Do Kid Cereals Stand Up To Your Memories?

[Family Ties Forever!]

What do you think of these cereals?

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Do Kid Cereals Stand Up To Your Memories? Lower Sugar Counts Help Flavor Of Some Classics
J. Scott Wilson, Staff writer

Updated: 10:46 am CDT April 28, 2008

Remember Saturday mornings when you were a kid? You'd get up before your parents did, flick on cartoons, then raid the kitchen for whatever form of, in the "Calvin & Hobbes" tradition, Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs your folks had put in the pantry.

By 9 a.m., having ingested enough sugar to choke a goat, you'd be ready for a full morning of inexplicably bizarre behavior.

Healthy, Quick Breakfasts | Nutrition Guide

I'm not sure, but I think all the Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner cartoons might have had something to do with that behavior. I couldn't have come up with the innovative booby traps I set for my older sister without some sort of inspiration.

As an adult, my cereal cupboard is now rarely stocked with anything more daring than the occasional box of Golden Grahams. There is nary a neon color or cartoon character to be found on the boxes, and the milk left in the bowl is never turned into chocolate or fruit-flavored sludge.

But I occasionally crave kid cereals, so when the chance came to do this article, I jumped on it like a hawk on a mouse. I now had to stock up on all my childhood favorites in the interest of journalism.

Of course, I couldn't leave my erstwhile tasting panel out of the fun. Five adults assembled, and each nominated one or two of their childhood favorite cereals for testing.

Each cereal was rated on a 1-10 scale under two categories: How they taste now and how they compare to what we remember from our childhood. Taste memory is very strong, and I thought it was important to factor it in for those of you who might be tempted to take your own trip down breakfast memory lane.

Cocoa Puffs: 130 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 180 mg sodium, 28 grams carbs, 14 grams sugar.

Cocoa Puffs were one of the grand champions at turning the milk into something else, and it was nice to see some things don't change. However, the flavor here was more sugar than real chocolate. There was definitely something missing, although it was a good try. The "puffs" were still in good form, with the cereal staying nicely crunchy in the milk. Final score: 82.

Trix: 120 calories, 1 gram fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 170 mg sodium, 27 grams carbs, 12 grams sugar.

Who didn't do the sorting trick with Trix when they were a kid? You made piles of the three colors and tested to see if they were actually different flavors. Back then, they were. Of course, they were also staggeringly high in sugar. This new, lower-sugar version is surprisingly tasty, even if all the colors now taste the same. With less sugar, the cereal makers have had to work harder on the actual flavor, giving a better fruit "kick" per bite. Final score: 92.

Apple Jacks: 110 calories, 0 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 125 mg sodium, 24 grams carbs, 13 grams sugar.

This one made me a little nostalgic. Apple Jacks were one of my childhood favorites, and what's been done to them in the name of health is sad. They still look just about the same, but the flavor is a pale memory of what it once was. Unlike Trix, where less sugar has led to more other flavor, in this case nothing has replaced the lowered sweetness. Final score: 68.

Cocoa Krispies: 150 calories, 1 gram fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 240 mg sodium, 34 grams carbs, 18 grams sugar.

Here's the other champ in the chocolate milk-creation battle, and this one uses the four extra grams of sugar per serving to stomp the competition. The flavor up front was richer, and the milk leftover was enough to transform even the most jaded adult into an 8-year-old kid. Final score: 92.

Frosted Flakes: 130 calories, 0 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 170 mg sodium, 31 grams carbs, 13 grams sugar.

Ah, Tony the Tiger, what has become of you? In our youth, Frosted Flakes where the ne plus ultra of pure sugary goodness. The flakes were big, crusted with sugar and demanded a second bowlful. Today's version is but an echo of its former greatness, and while it will certainly put fewer pounds on the kids, for an adult looking for a cereal fix it's simply inadequate. The flakes go limp almost immediately, and the sweetness just doesn't have any impact. Final score: 44.

Lucky Charms: 130 calories, 1 gram fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 220 mg sodium, 27 grams carbs, 14 grams sugar.

Somewhere along the way, the marshmallows took on the texture of Styrofoam packing peanuts. This one dropped the ball both as a remembered favorite and as a pleaser for adults. There just wasn't a lot of flavor going on, although the texture of the cereal portion was good. Final score: 76.

Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries 140 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 180 mg sodium, 22 grams carbs, 12 grams sugar.

I'm still baffled as to how the Quaker folks managed to pull this off with one of the lower sugar counts in the test, but this was our clear winner. Even with the change to creatively colored and shaped "berries," the flavor was spot-on as remembered, and the two testers who had never tasted the cereal before were bowled over, pardon the pun. The crunch and the sweetness were outstanding, giving this one an extremely rare final score of 98.

There are a lot of cereals that couldn't make this article for space considerations. Honeycomb, Froot Loops and Count Chocola fans, my apologies. Those of you still in love with Freakies, please move on. They sadly haven't been made in years.

More Info:

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The School Lunch Dilemma

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Distributed by Internet Broadcasting.

[tv star collector]

I have been a cereal eater for most of my sixty years, but I must confess
that (for the most part) I have always enjoyed the television commercials
more than the cereals themselves: specifically, the ones made back in the
1950s and '60s (esp., Jay Ward's Cap'n Crunch, the Kellogg commercials (esp.
the great Tony the Tiger), Sugar Bear and Linus the Lionhearted for Post, the General Mills commercials (with the Trix Rabbit my favorite), and the mostly
forgotten (but still very entertaining) Marky Maypo). Watching those ads on
video today brings back a lot of good memories, of coming home from school,
turning on the TV (usually to watch Huckleberry Hound or Rocky & His Friends) and to sit down to a bowl of my favorite cold cereal. (I had
hot cereal for breakfast, and often still do.) Today, I prefer the blander
cereals to the sugary ones. But, for a wider assortment, I now buy the
variety packs.

[Janice]

I bought Sugar Frosted Flakes recently, and they weren't so GREEEAT. Not sweet enough. I like Cap'n Crunch.

[The Great One]

I haven't eaten any of these cereals in a long time and I didn't realize that the ingredients have been changed but I have noticed that the boxes have gotten
smaller and the prices are much higher. Does anyone know if the prizes are still great like they used to be?

[Stormtracker TF]

I always wondered why my Mom thought it was weird that I thought Frosted Flakes weren't any good. She probably hasn't eaten any since she was a kid and they're crappy now.

[Brian Damage]

I use to looooooove the "Monster Cereals" like Boo Berry and Franken Berry as a kid. The cartoon comercials were great too. Now, I find them a bit too sweet for my liking.

[catlover79]

Count Chocula sure does!!

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by catlover79

Count Chocula sure does!!

^

[phoebe7165]

Originally Posted by The Great One

I haven't eaten any of these cereals in a long time and I didn't realize that the ingredients have been changed but I have noticed that the boxes have gotten
smaller and the prices are much higher. Does anyone know if the prizes are still great like they used to be?

Do they still put the prizes in the cereal boxes anymore? Ah, the great memories of my childhood.

[Hollow]

nah, i still eat them.

[Zoneboy]

My parents rarely ever cooked breakfast so my brothers and I had to eat this sugar-laden stuff practically everyday, Oh the joys of having a nice big bowl of candy to start your day off right.

[OH Nuts!]

I liked cereal as a kid, but now that I'm in my 50s my doc read me the riot act so now I have to eat high fiber brands. One I REALLY LIKE is Kashi Go Lean. It tastes just like Sugar Smacks--only crunchy--& its high in protein & fiber too -- and sooooooo delish! Also like any brand of raisin bran as I love raisins!

[EmoJoe]

i love lucky charms. i love all cereal actually. my mom buys this variety pack that has mini boxes of Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Golden Grahms, Trix, and a few other cereals and its so amazing.

[AB]

My mother didn't buy hardly any of those cereals mentioned. We mostly got Cheerios & Cornflakes & Rasin Bran. I think later on my younger sister would sometimes ask for Count Chocula & my mom bought it for her. I wouldn't even want to try any of that kid cereal now. lol!

[TJL]

We were big fans of Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles in my house. Ditto for Frosted Flakes.

I prefer to eat more "nutritional" adult cereals now, but every once in a while I will pick up the variety pack.

Because I am a wild man.