I Like My Oats In The Morning (Kellogg's All-Bran Crunchy Oatbakes)

Member Name: susan1967

Product:	Kellogg's All-Bran Crunchy Oatbakes
Date:	05/09/06 (960 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They taste fab

Disadvantages: I have to hide them form my family

They're gonna taste great, they're gonna taste great, oops sorry wrong advert. Kellogg's All-Bran Crunchy Oatbakes are advertised very well by William Shatner (who I used to fancy as Captain James T Kirk in Star Trek when I was a wee 'un). If they'd been advertised by the annoying, but allegedly dead teenager from the Frosties adverts I may never have tried them. Don't worry according to Tony the Tiger he isn't dead it's just an urban myth, mind I was sad enough to find out about it by going on the Frosties website. Anyway, getting back to the Oatbakes, if they were good enough for the captain of the Starship Enterprise they were good enough for me. Who says advertising doesn't work?

I was keen to try Kellogg's All-Bran Crunchy Oatbakes as I wanted to introduce more fibre into my diet without the horrendous sound (and smell) effects that I get from normal All-Bran. I find they are like eating dried bits of wood and make my belly all bloated and windy. My husband swears by All-Bran (along with bananas and prunes every morning for keeping him regular), I just swear at him.

Anyway I espied them in the cereal aisle in Asda the other week and had to have them, especially as they were on special offer at about £1.60ish. I don't get out much (not allowed without supervision) so I was very excited to get home and try them.

I was a bit disappointed by the size of the box, its quite small compared to the huge ones my son gets, but as my husband says size isn't everything (he's hoping I'll believe him one day). Each box contains 375g of Oatbakes and according to the side of the box a normal portion is 40g so that should be…hang on while I find a calculator or my very clever 10 year old son…just over 9 servings, ta clever son. There's loads of stuff on the side of the box about how good for you the Oatbakes are and what percentage of your daily nutritional need they contain but to be honest as long as they are low in fat, salt and sugar with high fibre, I'm quite happy. A 40g serving with skimmed milk (am I the only person that likes it skimmed?) has only 6g of fat, so that's not bad, is it?

According to Kellogg's each serving contains the following percentages of an adults guideline daily amount:

Calories 8%
Sugars 14%
Fat 9%
Saturates 15%
Salt 0.25%
Fibre 21%
Iron 25%

Along with a good percentage of various vitamins including 50% of the recommended daily allowance of folic acid, this cereal seem to be quite a healthy choice for breakfast or a snack.


I decided to weigh out 40g of Oatbakes just to see how big a serving it is and was quite concerned to see that it amounted to only half a bowlful. I needn't have worried as the cereal is extremely filling and I have since found that the recommended amount is a tad too much for me, especially if I have fruit and yoghurt at breakfast too.

So, what does it taste like? In a word, fab. Each piece of cereal is quite solid and dense, shaped like an curved oblong with a hole in the middle. I find they don't soak up the milk like some other cereals and go soft and soggy. This must be because they have been baked instead of whatever it is they do to other cereals. Anyway the advert keeps going on about them being baked so it must mean something good. They still retain a bit of crunch, even if, like me, you get enthralled by the goings on, on GMTV and forget to eat. I even found myself laughing during it the other day, I should really get a life! The cereal has a pronounced biscuit like texture and I can really smell and taste the nutmeg, barley, coconut and cinnamon flavours within each mouthful. It's like eating a really good oaty biscuit, but full of goodness with all that bran included. I have told my 13 year old daughter that they taste digusting and are incredibly healthy so that she doesn't pinch them.

So far I have tried this cereal in a variety of ways, with skimmed milk, with yoghurt and with fruit. I have also eaten it dry and I find a handful makes a satisfying snack instead of indulging in the entire contents of the fridge.

As I said before, a bowl of Kellogg's All-Bran Oatbakes really does fill me up and I have found that I don't need to have a chocolate fix during my morning break at work. Our staff room always has a mound of chocolate or biscuits in its middle and it can be extremely tempting at times but since starting with the Oatbakes I have not indulged at all. And it doesn't make me fart! Well, not much!

Summary: Crunchy, oaty and tasty