PRICE: £1.75 for a pack of 4 (@ my local Sainsburys)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (per bar):

Calories: Chocolate = 114 : Strawberry = 109
Protein: Chocolate = 2.1g : Strawberry = 1.8g
Carbohydrates: Chocolate = 20.5g : Strawberry = 21.0g
[of which sugars]: Chocolate = 6.7g : Strawberry = 6.8g
Fat: Chocolate = 2.7g : Strawberry = 2.0g
[of which saturates]: Chocolate = 1.1g : Strawberry = 0.7g
Fibre: Chocolate = 1.0g : Strawberry = 1.2g
Sodium: Both Chocolate & Strawberry = 0.03g
Salt equivalent: Both Chocolate & Strawberry = 0.1g

INGREDIENTS:

CHOCOLATE FLAVOUR BAR:

Cereal grains (46.2%), whole grain oat flakes (31.4%), whole grain wheat rice, oat bran (2.7%), wheat flour, maize flour, malted wheat flour, glucose syrup, milk chocolate (11%), skimmed milk powder, soya lecithin, vanilla flavour, inverted sugar syrup, barley malt extract, sorbitol, vegetable oil, sugar, honey, soya lecithin, partially inverted brown sugar syrup, salt, chocolate flavour, tocopherols, molasses, trisodium, phosphate, niacin, vitamin E, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, riboflavin (B2), thiomin (B1), folic acid, vitamin B12, calcium carbonate, iron

STRAWBERRY FLAVOUR BAR:

The same as the chocolate variety above, except that the chocolate ingredients are replaced with freezed-dried strawberries (5.5%), cranberries, and strawberry flavouring

DIETARY/ALLERGY ADVICE:

May contain different types of nuts

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For me, cereal bars are a bag of mixed fortunes. Though most of them are no healthier than a bar of chocolate, some of them do taste quite nice, and have added vitamins & minerals.

The advantage for me which a cereal bar (so long as it tastes good) has over chocolate, is that after I've eaten one, I don't want another for quite a long time, whereas if I eat a chocolate bar, it just gives me the taste and I'll keep on and on eating more until my stomach almost at overflowing point with fat, additives, calories, sugar etc. At least with the cereal bar, the satisfaction levels from eating one are much higher, even if they aren't too great in the nutritional department at times, and I thus find it very easy to stop at just one.

I spotted Nestle Oats & More Bars the other day whilst ambling around Sainsbury's, and as I'd never seen them before, thought I'd give them a try - I for the most part love Nestle breakfast cereals, so surmised that they probably would be good at making cereal bars too.

These cereal bars come in flattish boxes which on the strawberry variety has strawberry-related images on the front, and chocolate related images for the chocolate flavour. The back and sides of the boxes show nutritional information, ingredients, dietary/allergy advice, and Nestle's quality claim together with their contact details. Each bar is quiet small and of uniform size, wrapped individually, sealed at both ends, and the wrapper design is identical to that which is on the box(es).

Here, I am reviewing just the chocolate flavour and the strawberry flavour. There is a cherry flavour available too, but as I'm not a fan of cherry-flavoured things, I decided not to buy that variety.

CHOCOLATE FLAVOUR

This is a strange little cereal bar which is pale coloured, and the oats are quite prominent poking from the top. The consistency is rather sticky, and there is just a smattering of tiny chocolate nuggets embedded in the grain mix.

On moving towards my mouth, I couldn't detect any chocolate smell - which wasn't surprising, as there was hardly any inside the bar. All I could smell was a sort of a syrupy aroma mixed with that of rolled oats.

On biting into the bar, I wasn't overly impressed. The consistency is rather chewy, yet not in a pleasant way. I felt as though I was chomping on highly sweetened nuggets of polystyrene rather than mixed cereals, and the whole thing felt horribly gluey in my mouth.

That wouldn't have been so bad if the chocolate flavour had been strong, but the nuggets of it were so sparse, that I could hardly taste chocolate at all.

I did eat the whole of the first bar though (and the others over a period of a few days), and the only thing I can say in their favour is that they filled a little hole in my stomach. I was craving chocolate when I ate the first one, but was left still craving afterwards.

I think this bar would be improved a lot if the chocolate nuggets inside was a more generous serving, and the bar were crisped up a bit, texture-wise - not so much that it becomes hard and crunchy - just to remove that gluey sensation I got upon chewing.

STRAWBERRY FLAVOUR

Now, this was much better. The consistency and size was the same as that of the chocolate flavour, but the serving of little nuggets of dried strawberry inside was much more generous serving than the chocolate nuggets in the other variety. On unwrapping the bar, there was quite a distinctive strawberry smell, mixing in with the oats.

For some unknown reason, because I'm sure the two varieties must basically be made to the same recipe and the flavourings added afterwards, the cereal felt different inside my mouth - this strawberry bar was nowhere near so gluey as the chocolate one, and far less sweet.

The strawberry bits were quite authentic-tasting, and a pleasantly tangy, blending rather well with mix of oats, other cereals and sweetenings

This bar was much more satisfying in that though it was less sweet, and didn't contain any chocolate, it actually did hit my "chocolate spot" which is probably more a craving for the constituents of a chocolate bar, rather than the chocolate itself. The blend of ingredients in this bar is just right, and chances are moderately high that I may buy them again.

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My overall view of these two varieties of Nestle Oats & More Cereal Bars is that the chocolate variety for me was a complete waste of time - edible, but very far down the scale of special; but, the strawberry variety is rather nice.....not mind-blowingly wonderful, but a massive improvement on the chocolate flavour.

I have overall tasted better cereal bars than these ones, even the strawberry flavour, and I'd rate them as being not horrible, with the chocolate one being very mediocre, and the strawberry one being moderately nice. The lure of the packaging (which is tasteful and colourful) makes these cereal bars seem a lot more tempting than what they actually are, and though I may buy the strawberry one again some day, I shall nine times out of ten be eating other brands of cereal bar which I prefer - plus, I shall be avoiding the chocolate variety.

A moderate offering from Nestle, which surprises me, as I usually find their cereal type products very very good.

Thanks for reading!