Category Archives: Specials

20

Jun. ’16

Spooned & Spotted (Canada): Post S’Mores Cereal

Post S'MORES Cereal

Ready your pointed roasting sticks and start building some flaming marshmallow catapults, because the great S’More War might soon be upon us.

There are several s’mores flavored cereals out there, and thanks to Canadian cereal fan Jas A. (thanks for the photo, Jas!), we now know that Post has tossed their milk caps into the arena, too. Their creatively named “S’MORES” cereal follows the lead of Malt-O-Meal’s Madagascar S’Mores Jungle Party by combining Golden Grahams-esque ridged graham pieces with marshmallow orbs and chocolate corn puffs.

One might accuse Post of stealing MOM’s war plans, but in reality, the two have been allies for over a year. See, in early 2015, Post Foods bought Malt-O-Meal, meaning that this S’Mores cereal is likely just Madagascar S’Mores Jungle Party repackaged with English/French packaging so that Canada can share in the s’mores love.

So the s’mores cereal battlefield now features S’Mores Jungle Party and “S’MORES” facing off against Kellogg’s two pronged assault of Krave S’Mores and Smorz. This begs several questions:

Which side are you on? Which s’mores cereal melts your heart like a gooey marshmallow? Does Post S’Mores taste different than Madagascar? Will General Mills return to the fray after the long ago casualty of S’Mores Crunch? And most importantly, is Cap’n Crunch hiding a S’Mores Crunch of his own?

While we wait for the cocoa-scented dust to clear and for all these campfire-burning questions to be answered, you can send your own picture or thoughts and have them featured on a “Spooned & Spotted” post. All you have to do is head over to our submissions page or email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com.

And for hungry Canadians looking for their own Post S’Mores, Jas found this box at Canada Safeway.

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12

Jun. ’16

Cerealously Visits the 2016 Battle Creek Cereal City Festival!

Cereal City Header

It was like wandering through a desert, with only oases of milk and sugar to keep me alive.

Hold on, let me catch you up on the narrative. Each year in their home city of Battle Creek, Michigan, Kellogg’s and Post temporally set their cereal aisle rivalry aside to put on an annual Cereal City Festival, complete with entertainment, vendors, and most importantly, unlimited free cereal and Pop-Tarts!

As a Michigan native and cereal zealot, I make the pilgrimage every year. While most just come for a free breakfast, I bop and bounce around the streets like an excited anthropomorphized pinball, annoying all passerby with my unexpected enthusiasm for cereal.

But back to the desert of thinly disguised desserts. While last year’s Cereal City Festival was overcast, drizzly, and cold, Cereal City Festival 2016 promised nothing but blue skies and temperatures so sweltering that I nearly melted into my leather seats and became a horrifying half-man, half-seat monster.

They would have called me “Helter Swelter” on the news. Continue reading →

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09

Jun. ’16

Spooned & Spotted: Nature Valley Raisin Oat Clusters and Chocolate Oat Bites

Nature Valley Raisin Oat Clusters and Nature Valley Chocolate Oat Bites

Nature Valley’s first three cereals were all delicious. They must have been successful, too, because now we’re getting two more!

Raisin Oat Clusters and Chocolate Oat Bites are joining Chocolate Oat Clusters, Baked Oat Bites, and Honey Oat Clusters, all debuted earlier this year from General Mills’ resident granola-smiths at Nature Valley.

If my experiences with Nature Valley’s first three offerings—which all tasted like baked goods for some reason—are to be believed, Raisin Oat Clusters will taste like a cinnamon raisin bagel, while Chocolate Oat Bites will be like miniature chocolate doughnut flavored Cracklin’ Oat Bran.

Yep, I’m gonna start surfing Craigslist now for bulk deals on larger sized pants. Maybe I’ll pick up a sketchy old mattress and a bag of soggy fireworks while I’m there, too.

To all readers who would like to see their picture or thoughts featured on a “Spooned & Spotted” post (yours truly spotted these at Kroger), head over to our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com.

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08

Jun. ’16

Spooned & Spotted: Cap’n Crunch’s Orange Creampop Crunch Cereal

Orange Creampop Crunch

(Update 6/15: I reviewed Cap’n Crunch’s Orange Creampop Crunch here!)

Just looking at this picture makes my tongue melt like a popsicle.

Okay, maybe that’s just drool, but you get the point. We reported back in January that Quaker had filed a trademark application for “Cap’n Crunch’s Orange Creampop Crunch,” and after months of worrying that this was the universe playing some sort of cosmic orange joke, the cereal has finally arrived.

And its box is beautiful. It depicts the Cap’n waving a freshly bitten Creamsicle like a magic wand, leaving a wondrous spectral aura over his cheddar cheese orange Crunch chest pieces.

If you had read that sentence aloud before today, I would have yelled at you for stealing quotes from my fan fiction. But now my fan fiction is a saliva-inducing reality with a soundtrack of ice cream truck music blaring on infinite repeat.

This pic comes to us from Instagram user @keenancamp, so all photography credit is rightfully earned by him (thanks Keenan!). He spotted it at a Jewel Osco store, and since I’ve already heard another reader sighting of Orange Cremepop Crunch at Jewel Osco, I think it’s safe to say that the cereal has started there and will spread nationwide shortly.

The box says limited edition, but let’s all just pray this isn’t a test market cereal. That would suck harder than, well, me with a Creamsicle during. the dog days of summer.

To all readers who would like to see their picture or thoughts featured on a “Spooned & Spotted” post, head over to our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com.

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30

May. ’16

What’s New on “Cereal Time with Gabe Fonseca?”

Ready those recliners and steady your novelty wooden back scratchers, because we want to share another hearty bunch of videos from Gabe Fonseca’s Cereal Time YouTube series. Speaking of bunches, Gabe has covered everything from Honey Bunches to Cap’n Crunch.

His show gives a nostalgic and fun exposé on a different cereal each week. For cereal junkies like me, it’s more addicting than, well, a bowl of Reese’s Puffs.

While we’re on the topic of peanut butter and chocolate (and when aren’t we on the topic of the greatest flavor combination ever invented? A big thanks to George Washington Carver and Montezuma for making it possible), let’s start with Gabe’s first video on E.T. Cereal.

Anyone who has seen the movie E.T. knows that the titular alien’s favorite candy is Reese’s Pieces. As a result, his cereal was given the same flavors. As Gabe mentions, E.T.’s favorite candy was originally supposed to be M&M’s, but the rights couldn’t be secured. While I’m sad that the movie missed out on a lot of good “Mars” puns, I’m glad we got a more interesting cereal flavor out of the deal than boring ol’ chocolate.

Besides, M&M’s don’t hold up well in milk. Trust me: I know. Continue reading →

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28

May. ’16

Spooned & Spotted: Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes with Marshmallows

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(UPDATE: We reviewed Frosted Flakes with Marshmallows!)

Welcome to the future.

Marshmallows have invaded almost all of our classic cereals, from Froot Loops to Fruity Pebbles and now Frosted Flakes. What’s next, Limited Edition Lucky Charms with an additional marshmallow stuffed inside the center of every existing marshmallow?

I suppose I shouldn’t complain until I try these new Frosted Flakes with Marshmallows. They were spotted at Meijer by Owen C. (thanks, Owen!), along with Kellogg’s recently debuted Raisin Bran Granolas.

But enough about the cereal. Can we talk about that Tony the Tiger?  Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t really dig the outdated CGI look. This poor, polygonal Tony looks like he got lost on the way to a Jimmy Neutron audition.

More accurately, I’d say he belongs in a late generation Nintendo 64 platformer. That might not be a compliment to his looks, but hey: if we somehow get a cereal video game out of this deal, I’ll forgive Tony for his cringe-worthy tweets.

To all readers who would like to see their picture or thoughts featured on a “Spooned & Spotted” post, head over to our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com.

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22

May. ’16

Three of the Best Cereal Commercials on TV Now

Three of the Best Cereal Commercials Header

Cereal isn’t all about the sugary flakes and crunchy rings. It’s about the culture, too. Of course, since you’re reading a cereal blog, I probably don’t need to tell you that.

From the colorful characters to the mail-in premiums and games on the back of the box, there’s a good reason breakfast cereal has stood the test of time and become a full-on lifestyle for nostalgia-holics like me.

Growing up, my favorite part was always the TV commercials. Only on Saturday morning could you slurp down a bowl of Golden Grahams, binge watch Pokémon, then see a commercial about Toucan Sam’s deep sea adventures that makes you forget the Golden Grahams and inspires you tow your mother to the grocery store for a fresh box of Froot Loops that will fuel the exact same process the next weekend.

But as we grow older and start to substitute Cartoon Network with CNN and such, we see way fewer cereal commercials. I guess it’s hard to bookend Wolf Blitzer with Chip the Wolf.

That’s why I still purposely tune into Nickelodeon most mornings while I chomp down Raisin Bran Crunch or Cheerios. Aside from the sweet, sweet SpongeBob re-runs, I get to see that cereal commercials are still alive, well, and awesome.

Here are three of the best. Continue reading →

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08

May. ’16

Catching Up on Cereal Time with Gabe Fonseca!

Put Netflix on pause, because w’ve got something better for you to binge watch than all 10 seasons of Friends for the third time this year.

See, it’s been a while since we visited cereal generalissimo Gabe Fonseca’s informative and nostalgic Cereal Time YouTube series. The show covers a different cereal each week, and it totally deserves to be nominated for a Tony award—a Tony the Tiger award, that is.

Speaking of which, the first of four videos we’d like to share with you features Gabe awarding his top ten cereals of all time. Unsurprisingly, there’s absolutely no overlap between Gabe’s list and my own list of favorite cereals. This is probably because of our age difference, but by viewing our two rankings, you can get a taste (well, at least a look. Lickable computer screens aren’t real yet, right?) of twenty different iconic cereals covering decades, if not centuries of colorful cereal history.

If nothing else, I do agree that Cap’n Crunch wins most iconic cereal mascot of all time. If the good Cap’n can defy physics and wear his eyebrows on his hat, he deserves to be #1 of something. Continue reading →

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