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Saturday, January 27, 2024

Saturday Morning Cereals - Insta-bowls Kellogg's Cereal taste test comparison

Happy Saturday! What's for breakfast? Cereal! The perfect thing to enjoy with Saturday morning cartoons (if that's even a thing anymore). 

Today, we're trying something new from Kellogg's! Insta-bowls cereal! We've got to try this with Pop Pop. He loves cereal!


So, imagine, you want a delicious bowl of cereal, but you find that you're all out of milk! No worries! Insta-bowls has you covered! Just add cold water, give it a stir, and you just created real milk! 

Naturally we're trying every bowl along with its counterpart. Apple Jacks, Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, and finally Raisin Bran Crunch. Theresa would not let me take the easy way out and just use a bowl of Raisin Bran. We had to find the Raisin Bran Crunch in the mini-bowl to match. 

A normal Kelloggs to-go cereal bowl holds between 1.5-2.8 ounces of cereal and costs $1.28 each. These Insta-bowls hold 1.2-1.8 ounces and cost about $2 each. So, you're paying more for less cereal, but you get the convenience of instant milk.
Megan - We should try it from least sweet to the sweetest.  
Fill it up to the line on the bottom. 

Pouring water into cereal just feels wrong. 
Weird. Milk Powder is the first ingredient, in front of whole grain wheat and sugar. 

It looks wrong. 

Stirring it up for a few seconds. 
Megan - I can smell it. It's weird. 
Patrick - They made these why? 
Megan - If you really need to have liquid on top of your cereal. Moist cereal. 

Well, there you go. Looks like that water has now turned into milk in our cereal bowl. 
Joe - It's like the protein decided to stick together. The whey decided to separate. Like cheese. 
Patrick - This is starting off wonderfully!
Megan - I've never had powdered milk. Unless you count powdered creamer. 

Here's our two bowls. Regular Raisin Bran Crunch on the left. Insta-bowl Raisin Bran Crunch on the right. 
Patrick - One is a bright white. The other is a little yellowish. 

Megan - Start with the nasty one. 
Patrick - The milk powder is... odd. That one (the regular cereal) tastes fresh. The Insta-bowl tastes old. 
Mickey - I guess it would do in a pinch. But the regular milk tastes like it's sweeter or something. 
Patrick - If you're starving on a mountain and you've got river water, this is acceptable cereal. 

Megan - It feels unnecessary. I'd rather just eat it dry than have powdered milk it. Why not just pour water on it if you needed it wet? 
Joe - You'd have water cereal? 
Mickey - That's exactly like powdered milk. Have you ever had Carnation Powdered Milk? It tastes like that. My aunt used to drink that all the time. Such a unique flavor.


Moving on to the next one. Frosted Flakes Insta-Bowl!
Theresa - Is that the next sweetest? 
Megan - Maybe. But at least there's no fruit flavor to them. 
Giving the cereal a little shake to get a look at the powdered milk that sits under it. 
Smelling the Frosted Flakes, the regular cereal smells like corn and sweetness. The Insta-Bowl smells like powdered milk. 

Add water and stir it all up. Chunka, chunka, chunka. 
Megan - I predict that the problem with this. All the stirring you have to do to mix up the milk has knocked all the sugar off the Frosted Flakes. 
Joe - Ooo. No! 
Mickey - That's different...
Megan - That tastes like breastmilk. Write that down. 

Mickey - That's a weird flavor. That is not that good. 
Joe - I don't know why that's so different from the Raisin Bran. 
Patrick - Come on Theresa! Join the fun! 
Theresa - I don't even like regular milk in my cereal. 
Patrick - Do we blame the water? 
Mickey - Colorado water is really good. 
Joe - How is that so different? 
Patrick - Yuck!
Joe - I don't know how to describe what's wrong with that one. It's not sweet. 
Mickey - That was almost nasty. 
Joe - If Dad says it's nasty, then it must be really bad. 
Patrick - Almost nasty? I want to know what would make it full nasty. 

Patrick - Moving on to the fruity! This one has Parmesan Cheese on it!
Joe - Parmesan Cheese Apple Jacks! 
Megan - It smells like a Lunchable. 
Patrick - It does smell like a Lunchable! 

Adding regular milk to our Apple Jacks for the comparison. And water for the Insta-Bowl. 
Megan - If Joe says "Eww" one more time, I'm not doing it. I want Pop Pop to taste it first. 

Mickey - Avery likes Apple Jacks. 

Megan - I like Apple Jacks. I would eat a bowl of these while we would home school. These remind me of my Mom. 
Joe - This one is sweeter. 
Patrick - Not as bad as Frosted Flakes. 
Joe - It seems bland though. 
Patrick - Maybe needs some salt. 

Finally we get to the Froot Loops. The Insta-Bowl cereal is not quite as vibrant as the regular cereal. 

Time to add water and mix it up. 
Patrick - Are Apple Jacks just Froot Loops? 
Megan - No. 
Patrick - I have high hopes! I don't know why. 
Joe - I think I'm getting too much milk on my spoon. I just need a splash. 
Megan - I'm getting a splash and it's still too much. I do not like the taste of that. 
Joe - Megan, not good? 
Megan - <hurl> Nope! 

Joe - So... Instabowls? 
Megan - No thank you! Never again! No, please no!
Joe - I don't think they improved on anything. 
Megan - They lessened on everything. 
Patrick - Apple Jacks was almost okay. 
Mickey - But the Frosted Flakes was actually disgusting. 
Patrick - Raisin Bran was okay...
 
Of all of them, which was the least offensive? 
Megan - Raisin Bran. 
Joe - For me too. 
Patrick - Closest to actual. 
Joe - The other ones though. Somehow the sugar was lost in all those. Not as sweet and not very good. 

Megan - That was gross. Thank you Joe. 
Patrick - Yeah, thanks for saving that taste test for us. 
Mickey - Thanks! I won't be buying the stuff with the powdered milk! 
Joe - Thanks for giving your opinions on all this! 

Joe - Can I try the Frosted Flakes again? 
Megan - There's nothing worse than a bowl of cereal that has sat out and gotten soggy and warm. 
Joe - It's not any better. 
Megan - For a hike, just take dry cereal, or jerky, or a cheese stick. Nothing that requires any of this nonsense. 

Favorite cereals: Go!
Mickey - Lucky Charms!
Patrick - Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
Megan - Peanut Butter Crunch!
Joe - Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs!

So... just like yesterday's Skittles Cotton Candy, this is another product that I would not recommend. 

1 comment:

  1. When the concluding question is "Which was the least offensive?" vs "Which was your favorite?" says it all regarding how the taste test went :-) "That was almost nasty" probably best describes the overall sentiment. I wonder if the powder milk was in a separate pouch and mix thoroughly on its own and then poured onto the cereal if that would have helped (really need to mix up the powdered milk before using it...I use to drink it for years...but admit it tastes "different" and takes some getting use to) Oh well...another item into the "never buy again" list! :-) EOM

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