Product: Van’s Natural Foods Gluten-Free Honey Nut Crunch Cereal – $5.49+
There are just some brand names that you come back to in the gluten-free universe. Some are just leaps and bounds above the competition. Some have worked very hard to obtain that status, maintain their quality, and sustain their consumers with the finest products made from the finest ingredients.
I have numerous brands that, when in a pinch, I will search high and low for, if needed. Sometimes these brands are easier to come by than others. It just depends on the region of the country that you live in.
Thankfully, I never seem to have a problem when it comes to finding the gluten-free products that are part of the line-up from Van’s Natural Foods.
My love affair with Van’s Natural Foods began with their gluten-free French Toast Sticks and gluten-free Waffles. It hasn’t ended there…thanks to a plethora of new gluten-free items just released from this fantastic company.
One of these products…cereal.
Previously I had tried the Cinnamon Heaven gluten-free cereal and really voiced my love. That love still exists. I crave that cereal at really strange times. It was really that good. But…there was another one on the market that was begging for me to indulge a little. So…I had to pick it up…even if it was more expensive than my usual go-to gluten-free cereals.
This time, I picked up Van’s Natural Foods Gluten-Free Honey Nut Crunch Cereal. What I love at first glance is right on the box. You get 19 grams of nutrient-rich whole grains with each serving as well as 5 filling grans of fiber. Loving it! That simple 3/4 cup serving will also only set you back 120 calories for the day and only 1 gram of fat. Healthy, healthy, yes? The runner in me loves that the sugar is only at 7 grams, which is awesome for a cereal. Do keep in mind, that while you get a healthy dose of fiber in this cereal, the protein level is much lower, topping out only at 2 grams. But…hey…I’m a runner. I’ll eat some peanut butter later…on a spoon…from the jar. HA!
So, now that you’ve got the nitty-gritty not-so-bad nutritional aspect of the cereal, I bet you’re dying to know how they taste?
Truth…they are fantastic. Like…Honey Nut Cheerios…but not as overpoweringly sweet on the honey. That subtle honey flavor is what really makes this breakfast cereal shine. These little squares of whole grain goodness are infused with a sweet hint of honey, enough to wake up your tastebuds in the morning. Especially when you add a splash of almond milk to it. The sweet honey flavor doesn’t dissipate or deteriorate…it only gets better. I also love that these little squares of breakfast goodness aren’t overly crunchy. Don’t get me wrong, I love my cereal to have a crunch and to not get soggy when I add my almond milk. Soggy cereal sucks. Van’s Gluten-Free Honey Nut Crunch maintains it’s delicate crunch throughout the entire feasting period. And I tend to eat my cereal slow. Mind you, if you are trying to multitask and make coffee, flip pancakes, get snacks or lunches together and let the cereal sit…yeah…it will get soggy. But it stands up to the addition of milk for a good, long time in my opinion. And that sweet honey flavor doesn’t leave either. It stays in the squares. I love that I can still hear things over the gentle crunch and that my morning range of hearing isn’t handicapped by my teeth gnashing away at my bowl of cereal. These are phenomenal. Honestly. It was hard to keep myself from going back for another bowl.
One other point to make about Van’s Natural Foods is that on the ingredient panel, they list ingredients with the subscript (That We Are Proud Of!). And if you read them over, you’ll know why. The Gluten-Free Honey Nut Crunch cereal contains simply Van’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Blend (which is a blend of oat, brown rice, millet, quinoa and amaranth flours), Cane Sugar, Oat Fiber, Inulin, Invert Cane Sugar, Salt, Honey, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Flavors, Natural Mixed Tocopherols for Freshness. I can see why they are proud of those ingredients. And it makes me a happy consumer and customer in the end. Especially when I can identify every single thing on there.
Gluten-free cereals can be hit or miss and often are pumped full of extra fat or extra sugar. I love that Van’s Natural Foods Gluten-Free Honey Nut Crunch cereal is good without having to be a sugary, fattening treat in the morning. If I wanted that…I’d eat a gluten-free doughnut. Van’s does gluten-free right and I am loving both flavors of gluten-free cereal, fresh out on the market. I encourage you to buy them and try them yourself. I love them…you will too. Down to the very last square.
The Celiathlete 