Fiber Cereal Comparison

    I thought that it might be fun, from time to time, to have a product comparison. The idea came to me as I was re-organizing the ten thousand boxes of cereal that I bought on one of my recent couponing trips. OK... so there aren't really ten thousand boxes, but you knew that! It sure seemed like it, though, when I was searching for a place to store them. As I looked through my haul and tried to match "like cereals" with other "like cereals"- basically separating the sugary ones from the healthy ones, I came up with the idea to have a cereal comparison. Now, the sugary cereals would just be too easy. I mean, Cookie Crisp... who doesn't like cookies for breakfast? And Lucky Charms... yeah, even my 10 month old knows to eat all of the marshmallows first! Hmmmm... how should I do this? Then it hit me. Fiber cereals! They are usually a little more expensive than the sugary cereals and, to be honest, I am sometimes afraid to buy them. I mean, who wants to buy a box of flavored cardboard? Really. Buying fiber cereal is hit and miss. How many boxes have you either suffered through or just ended up throwing away?

    So, here it goes. The cereals will be judged on amount of fiber per serving, taste, texture, and overall value.

Kashi GoLean Crunch!

Kashi Go Lean Crunch

I was optimistic about trying this cereal. I had read some good things about it online in the "fitness circles". When we saw it on sale a while back, we bought a few boxes.

Fiber: ¢¢¢¢ Each serving has 8 grams of fiber. 

Taste: ¢¢¢ The FLAVOR of this cereal was somewhat good. If I used my imagination a bit, it reminded me of caramel corn.... not the best caramel corn, mind you... but OK.

Texture: ¢ Bad. Sorry. There is no sugar-coating this one. It is like chewing on stale, crunchy Styrofoam packing peanuts. Not that I have ever done that, but close your eyes and imagine how it would be... got it? Not pleasant.  

Overall Value:  ¢¢ I guess I could have given it 3 ¢'s, but considering the fact that we ended up throwing a couple boxes away because we just couldn't get past the texture... it wasn't a good value for us. I would not by it again. Even with a coupon.

Fiber Plus Caramel Pecan Crunch

Fiber Plus Caramel Pecan Crunch
I love caramel, I love pecans, I had a coupon, and the store had a sale. Need I say more?

Fiber: ¢¢¢¢ Each serving has 9 grams of fiber.
Taste: ¢¢¢ Did I mention that I love caramel and pecans? So, why only 3 ¢'s then? A couple of reasons. First, the cereal was just too sweet. Keep in mind, I have quite the sweet tooth and it is a shocker for me to even HINT that something could possibly be too sweet.... but this was. The second reason is the "caramel" flavor. It tasted more like maple than caramel, which may have been ok, but when it's the artificial maple flavor that doesn't quite taste right and you are looking forward to caramel, it was a let-down.
Texture: ¢¢¢ "Cardboard, yes." The flakes, anyway. I don't think those suckers would get soggy in milk if you let them sit overnight! They were just too thick and slightly tough. The pecan clusters, on the other hand, were very good. Crunchy, as they should be, and not off-putting.
Overall Value: ¢¢¢ We did end up eating the whole box. I mostly ate a bowl as a dessert, when I craved something sweet (still too sweet, though). I don't think we will be buying this one again.

 

Fiber One 80 Calories Honey Squares

Fiber One 80 Calories Honey Squares
I had a coupon for this and it was on sale, so I bought a couple of boxes. The fact that is is only 80 calories per serving is definitely a plus!

Fiber: ¢¢¢¢¢ There are 10 grams of fiber per serving!
Taste: ¢¢¢¢  The flavor is actually pretty good. I, personally, am not a huge fan of the honey square type of cereals, but I did like it. My husband didn't like it much at all though. Our oldest daughter was the only one of our kids to try it and most of the box went to her. She liked it a lot.
Texture: ¢¢¢¢ "Cardboard, no." Very true. It even held up ok in milk. I did find that there was an ever-so-slight grainy texture to it, though.
Overall Value: ¢¢¢¢  Good cereal, I guess I could give it another 1/2 ¢, but this being a new blog, I haven't figured that one out yet. Decent price if you can get it on sale and/or use a coupon, and I'd probably buy it again.


All-Bran Bran Buds

All-Bran Bran Buds
I have to admit my skepticism when my husband chose this cereal for the first time. I turned up my nose and made up my mind that I wouldn't even try it. Um... yeah... I was kinda wrong.

Fiber: ¢¢¢¢¢ This cereal has a whopping 13 grams of fiber per serving!
Taste: ¢¢¢¢¢ This cereal has a pleasant, slightly sweet, bran flavor. Even the kids like to snack on it. And when you can get kids to snack on something healthy as if it were a treat, that's a winner in my book!
Texture: ¢¢¢¢¢ Each little bud of bran has a nice crunch. They have a descent "milk-sit" time, yet they aren't too hard, so you're not going to break a tooth on one.
Overall Value: ¢¢¢¢¢ It was a bit obvious that I would give this the highest rating. But really, it deserves it. Bran Buds are so yummy and versitile, that we buy them over and over. And to tell the truth, we rarely even eat them as a bowl of cereal with milk. We like to sprinkle a few on top of applesauce or yogurt, or just snack on them as is. We even use them fer medicinal purposes. Have a tummy ache? Eat a handful of Bran Buds! Seriously. It WORKS!  (Oh, and I just learned a little secret from a friend- she sneaks Bran Buds into her taco meat to add fiber!) I would, and do, buy this cereal again... and again.



So there you have it! Have you tried any of these cereals? Leave a comment and let me know what you think of them. What other fiber cereals do you like?

Oh, and if you want coupons, check out these links:  Fiber One    Kellogg's    Kashi