Category Archives: Specials

Spooned & Spotted: Barbara’s Puffins – Berry Burst Protein

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZd7xW_F4A0/?taken-by=cerealparty

This is a Puffins appreciation post.

For years, Puffins have quietly been one of the uniquely crunchiest and wholesome cereal lines in the cereal aisle (or sometimes the health food aisle—you know, the aisle that feels like Woodstock and a farmer’s market had a straight-edged child?). And for years, no one has been talking about them! Sure, the brand’s Stoically Unnamed Puffin Mascot may not have the appeal of Tony the Tiger or Cap’n Crunch, but any bird that can perch on a spoon without spilling its contents deserves praise—or at least a Licensed Yoga Instructor certificate.

Oh, and the cereal is pretty darn good, too. From Cinnamon to Peanut Butter & Chocolate, Puffins keeps it simple, rarely introducing new flavors. But now we’re getting the first new Puffins variety since 2015’s Limited Edition Pumpkin Puffins. Puffins PROTEIN BERRY BURST (their all-caps, not mine) is gluten free and apparently hitting Whole Foods already, thanks to this photo from friend-of-Cerealously Cereal Party. This is interesting, as I messaged Barbara’s Bakery about the product, and they said it won’t be coming out until 2018.

Either this one Whole Foods has a magical time portal to the future, or Barbara is lying to me as part of a grand conspiracy to deprive me of protein and steal my tender tendons.

Since I might not find this cereal for a while, I can only speculate as to what it’ll taste like. It appears to mix regular Puffins with a mixed berry puree (probably strawberry, raspberry, and perhaps blueberry), and the gluten-free label suggests it will be heavy on the corniness. Since the holidays are already approaching, I’m just gonna pretend it tastes like that one fruitcake that’s been stuck in an infinite loop of re-gifting within my family for the past 5 years.

Hey, speaking of holidays: when are we getting Gingerbread Puffins. I mean, the cereal already has molasses in it, and you could PhotoShop gumdrop buttons onto that Puffin mascot faster than I could re-gift a fruitcake!

Thanks again to Cereal Party for sharing the photo. If you have any great product photos of your own—whether they’re new, old, full of protein or full of gluten—we want to see ’em! Send them on over to our Submissions page, and they could appear on the site.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: puffins, spooned & spotted. 3 Comments

Sep. ’17

Spooned & Spotted (Canada): Post Cookies & Cream Cereal

Whether they’re called Twist & Shouts, “Lickety Splits, or…*shudder*…Creme Betweens, off-brand Oreo cookies just feel uncannily wrong to eat. Even Hydrox, being the original chocolate sandwich cookie, just feels like the snack equivalent of a cheap bootleg VHS with hilariously mistranslated English to Chinese and back to English subtitles.

“Oreo: the treat that lactose loves to be smothering!”

And that’s how I feel about Post debuting Cookies & Cream Cereal in Canada, too. Though it’s ostensibly the same cereal they released as Oreo O’s in the States earlier this year—which was, in turn, ostensibly the same as Malt-O-Meal Cookies & Cream Cereal, which is also a Post holding—I can’t help but think that my brand-loyal taste buds would reject these crunchy cookie rings faster than my brain rejects the blasphemous existence of “Low Fat Oreos.”

I don’t know why Post couldn’t bring the Oreo O’s name to Canada—maybe border patrol would’ve “confiscated” them for “thorough gastrointestinal inspection”—but thanks to reader Jas A.’s above photo, we know that our northern neighbors will at least get to experience the cereal’s deliciousness in a comparatively anonymized form.

And hey, the box art is actually pretty cool! We don’t get enough purple candy stripes in the cereal aisle (come on, Raisin Bran: live a little!), and the cereal name’s stylized font looks like something that would be cross-stitched, framed, and hung above the toilet in a motor home. Which works here, because in my mind, nothing says “haphazard family camping trip” quite like generic cereal eaten out of flimsy paper bowls with lukewarm 2%.

Thanks again to Jas for the photo. If you’d like to share a cereal photo from anywhere in the world (even from my own backyard—I’d be impressed), mail it on over to our Submissions page for a chance to see it on this site!

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: canada, oreo o's, post. 2 Comments

Sep. ’17

Spooned & Spotted: New Looks for Old Cereals

Aside from hunting new cereals, Pop-Tarts and Hostess snack cakes (my secret passion—Chocodiles used to be my fudge-slathered white whales), one of my oldest grocery store past times is looking for box art variations of breakfast mainstays.

Sometimes the differences are nuanced and small, like earlier this year when French Toast Crunch’s plain red box adopted a drop shadow, but sometimes classic cereal boxes we’ve come to love dramatically evolve overnight, like metamorphosed sugar-encrusted butterflies emerging from their cardboard chrysalises. As we’ll soon see, French Toast Crunch just did that, too—and so did another long-beloved morning mainstay.

But before we judge those, let’s appraise Snap, Crackle, and Pop’s recent Rice Krispies plastic surgery, which I noticed while trying (and failing) to find those elusive new Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispies Treats. Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: honey, kelloggs, post, rice krispies, spooned & spotted, toast crunch. 22 Comments

Aug. ’17

Spooned & Spotted: Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispies Treats

Let’s just get this out of the way, since you knew I was going to say it anyway:

TRICK OR RICE KRISPIES TREAT!

There, now that we have the formalities out of the way, we can talk about Kellogg’s awesome new Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispies Treats, which have, apparently, quietly snuck onto Walmart shelves without saying boo. Seriously, this is a small miracle: so many products leak online before we actually see them physically, so Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispies Treats must’ve embraced the spirit of Halloween and costumed themselves on the way to the warehouse.

I bet they were hiding in a box of ironing board covers.

No word yet on whether these fun-sized (*In my Jerry Seinfeld voice:* What’s fun about less food?), limited edition Rice Krispies Treats actually have pumpkin and spice-flavored Krispies, or if it’s just a flavored icing bearing the brunt of the flavor, but I’m excited to get my hungry fingers—7 of which are already wearing thos cheap plastic dollar store bat rings—on a box to try ’em.

The best part is that Pumpkin Pie Rice Krispies Treats come forty to a box. So while they’re clearly meant to be given out to trick-or-treaters, I could totally inhale all of them and turn XL from a Roman numeral into my sweatpants size.

‘Tis the season of elastic waistbands!

Massive thanks to Marcus and Matthew S. for sharing this photo. If you have a cool cereal photo of your own to share, whether it’s seasonal or just really freakin’ sweet, send it in over to our Submissions page—you might just see it on the site!

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: halloween, kelloggs, pumpkin, rice krispies, spooned & spotted. Leave a comment

Aug. ’17

Spooned & Spotted: Pumpkin Spice Cereals Are Back for 2017!

After a summer no-doubt filled with complex hollandaise recipes and brunch casseroles with more strata than a riverbed, do you want to go back to basics for your autumn breakfasts?

Well it doesn’t get much more basic than these pumpkin spice cereals. *ba-dum-tss*

Yes, despite the lingering stockpile of leftover hot dogs and Bomb Pops in my fridge, fall has officially creeped its way into August, as the Four Cereal Horsemen of the A-pumpk-alypse have already hit shelves. All four of the pumpkin spice cereals you see above are returning from years past, and there’s no word yet whether whether we’ll see a new *cough* Pumpkin Spice Toast Crunch *cough* autumnal cereal for 2017.

Personally, I hope that all’s quiet on the pumpkin front to make more room for a caramel apple or candy corn cereal. Heck, even Cap’n Crunch’s Circus Peanuts would break the pumpkin spiced fatigue.

Based on how busy the next few months get, I may give a quick re-review to each of these cereals, but for now, here are some trading card bios to refresh your taste buds’ memory: Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: halloween, pumpkin, spooned & spotted. 5 Comments

Aug. ’17

Spooned & Spotted (Australia): Despicable Me Cereal

Hey, remember just last week when I chatted nerdishly about how a trip across the border, equator, or prime meridian can drastically change the nature of a familiar cereal?

It is happening again.

Never thought I’d quote Twin Peaks in a post about Minions, but here we are. If there’s a fan art mash-up of those two things, please throw it into fire and walk with me to the eyeball bleach emporium.

Yes, here we are: as Instagram fan @ruthhewsonfit has kindly shared with us, Australia has a very unique take on Minion cereal mania. While America’s latest fortified take on those little cyclops Twinkie McNuggets was a basic oat and marshmallow mix-’em-up with a brown sugar vanilla glaze, Despicable Me: Down Under Edition is way cooler: it looks like crunchy cashews and has a unique banana smoothie flavor.

It sounds closer to the Minions Banana Berry cereal we got some baker’s dozen or so Minion movies ago (or at least that’s how it feels), but this one is made by Kellogg’s. I have to assume that those jumbo anthropomorphized Tic-Tacs snuck into General Mills headquarters, stole the formula, and then made farting noises while babbling like a ’90s dial-up internet tone.

You know, standard Minion stuff.

Big thanks to Ruth for sharing this photo that I’m equally excited to see and jealous I can’t eat. We’re jonesing for a good banana cereal here in the States while we wait for Banana Nut Cheerios to return, so if you think you can throw the cereal hard enough to reach me, it’d be much appreciated. Though given their shape, the pieces would probably come right back, boomerang-style.

Got a cool cereal snapshot from America, Australia, Antarctica, or even the Andromeda Galaxy? We want to see it and share it! Use our Submissions page or start your intergalactic transmission now.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: banana, foreign, kelloggs, movie cereals. 2 Comments

Aug. ’17

Spooned & Spotted: 2017 Monster Cereals!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXV4q44Dk0l/?taken-by=cantbear2livewithoutit

And just like that, the residual sweat of summer’s dog days has been wicked away, replaced with the foaming spittle of Halloween’s werewolf days.

Early August has long meant the resurrection of Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry, but even when I know it’s coming, I still get giddy when I see those pointy teeth, head valves, and that little porkpie hat. They’re the edible harbingers of an entire spookily delicious time of the year—the literal breakfasts of Halloween’s eating season, if you will.

Instagram user @cantbear2livewithoutit has the enviable honor of being 2017’s first successful Monster hunter, having found the trio at a Foodworld store, though General Mills has confirmed that the cereals have shipped everywhere as of late July.

As far as themes go, the Three Muske-Fears here have scaled back from their grandiose 2016 election campaign. Despite getting points for effort, the online voting process was riddled with bugs and miscommunication, while consumers in general were a little too election-fatigued to be thrilled by a Transylvanian one (it was clear within a week that the Count’s name recognition would be unbeatable).

This year, Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry’s cereal box artwork simply puts a new perspective on 2015’s augmented reality boxes—but they add the novel idea of monster marshmallows! It’s a simply concept, but a refreshingly innocent one. Count Chocula keeps his iconic, cocoa-swirled bat marbits, but Franken Berry gets his lumpy head turned into sugar nuggets, while Boo Berry’s box is filled with sweet used napkins.

I mean sheet ghosts—sheet ghosts! Please don’t haunt me, ghost of Pete Lorre.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXXqKKED7HP/?taken-by=cantbear2livewithoutit

Can’tBEAR2livewithoutit was also kind enough to share the back of the box art. While the past few years have at least included cameos by cult favorite monster cereals Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy, it seems like this year they’re well and truly sleeping in their respective doghouse and pyramid. Instead, we get a suite of monster cereal cosplays from a bunch of other General Mills cereal mascots—and the Pillsbury Doughboy.

I love the idea of other food characters hanging out like some giant crossover episode, and I heartily hope that the Doughboy gets his own zombie-themed Pillsburied Alive monster cereal next year.

Until then, I’ll be hunting these boxes for a more comprehensive breakdown. Until then, our thanks go again to Can’tBEAR2livewithoutit for sharing the photo. Wanna see your own find in a Spooned & Spotted post? We’d love to see your latest breakfast haul, discovery, or feast: send it over on our Submissions page.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: boo berry, count chocula, franken berry, general mills, halloween, monster cereals. 13 Comments

Aug. ’17

Spooned & Spotted (Canada): Oatmeal Crisp Apple Crisp Cereal

Oatmeal Crisp is a strange and wonderful beast, and it’s quietly getting a new Apple Crisp variety—in Canada only.

Traditionally lumped with Basic 4 and Raisin Nut Bran in the odd pantheon of “General Mills Cereals That Are Really But No One Talks About Them,” Oatmeal Crisp is a decadent cereal featuring toasted oatmeal flakes glazed with sugar syrup, paired with almond slivers and granola clusters.

So it’s pretty much normal oatmeal, just made more crunchy, less microwaveable, and with about a thousand more delicious calories per oatmeal-imeter.

Given my love for toasted oatmeal cereals, I’m personally embarrassed that I haven’t geeked out about it more. As punishment, I’ll accept execution by way of conveyor belt-induced mass Oatmeal Crisp ingestion.

Canada’s newest Apple Crisp Oatmeal Crisp variety, discovered and kindly shared by our friend Junk Food Jeff, excitingly pairs the not-so-iconic cereal with the apple-cinnamon taste (and homely thatched charm) of a homemade apple pie, apple streusel, or apple slice topped with cinnamon and butter and microwaved for 12 seconds because I’m too poor to bake, okay Grandma?

Meanwhile, America has only seen regular Almond and Hearty Raisin Oatmeal Crisp in the past decade or so. I tried to more thoroughly research Oatmeal Crisp’s past American flavors, but this cult favorite is so elusive that online cereal historians can’t come to a consensus. The cereal’s Wikipedia page also name-drops Triple Berry, Apple Brown Sugar, Maple Nut, and Vanilla Yogurt as past, oddly specific flavors, while trusted resource Mr. Breakfast only names Maple Brown Sugar in addition to the mainstays.

Whatever Oatmeal Crisp’s true past contains (perhaps we once briefly overlapped with a parallel universe where Oatmeal Crisp is a currency), I’m just excited that its shelf presence isn’t petering out here in the 21st century. As Basic 4 and Raisin Nut Bran feel like they’re becoming modern relics, one of them has to survive and speak on behalf of weird cereals everywhere.

As a cereal weirdo myself, I thank Oatmeal Crisp for being my Lorax.

Our thanks again to Junk Food Jeff for sharing the photo. Wanna see your own find in a Spooned & Spotted post? We’d love to see your latest breakfast haul, discovery, or feast: send it over on our Submissions page.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: apple, canada, general mills. 2 Comments