Christmas Crunch

Name: Christmas Crunch
Variation: Cap'n Crunch
Manufacturer: Quaker Oats

Review: I was relieved to find this cereal this year, so I could review it for my blog - and on Christmas Day! I actually saw a man setting up the display at Walmart on the last day of November, and was the very first person to grab a box. This cereal tastes just like Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries (which, again, is not a bad thing), but with berries in festive red and green shapes. Although it doesn't turn the milk purple, it does leave the usual sugary sweet taste.

Rating: 🥣🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Sugary sweet!

The Elf on the Shelf (Hot Cocoa & Sugar Cookie)

Name: The Elf on the Shelf - Hot Cocoa & Sugar Cookie
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: Another two-for-one! Hot cocoa and sugar cookie are two of my favorite winter flavors (moreso than peppermint and gingerbread), so I was very excited to find these - the official cereal of the North Pole. Both cereals are pretty similar, just with different flavors. The marshmallows are tiny and very sparse - I feel like Hot Cocoa could have had more of them, but I was surprised that Sugar Cookie had any at all. The flavors could be a little stronger (Hot Cocoa more chocolatey, and Sugar Cookie sweeter), but this is made up for by mouthfeel. I was particularly impressed with the way Sugar Cookie simulates the feeling of biting into a sugar cookie. I think I would enjoy making these cereals part of my annual Christmas tradition. The milk is left with a mild flavor when you're done.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Mild cocoa/cookie flavor.

Caramel Apple Toast Crunch

Name: Dulce de Leche Toast Crunch + Apple Pie Toast Crunch
Variation: Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Technically, this is two different cereals - Dulce de Leche (a.k.a. caramel) Toast Crunch, and Apple Pie Toast Crunch. Individually, I like the caramel Toast Crunch better. It's pretty neat how the other one tastes like apples, but I think the flavor is maybe a tad strong. The box itself recommends mixing them together for a "caramel apple flavor explosion", and I gotta say, it's a great idea. It's rare to have an autumn-themed cereal that's flavor-based, and not just branded for Halloween.

Sometimes sold separately.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Caramel apple goodness!

Chocolate Frosted Flakes with Spooky Marshmallows

Name: Chocolate Frosted Flakes with Spooky Marshmallows
Variation: Frosted Flakes
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: I don't normally eat Frosted Flakes. But if you want to make a cereal appealing to me, the two best things you can do to it is make it chocolate, and add marshmallows. I still think the texture of the flakes is a little off-putting, but this cereal is worth having once a year. And the chocolatey milk it leaves behind is another point in its favor.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Chocolatey!

Monster Mash (50th Anniversary)

Name: Monster Mash
Variation: Monster Cereals
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: I was super excited when I found this cereal celebrating the 50th anniversary of Monster Cereals. It not only combines the three enduring varieties - Count Chocula (although I don't think there are any chocolate pieces in this), Boo Berry, and Franken Berry, but also the less common Fruity Yummy Mummy and Frute Brute. That's why I was disappointed when, upon trying it, I realized that the concept of combining these cereals is better than its execution. Frankly, there's just too much going on in this cereal, and it doesn't have a real cohesive flavor.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Plain...

I liked the concept so much, though, that I actually tried it myself, by combining separate boxes of Count Chocula, Boo Berry, and Franken Berry in one bowl. But the result wasn't much better. In this case, the chocolate and the fruit flavors clashed (which is interesting, because it's not as though chocolate and fruity can't go well together).

So I think I'll just stick to my good old friend, Count Chocula, from now on. It doesn't get any better than chocolate and marshmallows. But you can't say I wasn't brave enough to take on the monsters all at once!

Halloween Crunch

Name: Halloween Crunch
Variation: Cap'n Crunch
Manufacturer: Quaker Oats

Review: Tastes basically like Cap'n Crunch (with Crunch Berries - despite the lack of bright colors), which isn't a bad thing. Plus, the effect of turning the milk green is a lot of fun. It's one of my favorite cereals to have around Halloween.

Rating: 🥣🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Sugary sweet!

Introduction

Like a lot of people, I ate cereal as a kid. Then I had an experience with spoilt milk that completely traumatized me. Fast forward to adulthood, and I began to realize that I missed eating cereal. Having more control over the milk in my house*, I figured it would be safe to try eating cereal again. And I've completely fallen in love with it.

*Milk etiquette:
1. Always buy milk with the furthest sell by date.
2. Buy less milk more frequently, so it's constantly being refreshed.
3. The container shall never leave the fridge for more than sixty seconds.

Now, I'm not a breakfast person (or a morning person in general, for that matter). Although I do like breakfast foods - bacon, eggs, pancakes, etc. - I don't usually like to consume them in the morning, as I do not have a very big appetite early in the day. (And despite what nutritionists tell you about breakfast being the most important meal of the day, I'm pretty healthy, and can go to surprising lengths of time and physical exertion before breaking my fast when pressed).

So, not only do I enjoy eating cereal, but it's a simple and reliable snack (with minimal effort cooking or cleaning) to tide me over until lunch time. It's my go-to breakfast every morning of every day; only rarely do I substitute a bigger breakfast (usually when I'm travelling with companions who have bigger appetites in the morning), and when I do, I always find myself missing my daily bowl. Sometimes I'll even go to bed at night looking forward to the cereal I'll be having in the morning.

Despite being able to go through a Family Size box of cereal in about a week all by myself, I still manage to buy them faster than I can eat them, and my weakness for trying out limited edition novelty flavors has resulted in stacks of unopened boxes collecting on the top of my fridge (drawing snide remarks from family).

Nevertheless, this has inspired me (along with distant memories of cereals I enjoyed as a kid that you can't get anymore) to start documenting some of the more unique flavors I've come across. My favorite cereals cover some of the basics - staples such as Lucky Charms, Froot Loops, Honey Nut Cheerios, and Cocoa Puffs, among others. But I want to put special emphasis on the flavors you may not know about, the new and limited edition varieties that weren't on the shelves yesterday, and may not be there tomorrow.

Welcome to my Cereal Experiments. Close the box; open the next.