'O's' Cereal (Original flavor)

Test date: November 2010

Testers: Michele

Products for this test purchased at Fred Meyer, Whole Foods, Winco, and Trader Joe's.

MICHELE'S OPINION: If you must go natural, I guess my pick would be the Cascadian Farms option, because it has some sweeteness that might make them more palatable. But frankly I'd stick with the classic General Mills product or its private label counterpart for the best taste and definitely best price. Read on for more details....

Price comparison for 14oz of cereal (store first, then brand)
$8.21 Whole Foods Barbara's
$7.76 Whole Foods Cascadian Farms
$5.12 Whole Foods 365
$2.49 Winco General Mills
$1.99 Fred Meyer brand
$1.86 Trader Joe's brand

1. General Mills Cheerios (Purchased at Winco and available on Amazon Fresh; available widely): This product has a wheaty natural flavor, with a bit of a grainy consistency at the end.

2. Fred Meyer Toasted Oats (Only available at Fred Meyer): This product has a light density and crunchy consistency, slightly more of a corn flavor rather than pure oats.

3. Trader Joe's Joe's O's (Only available at Trader Joe's): This is a medium density product with a rich corn and grain flavor and I can taste the extra salt as well (which probably is what brings out the flavor).

4. Barbara's hole 'n oats, fruit juice sweetened (Purchased at Whole Foods; Per Barbara's website, this type of cereal is also available at some Safeway, Trader Joe's, PCC, Fred Meyer, and QFC locations): These look very processed (they are a funny shape) and don't taste like anything really, maybe a little bit like plastic, but that's about it.

5: 365 Organic Morning O's (Only available at Whole Foods): This is a medium density product with a nice first crunch. However, when you keep eating them, the processed flavor comes out. Not good.

6. Cascadian Farm purely O's (Purchased at Whole Foods and available on Amazon Fresh; per Cascadian Farm website, this product is also available at some QFC, Safeway, and Fred Meyer locations): This is the most dense of the o's, but not by much. They are definitely the sweetest product of them all with not much wheat/grain taste.

NUTRITIONAL NOTES: (Serving size: 1 cup) All of these products have similar levels of calories (100-120), fat (1-2grams), and protein (3-4grams) per serving. The variable, as you might imagine, lies in the sodium content, which ranges from 80mg per serving for Barbara's product to a whopping 280mg in the Joe's Os. General Mills Cheerios is the next lowest in sodium after Barbara's, with all other options at 200mg or higher per serving. In terms of ingredients, none of the products have anything too surprising in them, except for Cascadian Farms Organic product, which includes tapioca syrup and molasses, in addition to the normal oats, grains, and added vitamins that the others include in their ingredient lists.

TASTE WINNER: General Mills Cheerios or the Fred Meyer (Kroger) private label taste the best. Trader Joe's O's are great as well, but contain so much sodium that I probably wouldn't recommend them. The others just taste fake.