I’d never seen so many soy-containing ingredients listed on one product, but I was pleased to see lots of vitamins and minerals in there too.

The rectangular bar was quite a dark syrupy colour and looked like a knobbly flapjack with a white chocolate drizzle and visible macadamia nuts. The aroma was a bit unusual – it was like a waxy, floral vanilla scent which didn’t seem to match the bar that was sat in front of me.

As for the flavour, I wasn’t convinced at first. It almost tasted of alcohol which, as I’ve mentioned before, is not something I like. However, I found the flavour improved as I went on. The nuts tasted good but, overall, the bar was a bit bland and I couldn’t pick up on the white chocolate element at all. It certainly wasn’t a match for the Subway cookie, although I did like how it was sweet without being sugary.

Texturally, the Clif Bar was like a really dense and substantial cereal bar. It was chewy and crispy which made me think of cornflakes, at first, but then I realised that it contained rice crisps instead. I was also pleased that, despite being bitty and grainy by nature, it wasn’t dry.

On the whole, I’d say the Clif Bar: White chocolate macadamia nut was great in terms of what it was designed for – a filling boost that didn’t taste too shabby. As a ‘treat’, though, this didn’t quite work – the flavours on offer didn’t live up to my expectations and, for the calories, it just wasn’t worth it. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 6.75/10

Kellogg's Froot Loops

Product name: Kellogg’s Froot Loops
Purchase details: £0.79 for a 350g box (Home Bargains)
Calories: 117 per 30g serving (159 per 30g serving with 125ml skimmed milk)
Country of origin: UK

I’ve got two different memories of Kellogg’s Froot Loops from my childhood. The main one is Woody sticking his head in a bowl of them (or something that was supposed to hint at them!) in Toy Story (see the end of this clip if you don’t know what I’m talking about). The other one, though, was being told that the different colours were artificial and all the additives made kids hyper. As a result, as much as I wanted to try the cereal, I never did.

 

As an adult, although I’ve been tempted to buy a box previously, I’ve always been put off by the high prices. That’s why, when I saw this amazing offer as part of Home Bargains’ ‘Spotted on Star Buys’ promotion, I was straight in there – the limited shelf life wasn’t going to bother me. As it happens, the ‘multi-grain cereal’ specified that it was made with natural colours and flavours...so there!

 

The ‘mixed cereal fruit flavoured loops’ were designed for kids and effectively looked like colourful Nestlé Cheerios and came in a red box that featured a toucan as its mascot. In addition to the positivity surrounding the lack of artificial colours and flavours, the cereal (made from corn, oats and wheat) also contained folic acid and various vitamins and minerals (including at least half of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C). On the downside, each 30g serving contained 14g of sugar...not so great.

The box contained around 11 servings and contained green, purple and yellow loops that were hard, lightweight and a little sticky to the touch. Combined, they produced a slightly juicy, fruity scent when dry, but smelt more of general cereal when covered in milk.

I assumed that the different colours represented different flavours so I tried each one on its own first. They all appeared to have a slightly sweet coating and they did taste pretty similar but with subtle differences. The yellow rings tasted like fairly plain cereal and, if anything, reminded me of Kellogg’s Corn Pops. In comparison, the green loops were sweeter and, although there was no immediately obvious fruity taste, they did seem to have a minimalist apple tang in the aftertaste. This was noticeable when dry but stronger when wet. The purple loops remained sweet but, again, there was no fruity flavour. At this stage, I couldn’t help but wonder why they were called 'Froot Loops'!

I obviously did proceed to eat combined spoonfuls of the cereal to get a proper idea of what it tasted like. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of flavour, but the green’s fruity hint definitely came out the strongest. However, just when I was thinking that the overall flavour was the same as any other sweet cereal, I found that an apricot taste emerged as more milk was absorbed. This was pleasant but I still wouldn’t have said the bowl screamed ‘fruit!’.

Texturally, the Froot Loops were very good. They remained nice and crispy, even when wet – their surfaces got a little soggy over time but this never affected the structure.

This cereal was definitely nice enough, and I enjoyed the sugary milk it left behind, but I’m glad I didn’t pay over the odds for a box since I didn’t find them very fruity at all. Coincidentally, I saw that Erin reviewed the American version over at Guilt Free Veggie yesterday, and it turns out our recipe is different...maybe I’d prefer the strength of flavour on offer in the USA?

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.38/10