| Product: |
Special K Mini Breaks Chocolate |
| Date: |
07/11/07 (225 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Well, they might give someone a push in the right direction.
Disadvantages: Poor Value, E Numbers (!), Better Snacks Available With Less Calories.
It was Wednesday night and I was dancing about on the grubby kitchen lino, packing the following day’s lunches under the artificial light. The gloom outside from that hour the clocks went back somehow seemed oppressive and while humming Moby’s “We are all made of stars….” to cheer myself up, I managed to shut my broken fingernail in the cupboard door.
I let out a yelp of pain and annoyance and sat down on the kitchen floor. The Boyfriend, without even a backward glance murmured “Yeah…. Try not to hurt yourself…” and returned to Facebook in an unfeeling manner. I was livid and filled with a deep and evil desire for revenge, I seized my moment and my weapon of choice. For the last few weeks there’s been a pack of Special K mini breaks sitting in the cupboard. The very fact that anything chocolate flavour has remained untouched for so long belies the truth – these are revolting. Laughing to myself, I packed him a bag of these as the ‘treat’ for the next day.
Advertised as one of those light and un-sinful snacks for dieters, the box had been purchased by Dad’s Friend on some kind of special offer. Wisely changing her mind about eating them (or perhaps dropping a hint about Dad’s bulk?) she’d given them to us.
If you hate anyone enough to buy them these after reading my review, they currently retail at £1.99 for 5 bags. If you compare this to, for example 7 bags of Mini Cheddars at £1.29 or a 4 pack of Milky Bar buttons for £0.89, I’m sure you’ll agree that the price is high.
The circled 99 calories per bag? Hmmm, but a filling bar of Alpen would be less than 60 calories….and calorie-count.com tells me that for 95 calories, I could have “One mini blueberry muffin and 1/4 cup low-fat yogurt”. In fact I’m surprised at the number of tasty snacks you can have for 99 calories or less.
The buzz line runs as follows:
“New Kellogg’s Special K Mini Breaks are golden oats, wheat and rice baked into deliciously crunchy, thin biscuity bites. At less than 100 calories per bag, they’re perfect for nibbling at any time.
So, who needs willpower when with new Kellogg’s Special K Mini Breaks you can snack away!”
Yep, willpower is out of the question when these can put you off stupid little snack bags for life.
Anyway, after accidentally getting the lunches mixed up in the van on the way to work, I found myself breaking teeth on these at lunchtime. Still filled with my insatiable need for vengeance, I swore then that I would review them here and not mince my words.
These unwholesome little brown-grey squares have a peculiar hardness to them, with occasional sharp bits. Tasting of cardboard more than oats, the only nod to chocolate is a horrible synthetic aftertaste like the dregs in a cup of cheap hot chocolate. You get quite a few in each bag, but there’s no delight in eating them, more of a disappointed sigh when you realise you still haven’t finished them.
They don’t even look like the picture on the packet (an inevitably glossy oat and chocolate biscuit), instead they appear like small squares of Ryvita, with a light dusting of gravy powder.
In terms of ingredients, they fare better than many other products on the market, with only three E numbers and Iron, vitamin C and a range of B vitamins. They even have 5% chocolate, whether or not you can taste it. Still, in a world where we are becoming increasingly wary of processed food, I would encourage anyone trying to lose weight to spend 10 minutes making up their own little snacks for work. You can burn off calories doing this and choose healthy, rewarding food which is suited to your palette. The Special K brand name has everyone thinking that they can look hot in a red swimsuit, but having done the research for this review, I’ve found that there are plenty of healthy snacks out there without resorting to buying little bags of ready made rubbish.
The Alternatives ~ Whether or not you have time to make something….
A Hard Boiled Egg – 76 Calories
A Mini Babybel – 74 Calories
A Skinny Cow Ice Cream Bar – 100 Calories
Tomato Cup-A-Soup – 95 Calories
Pret a Manger Fresh Fruit Salad (Large) – 55 Calories
I love chocolate and I know if you do too this won’t satisfy your cravings. I’m no purist, but there’s no point eating chocolate if the experience isn’t enjoyable. If you absolutely must have it, then perhaps a little of what you fancy does you good.
If you really want to break the habit, Cacao nibs are said to give exactly the same hit and are available from health food shops such as Holland & Barrett.
You can see the advert at: http://www.tellyads .com/show_movie.php?filename=TA4749
And get the full nutritional information at:
http://www.kellogg s.co.uk/products/specialk/snack/special_k_mini_bre aks_chocol ate.aspx
Summary: A little bag of nastiness....
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