New Product Review:

Simple Harvest Multigrain Hot Cereal

Reviewed by Mr Breakfast on 10/7/2007

Bravo to Quaker's Simple Harvest Instant Multigrain Hot Cereal! They've infused the often-considered-boring hot cereal sector with some much needed excitement.

You first suspect that in you're in for something special when you see the the box. It's sleek and colorful and a transparent window in the front reveals the healthy contents of a clear packet inside. Fortunately for us, what you expect is pretty much what you get.

With more grains and bits of real fruit and nuts, your mouth is in for more of an adventure than you get from standard oatmeal. Each spoonful offers a variety of textures and tastes.

Of the three varieties, I liked Maple Brown Sugar With Pecans the best. It's infused with the same warm maple flavor we know from maple and brown sugar oatmeal, but with bites of a pecans in every bite and a straight-from-the-field texture, this cereal feels like oatmeal deluxe... like an improvement on something we already love.

The Apples With Cinnamon variety is the most flavorful of the three. The apple pie smell you get when you add water is ever-present in the taste. My only complaint is that this cereal might be better with smaller dried apple pieces or none at all. Compared to the rest of the cereal, the apple pieces are slippery and firm, a distraction from what is otherwise nearly-perfect.

My least favorite was Vanilla Almond And Honey Simple Harvest. Compared to the other varieties, this was the only cereal that had somewhat of an artificial flavor. You might not notice it if you were pitting this cereal against most oatmeals, but since the other Simple Harvest cereals taste so completely natural, anything that feels artificial is immediately noticeable. That said, this cereal is still worth a try if only for the slivers of almonds you get in every bite.

The truth is that these new cereals have little more health value than oatmeal. Oatmeal offers 3 grams of fiber per serving. These cereal have 4. Both contain 4 grams of protein. In fact, most instant oatmeal varieties have more vitamins since they are commonly fortified. But readers of MrBreakfast.com know that oatmeal is a miracle food. Any cereal with a nutritional profile in the same ball park as oatmeal is an instant winner.

The reason I'm excited about this cereal line isn't because it's healthier or tastier. I'm excited because it might draw people's attentions toward the oatmeal section of the cereal isle. The importance of whole-grains to our diet is irrefutable. Whether it's simply oats or a combination of whole grains, you're doing your body a great favor by having this type of cereal a couple times a week. Quaker just made it a little easier to get excited about healthy eating. I hope you'll give it a try.

One final note: Look for this product on sale. Given the difference in price, between these and a similar-sized boxes of instant oatmeal. The cost-per-health-benefit ratio currently favors instant oatmeal, ie. right now this product is way overpriced.

The price we paid: $3.50