| Volume 16, Number 1 | Winter 2014 |
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Welcome to "The Boxtop", your cereal netletter, the longest running periodical on the world of cereal. Grab your favorite box of cereal and pour yourself a bowl. Entire page will load long before your cereal turns soggy. Just add milk and enjoy!
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Side Panel Monthly Ingredients Cereal Review Feature Articles What's New in Cereal? Perpetually Updated Cereal Ratings Cereal Ideas Letters to the Editor Meet the Staff Topher Ellis, Editor Back Issues Complete Index Links Favorite Cereal Links Subscribe Free Subscription Stuck in a Frame? Click to Break Free Privacy Policy And Ethics Code Disclaimers And Other Legal Stuff Back To The Top |
"Cereal Gang #2" by Landis Blair © 2014
Back To The Top General Mills Features Muppets on Four Cereals by Topher
Back To The Top Ernie Button's Cerealism Photo Exhibition by Topher
Back To The Top Latest Cereal Statistics by Topher
Back To The Top General Mills Offering Comic Books Free Inside Boxes of Big G Cereals by Topher
Back To The Top Cheerios Is No Longer The Cereal of Choice for X-Men by Topher
Back To The Top F.A.C.T.S. Top 10 and Bottom 10 Cereals Ranked by Nutrition by Topher
Back To The Top Wax-Eye's "Cereal Boom" App by Topher
Back To The Top "The Great American Cereal Book" by Topher
Back To The Top Cereal Reviews by Shaun McCrary General Mills Trix (Swirls)
Kellogg's Cinnamon Jacks
Post Good Morenings - Strawberry and Creme
Kellogg's Scooby-Doo!
Post C is for Cereal - A is for Apple
General Mills Lucky Charms - "Limited Edition" with Green Clovers
Cereal Reviews by Star Smith Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats CRUNCH - Brown Sugar
Quaker Oats - Cap'n Crunch's Halloween Crunch (2013)
General Mills - Frute Brute
Cereal Reviews by Eric Smith General Mills - Fruity Yummy Mummy
Cereal Reviews by Terri Ellis General Mills - The Return of Frute Brute
General Mills - The Return of Fruity Yummy Mummy
Cereal Reviews by Topher, Editor Kellogg's Product 19
What's New In Cereal? by Topher General Mills Offers Coupons on Their Cheerios Website
Kellogg's Offers Coupons on Their Family Rewards Website
Post Offers Coupons on Their Coupons and Promotions Page
Quaker Oats Coupon Site
Kashi Coupon Site
March 7 is "National Cereal Day!"
Send Us Your News
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Disclaimers and Other Legal Stuff
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In early 2014, General Mills announced that it's "the unique and simple nature of original Cheerios that made this possible... we were able to change how we source and handle ingredients to ensure that the corn starch for original Cheerios comes only from non-GMO corn, and our sugar is only non-GMO pure cane sugar." So no more genetically modified organisms running around inside regular Cheerios? I never saw it as a problem before.
It’s breakfast time for the stars of Wax Eye’s line of Cereal Killers Trading Cards. CEREAL BOOM is a mobile game app developed for the Iphone and Ipad. The mission is to feed Zomba Crunch, Apple Drac, and Eye Pop enough nutritious food to create a Cereal Boom before time runs out. The winner is rewarded with explosive animations and collectible, digital trading cards. Cereal Boom is a fast-paced and hilariously-gross. I'm looking forward to an Android version. Free download for first character and $1.99 for 2 characters.
Trix came to market in 1954. "Swirls" first appeared in 2009. It's made of whole grain corn, sugar, corn meal and corn syrup. It looks, smells and tastes similar to "classic" Trix but the all-sphere design feels different in the mouth and of course there's the swirled colors on the balls. Trix floats on top of the milk and leaves the leftover milk flavor respectable, but leaning toward a sugary sog. Trix is a staple. 10 boxtops. (A Classic! Belongs On Every Breakfast Table.)
Cinnamon Jacks is an offshoot from Apple Jacks featuring CinnaMon who was added as a spokescharacter to Apple Jacks in 2004. CinnaMon now has his own cereal, made of whole grain yellow corn flour, sugar, and wheat flour. Opening the box, the brown sugar cinnamon aroma gets you right away, enticing a tasting. Cinnamon Jacks has a very respectable flavor that reminds me of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (the king of cinnamon cereals) but misses the mark overall due to consistency. The milk afterwards was WAY too sugary. In contrast, Cinnamon Toast Crunch has a classic taste and texture that is overall much more satisfying. 6 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.)
Post - Good Morenings is a new line of large box, budget priced, cereals available in 14.5oz, 16.5 oz and 21 oz boxes. Strawberry and Creme is a crunchy corn flake cereal. Some flakes had more flavor than others but overall weak. The cereal misses the mark as the flavor taste profile is at a minor league level --- kind of a poor man's Honey Bunches of Oats. 5 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.)
Kellogg's Scooby-Doo! has a good looking box, with Scooby ready to devour a bowlful of little tan bones that look like mini-Milkbone dog biscuits. Oh, if they only tasted as good. The smell is underwhelming with hints of boredom which accurately foretells the Bland Central Station experience that follows. It brings the milk flavor down. I couldn't finish it. Scooby-Doo! is the cardboard "whole-wheat pasta" of cereals. 2 Boxtops (Why Bother. Leave It On Your Grocer's Shelf.)
Post C is for Cereal - A is for Apple is one of three great concept "Sesame Street"-branded cereals aimed at toddlers. This box features Elmo. The other two feature Cookie Monster and Big Bird. These lively boxes practically jump off the shelves. C is for Cereal - A is for Apple boasts a "naturally apple flavored oat and corn cereal". The cereal itself is in the shape of X's and O's which helps train your baby for drawing up football formations. The cereal has an appearance like Cheerios or Alpha-Bits, but tastes HORRIBLE! Maybe I got a bad batch. Then again, maybe the intended target market wouldn't know any better and can't complain so a nearly flavorless cereal might go unnoticed. Post ought to get a prize for the concept and box art. I'd just like an apology. 0 Boxtops (Throw away!)
General Mills Lucky Charms - "Limited Edition" with Green Clovers is really no different than classic Lucky Charms with their whole grain oats and multiple sugary marshmallow shapes, except the box is entirely filled with Green Clover marbits of various shades of green. It easily could have been called, "Oops! All Green Clovers". The box screams "St. Patrick's Day" without so much as saying so. I like Lucky Charms and there's nothing here that changes that. Lucky Charms have always left one of my favorite milk flavors. Lucky Charms is a staple. 10 boxtops. (A Classic! Belongs On Every Breakfast Table.)
Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats CRUNCH with Brown Sugar, a product of Canada, is made with 4 whole grains and brown sugar. What ever happened to "sugar" being a hidden ingredient? Not here. It's proudly emblazoned on the box, which even smells sweet when you open the package. In milk, it still tastes sweet but the mini wheat pillow gets pleasantly soft on the outside (without getting soggy) while the inside is crispy. The milk also tasted sweeter from the brown sugar in the cereal. I like the whole grains and fiber. The pieces could be a little smaller but other than that, it's really good. 8 Boxtops (Very Good! Recommend Purchase.)
Cap'n Crunch always celebrates Halloween and Christmas in style. This year's box features a jack-o-lantern with the Cap'n's face carved into it, and a cereal with ghost pieces that turns milk green. The usual main ingredients are all here: corn flour, sugar, oat flour, brown sugar, coconut oil, and salt. This cereal smells sweet, like Halloween candy. The milk makes the outside of the cereal a little mushy, but I like that the center stays crunchy. The crunchy orange ghost-pieces turn green in milk and makes the milk turn green. If it didn't cut the roof of my mouth, it'd be perfect! I like it. 8 Boxtops (Very Good! Recommend Purchase.) 
This Monster Cereal arrived in select stores last Halloween for the first time since 1982. (Noting however that the original cereal was spelled "Fruit Brute"). It was joined by Fruity Yummy Mummy as well as the usual trio of Boo-Berry, Franken Berry, and Count Chocula. One of the most iconic cereals of all time, Fruit Brute cereal appeared in a pair of 1990's Quentin Tarantino movies: "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction". The core ingredients as well as the shape and texture of all 5 cereals is identical: whole grain corn, corn meal, sugar, and marshmallows.
Officially, this monster cereal was never considered a "Monster Cereal" by General Mills --- which never made any sense, especially since Yummy Mummy appeared in commercials with Boo-Berry, Franken Berry and Count Chocula. It was the last of the 5 monster cereals to be introduced (1987) and hadn't been seen in stores since 1992. Fruity Yummy Mummy was discontinued circa 1990. It was really cool to find him in both retro and new packaging this past Halloween. This review deals with the retro box which claims an "Orange Cream Flavor Frosted Cereal with Spooky Fun Marshmallows".
[Editors Note: It should come as no surprise that the contents of this box were similar to cereal found inside retro boxes of Frute Brute reviewed by Star Smith, above.] The box itself is cool. The new Frute Brute looks like a handsome young crooning werewolf. TRO Frute Brute has orange pieces and red pieces that look like ghosts, although they could also fill in for werewolf snouts or paws. The cherry flavor is subtle. While it smells sweet, the cereal doesn't taste sweet except for the marbits --- which it really needs, otherwise it would be boring. The cereal imports a pinkish tint and a subtle cherry flavor into the milk. High praise for the box art. Low praise for the cereal. 5 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.)
[Editors Note: It should come as no surprise that the contents of this box were similar to cereal found inside retro boxes of Fruity Yummy Mummy reviewed by Eric Smith, above.] TRO Fruity Yummy Mummy is a welcome addition to the Halloween cereal aisle. The Yummy Mummy character is both creepy and fun. The cereal is full of orange, and red, Pac-Man ghost-shaped pieces that float in milk. The red pieces are neutral in flavor while the orange pieces have an orange flavor that is slightly stronger than TRO Frute Brute's cherry flavor. The marbits help the flavor to the extent that I wouldn't be able to eat much of this cereal without their help. I rank it slightly better than TRO Frute Brute. 6 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.) 
Kellogg's Product 19 boasts 13 vitamins and minerals, and 4 grains (corn, oats, wheat, and rice) which equals, well Product 17. Since they didn't want to count the second ingredient (sugar) or the 210 mg of salt per serving (9% USDA), the marketing team needed to step in. "Lets add 1 'Simple Choice' and 1 'Positive Start'. Voilà! Product 19." Seriously, the cereal really got it's name from its distinction of being the 19th product being worked on at Kellogg's in 1967. The cereal is full of crispy flakes which are not too thick and are fairly bland, though they go really well with fresh sliced peaches. The flakes also begin to sog well before reaching the bottom of the bowl. 6 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.) 