cereal Archives - Eating Adelaide

Disclaimer: I was sent the cereal to road test. Check out the full range at foragecereal.com.

Once upon a time I used to make my own cereal. I actually found it a very quick process (I used bran flakes from a health food store as the base) and was able to customise it to my taste exactly. It wasn’t cheap and it obviously took more time than picking up a pack of something but after a good year or so of eating my own cereal it was really noticeable how sweet commercial cereals were.

The upshot of that is that I rarely eat commercial cereals now – the exception being the extremely low sugar offering my small child eats. So when the Forage PR team got in touch I almost turned down the offer of the cereal because I thought it would not be my thing at all. However, when I saw that the cereal was also gluten free I reconsidered my position (regular readers will know that a relative of mine is a coeliac).

Forage was developed by an Australian naturopath and chiropracter and now comes in four formats – the standard cereal, a bircher, a porridge and Forage Paleo. No matter how hippy or faddist that might sound, the products are based on the idea that they should be a good balance of protein, fat (good fat, of course!), fibre and carbohydrates.

The cereal’s ingredients are: almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and puffed brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth and buckwheat. All the grains are organic. There’s no added sugar (perhaps that’s stating the obvious).

I have really enjoyed eating the cereal. I just plonk some standard cows milk on it and off I go – but those with a healthier bent could add an alternative milk, yoghurt or fruit. I like that it’s not overly sweet and I think the fact that it has some texture and you actually have to chew it is a good thing – far too much cereal turns to pap two seconds after you add milk.

The recommend serve is 40g (see above for how much this is) which I didn’t find was enough to last me through til lunch. I ended up going for a whole cupful (closer to 100g) which did the job – this is obviously something you’ll need to experiment with yourself.

One word of warning though – if you’re not vigilant about ensuring the bag’s ziplock is well closed you’ll find that the cereal does go soft quite quickly. You can solve this by decanting the cereal into an air-tight plastic container when you open it (or by making sure you close it properly). While the cereal tastes fine if you do stuff up like this, it tastes better when it’s crispy!

All the products are widely available (and, of course, you can purchase on line) and while they’re not cheap (a 1kg bag of the cereal is around $30) you’ll be spending a lot less than heading out for a muffin and coffee every morning.

And it’s much better for you.

Disclaimer: I was sent the Table of Plenty Hot or Cold Muesli to review.

I live in a household where our shopping list doesn’t pander to individual tastes. We buy one type of toothpaste, one type of milk and, naturally, one type of cereal.

Once upon a time, I actually used to make my own cereal (much less hassle than you think – although ironically I find these days the problem is sourcing the ingredients, rather than finding the time), but at the moment our cereal choice is dictated by a toddler who eats, in terms of body weight, a good 4-5 times more than I do.

So in many ways I am perhaps not the best person to review a muesli, but then, with no preconceptions or current favourites, perhaps I can be a unbiased.

Table of Plenty is an Australian owned and made product (and we all know how important it is to buy Australian!) and the story behind the brand is both passionate and a little bit heartbreaking. Table of Plenty makes products other than breakfast cereal, and I’ve certainly seen the dukkah on sale at local supermarkets. The new Hot and Cold Muesli is available at Woolworths and has the added bonus (if your diet is that way inclined) both being dairy free and wheat free.

A box contains 8 45g packets of the muesli. My first thought that this was somewhat wasteful in the packaging department, closely followed by “just 45g? who are these people who eat so little?!”. However, I did actually experiment with this and it turns out that left to my own devices I’d eat far too much, as that 45g packet was easily enough to get me through to lunch time. Lesson learned.

For my first try, I went the hot option. The muesli, plus half a cup of milk, plus a burst in the microwave. Hmmm. As someone who won’t buy multiple products, I see the appeal in a dual purpose cereal and, as someone who loves porridge, I certainly understand the appeal of a hot breakfast. But hot this just didn’t work for me at all: I found it a bit heavy and a bit cloying, not so much through sweetness but through the cinnamon.

I was pretty relieved that served “cold and crunchy” I genuinely enjoyed it. The cinnamon which had seemed overpowering when hot was much less pronounced and the muesli was not particularly sweet at all, with just bursts of sweetness from the sultanas, with some extra crunch from pepitas. As sweetness is my main complaint about commercial cereals, this is an absolute plus point for me.

I also liked that it wasn’t loaded up with tons of different dried fruits and bits and bobs: the cereal is relatively simple and straightforward, which leaves you plenty of scope for adding to it yourself.

If you’re a muesli eater – give it a go. And if not – keep an eye out for Table of Plenty’s other products and support an Australian business.

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