Category Archives: Specials

Spooned & Spotted (Canada): Nature Valley Crunchy Bar Granola

Ready your spoons, steady your milk-pouring hands, and put those Teddy Grahams aside, because last year’s best U.S. granola is coming to Canada.

See, as part of their 2016 new product blitz, Nature Valley introduced Granola Crunch to the United States. The stuff comes in Cinnamon and Maple Brown Sugar flavors and it tastes like syrup-slathered Teddy Graham gravel and I love it and it didn’t get nearly as much recognition as it deserves and it makes me use too many conjunctions and did I mention I love it?

And now thanks to our Instagram friend Nicole, we know this delightful line is migrating northward to enchant even more taste buds. The name is different—and Crunchy Bar Granola sounds way cooler than Granola Crunch—but for all intents and purposes, the stuff looks the same: crumbly chunks of real Nature Valley granola bars in vastly varying sizes.

What’s different is the flavors. Cinnamon has been granted dual citizenship, but for some reason Maple Brown Sugar didn’t make it into maple leaf country. I’m a Michigander who lives near the Canadian border who also loves this stuff, so the only logical explanation is that I unknowingly seized all the Maple Brown Sugar Granola Crunch in my sleep.

It sure explains the crumbs on my pillow.

Instead of Maple Brown Sugar, Canada gets an Oats & Honey Crunchy Bar Granola, which, though a little redundant, sounds delightful. If it doesn’t taste exactly like compact nuggets of Honey Nut Cheerios and mashed-up Oatmeal Creme Pies, I’ll be sorely disappointed in Nature Valley—I’ve come to expect a lot from them.

Here’s hoping Oats & Honey will find its way southward to American shelves, and vice-versa for Maple Brown Sugar. And hopefully they’ll sell well enough to inspire a peanut butter flavor.

*hint hint, Nature Valley*

Thanks again to Nicole for the photo. Do you have a cool cereal photo to share? Feel free to pass it along on our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com. There’s a good chance your picture could be featured on the site.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: granola, nature valley, spooned & spotted. Leave a comment

Feb. ’17

Spooned & Spotted: Reese’s Puffs Spring Edition Bunnies Cereal

Everyone knows that the best Reese’s candies are the ones that aren’t shaped like cups. With their increased peanut butter to chocolate ratio, Reese’s Eggs, Pumpkins, and even their lumpishly deformed Trees are tastier than their ridged, circular ancestors.

I’m hoping the same principle of shapely tastiness applies to General Mills’s upcoming Reese’s Puffs Bunnies, an adorably rabbit-shaped variant of their classic peanut butter and chocolate corn puffs. Reese’s Puffs Bunnies are releasing just in time to celebrate the dawn of spring and the melting of gross slush all over my driveway.

Of course, I’m probably just being optimistic by thinking these will taste any different than normal Reese’s Puffs. Those keeping tabs on General Mills know that these bunny shapes are just recycled from their Annie’s cereals, so it isn’t the most original idea, either. Regardless, I’m going to take this rare Easter cereal as an excuse to celebrate…

…by lopping the ears off a hollow chocolate rabbit, filling it with Reese’s Puffs Bunnies and milk, and using it as an edible cereal bowl.

Though the cereal only appeared online in the past couple days, I’ve already spotted it in the wild at Meijer. Happy hunting—whether it’s the Easter egg or limited edition cereal kind!

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: chocolate, general mills, holiday, reese's puffs, spooned & spotted. 6 Comments

Feb. ’17

Spooned & Spotted: General Mills DC Comic Superhero Boxes!

Sweet, syrupy honey, Batman! I didn’t know you could actually fly! But where’d your fifth finger go—and how’d you fit your spandex over that stinger?

That’s right: Bruce Wayne meets whole grain on General Mills’s latest limited edition Honey Nut Cheerios box. The box features Buzz the Bee as Batman, and it includes one of four collectible DC comic books inside. I was going to make a “Bee-tman” pun, but I’m betting Beetman is already the mascot of some obscure organic dehydrated beet chips brand.

Unfortunately*, the Honey Nut Cheerios inside are unchanged. Sorry if I got your hopes up for Chocolate Strawberry Cheerios, for a second. But despite this box’s flavor consistency, I still think it’s a neat collector’s piece. This isn’t the first time General Mills has teamed up with comic book artists to make special boxes, as they did the same thing for 2014’s Monster Cereals.

Here’s hoping they do a line of Alan Moore-themed boxes next. I’d love to see the Trix Rabbit as Rorschach and and Sonny the Cuckoo in a Guy Fawkes mask.

But speaking of other mascots, Buzz wasn’t the only cereal mascot to get a DC Comic makeover. Our friend Jason at Collecting Candy found Lucky channeling his inner Green Lantern:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPyjqX1BBTY/?taken-by=collectingcandy

Apparently the miniature comic books come in boxes of Trix, Cocoa Puffs, and Multi-Grain Cheerios, too, so we might get to see our favorite zoological mascots play dress up after all. Though I’m not sure what mascot-less Multi-Grain Cheerios would dress up as.

Think they can Photoshop Aquaman into a bowl of Cheerio-filled milk?

If you spot the other boxes in this series, or if you’ve just got a heroic cereal photo of your own to share (I found the Cheerios at Meijer), feel free to pass it along on our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com. There’s a good chance your picture could be featured on the site.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: cheerios, general mills, spooned & spotted. Leave a comment

Feb. ’17

Spooned & Spotted (Canada): Lucky Charms Oatmeal & Cinnamon Toast Crunch Oatmeal

That’s it: I’m moving.

For most of my time running this blog, I’ve had to console my Canadian friends who can’t get any U.S.-exclusive cereals without enlisting an expensive flock of highly trained carrier pigeons to do their dirty work. But now? We’re only 2 months into 2017, and Canada has already got a Quebec-sized pile of delicious exclusives!

First they got arguably the world’s first banana bread-flavored cereal. Then they got the coolest Corn Flakes box you could possibly wake up to. And now they’ve got Lucky Charms Oatmeal and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Oatmeal. At this rate of awesomeness I bet they’ll have an ice cream sandwich-flavored Cap’n Crunch cereal by next week. And it’ll somehow involve Pokémon, too.

These new oatmeals, based off two of General Mills’s most popular cereals, mix squishy-licious instant oatmeal with either rainbow Lucky Charms marshmallows or a swirling auburn galaxy of crunchy Cinnamon Toast Crunch bits. Either way, you can’t go wrong—though I wonder if hot oatmeal would make Lucky’s marbits instantly melt into technicolor puddles. I hope these oatmeals sell well, because I want to see General Mills try Cookie Crisp Oatmeal and Reese’s Puffs Oatmeal next.

What hypothetical cereal–oatmeal combo would you love to munch the most?

Big thanks go to our friend Junk Food Dog for sending in this picture, which he took at Zehrs. 5 boxes for $10 is such a good deal that I can only assume he bought the whole display case of ’em. Who needs to pay rent when you can build a house out of sugary deliciousness?

If you’ve got a cereal or oatmeal photo of your own to share, pass it along on our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com. There’s a good chance your picture could be featured on the site.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: canada, general mills, lucky charms, oatmeal, spooned & spotted, toast crunch. 3 Comments

Jan. ’17

Spooned & Spotted: Limited Edition Slam Duncan O’s Cereal

I’m not a sports person. Hard to believe coming from a guy who photographs Pop-Tarts and constantly references Pokémon, right?

So while you’ll never find me near a basketball court unless there’s Dippin’ Dots or a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song involved, long-time Cereal Timer Gabe Fonseca is a much more enthusiastic “net nut” (is that a real term for basketball fans?). Thats why he sent in this photo of new Limited Edition Slam Duncan O’s, a cereal exclusive to Texas grocer H-E-B that pays tribute to San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan.

I hear he played basketball real well. Probably scored a lot of ~~touchdowns~~ ~~home runs~~ ~~service aces~~ points.

This isn’t the first time H-E-B has honored Duncan at breakfast time, either. Back in 2001, he got Slam Duncans: a pretty generic toasted oat ring cereal. 2017’s Slam Duncan O’s are a little more interesting, as they pair honey oat rings with chocolate puffs. At this rate, the Tim Duncan cereal family will get marshmallows and freeze-dried ice cream bits by 2049.

Sorry: I’ve got Dippin’ Dots on my mind.

For a local chain, H-E-B has done some cool cereal promotions. They even had a Wild Red Cereal based on their signature store-brand soda. In a world overrun by beverage-flavored Pop-Tarts, I think we could use more soda cereals.

Cap’n Crunch, take note: you may not have a Slam Dunk Crunch cereal, but you can make up for it with Root Beer Float Crunch.

Our thanks to Gabe for sending all the above photos. If you’ve got a ballin’ cereal photo of your own to share, pass it along on our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com. There’s a good chance your picture could be featured on the site.

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

Jan. ’17

Spooned & Spotted (UK): Crunchy Nut Peanut Butter Clusters Cereal

Oof. This one hurts.

It’s National Peanut Butter Day (January 24th), and European cereal lovers are getting a delightful new salted nut butter cereal. Meanwhile, we here in the States are left to go nuts with salty envy.

What’s worse is that it’s a new Crunchy Nut cereal! Crunchy Nut Peanut Butter Clusters is the latest iteration of Kellogg’s peanut shard-speckled, honey-glazed breakfast brand. You know, the one that delighted Americans for decades—it was first known as “Honey & Nut Corn Flakes” in the ’80s—until its untimely ~~demise~~ discontinuation just a couple years ago.

Aside from Crunchy Nut and the nearly mythical Triple Snack, few cereals have contained real peanut hunks, so I look back on Crunchy Nut with the fond remembrance of a native New Yorker who watched a laundromat replace his favorite pizza parlor—the only pizza parlor that topped every slice with freshly diced peanuts.

Unlike their flaky predecessors, Crunchy Nut Peanut Butter Clusters are made of oats and wheat crisps, all gummed up together with real peanut butter to form chunky clusters. Our friend Amy at Amy Seeks New Treats, who generously supplied the above box photo, has a great review. Check it out for the less-salty take of someone who actually gets to try this magnificent-looking cereal.

No, I’m not crying, I’m just, *sniff* so happy for every cereal lover across the pond. I guess I’ll just spoon some Skippy into my Peanut Butter Crunch to try and fill the void.

Big thanks go to Amy for sharing her picture. According to Crunchy Nut, this cereal can be found at Tesco stores, and will be at Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose soon. But no matter what country you’re in, if you have a cool cereal scoop, we want to see it. Click yourself right on over to our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com. There’s a good chance your picture could be featured on the site.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: kelloggs, peanut butter, spooned & spotted. 11 Comments

Jan. ’17

Saying Goodbye to “Cereal Time with Gabe Fonseca”

Oh, uh, I’m not crying—I just have Cinnamon Toast Crunch endmilk in my eyes, I swear!

You may have noticed that we haven’t heard from cereal futurist Gabe Fonseca in a while. For most of the 1.5 years Cerealously has existed, we’ve been doing periodic watch alongs of Gabe’s “Cereal Time” YouTube series, which involves weekly throwbacks and spotlights on cereals past and present. The episodes are stuffed with nostalgia, and each contains enough fun to make a Barrel of Monkeys shamefully throw in the towel.

If you’re a long-time Cereal Time fan, you probably know by now that the above episode is the series’ last. You also probably saw that I “guest star” in the video’s description, so if you’re a cereal lover who migrated over from Gabe’s YouTube channel I welcome you here with open arms and pantries. Hopefully I can provide the hard-hitting cereal journalism you seek.

But if you’ve never watched Cereal Time, the good news is that you have a large library of re-runs to check out in “syndication.” Gabe’s final episode includes stunning special effects, nail-biting drama, and a look at milk-flavoring Crazy Cow cereal from the ’70s—pretty much all you could ever ask for—but I thought I’d count down my top 5 favorite episodes from over the years.

So without further a do, let’s celebrate the greatest hits 0f Cereal Time’s action-packed life, instead of mourning: Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: cereal time. 3 Comments

Dec. ’16

Cerealously’s Top 5 New Cereals of 2016!

Hold it right there, 2016: you may be a largely hated year, but I’m not letting you leave just yet.

No year is complete without a year in review list. And while many people prefer to detail the most buzz-worthy news stories, the “earwormiest” chart-toppers, or the funniest videos featuring frisky and/or fiendish felines, I’m just going to tell you what I believe were the 5 best new cereals this year. So if you have time between your New Year’s cheers to read about pink Cheerios, this list is for you.

While taste is definitely a defining factor in my rankings, keep in mind that innovation, packaging, and nostalgic whimsy will all be taken into account, too. 2015’s winner, JIF PB&J Cereal, swept the vote based on elementary school lunchtime memories alone—even though it did taste pretty darn good, too.

So without further ado, let’s count down as the ball—or should I say bowl—drops. Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: cap'n crunch, cerealously, cheerios, holiday, nature valley. 2 Comments