Cereal Throwdown: Fiber One 80 Calorie vs. Honey Nut Cheerios

I have a cereal confession to make: I’m a sucker for Fiber One.

Annoying ad guy notwithstanding, I’ve never thought the “healthy” cereals produced by the brand tasted like cardboard. I mean, their bars basically taste like candy, and their cereals beat the sox off most sugary adult cereal you can get. Even the Fiber One Original has a special place in my heart. The bran-ey taste gets such a boost from aspartame that it’s like sucking down the flavor of a Sara Lee Bran Muffins, while the crunchy little twigs make it both an ideal mix in with chocolate chips, as well as a great topper for yogurt.

It’s a double edge sword eating Fiber One, no doubt. While it tastes good going down, my small intestines will often be kicking myself later (literally), so much so that I have to restrain myself from buying both the Original and Honey Clusters varieties. The Original is tough to duplicate, but I’ve earned to get my Honey kick on by replacing the Honey Clusters with good old fashioned Honey Nut Cheerios. Despite a newfound love for Multigrain Peanut Butter Cheerios, the box with the smiling bumble bee remains the most purchased Cheerio variety in my house.

But how does it compare with the newest member of the Fiber One cereal line? Fiber One 80 calorie cereal clearly is targeted to the dieting women crowd (lets not mince words here) but that’s never stopped me from trying out a Fiber One product in the past. Looking to test just how authentic that honey taste is, I put it up against Honey Nut Cheerios in the blog’s first ever Cereal Throwdown.

Appearance and Texture: Honey Nut Cheerios have a classic shape that seems different than every other Honey-O knockoff your local grocery store is producing. The O’s are fairly small with a distinct glaze that renders a smooth mouthfeel. I love snacking on them because the glaze dissolves slowly in your mouth, and you can literally suck on the peices like candy. Fiber One 80 Calorie, meanwhile, comes in two shades. There is also a slight honey glaze, although it doesn’t seem as distinct because of the ridge lines. The peices have a slight puffed nature to them though, and aren’t as liable to spill when you go digging around for them in your grab-n-go pouch while at work (what, eating on the job?). Likewise, they have a bit sturdier of a crunch, which allow you to get more dissolve time in your mouth. Because of these two facts, I give a slight edge to Fiber One 80 Calorie.

Taste: It’s a lot closer than I thought going in. The good news is that if you’re a honey fan both pack a punch. While Honey Nut Chex might just hold the record for most potent honey sweetness, Honey Nut Cheerios and its nine grams of sugar (from honey, sugar, and brown sugar) hit you with a mellow and classic taste that also gets a big boost from an almond flavor on the backend. Once more, you can actually taste the oat base, which isn’t marred by any off chemical or excessive corn flavors. The flavors of corn bran are more apparent in the Fiber One cereal but not as off-putting as the ingredient list might hint, and the honey flavor is all but identical in sweetness to Honey Nut Cheerios. However, each piece lacks the certain depth of flavor that is encased in each Honey Nut Cheerio, and something just doesn’t seem to mesh as well as the tried and true combination of oats + honey + almonds. Honey Nut gets first crack here.

Nutritional Considerations: Per serving, you’re looking at 80 calories (duh) against 110 calories. From a density standpoint you’re going to get more servings at fewer calories per bowl of Fiber One, and while a serving of Honey Nut Cheerios definitely hits the spot, it’s easy to overload. But I like that Honey Nut Cheerios doesn’t kill you with fiber. Too much fiber is gonna straight up make me not want to move, so even though the whole low calorie angle might be the way to go for the desk-ridden crowd, Honey Nut Cheerios supports my lifestyle better. Gotta give the bee the edge here.

Winner: It’s no secret I hold Honey Nut Cheerios to be the gold standard of golden honey deliciousness in boxed, cartoon character form. That being said, the honey taste was very evenly matched by Fiber One 80 Calories, which in a “close my eyes” taste test was tough to call out. But the giveaway — and the element which makes Honey Nut Cheerios so great — is that complex almond taste, which compliments and brings out the flavors of the oats. Truth be told, both of these have become repeat purchases for me, but if you’re going to twist my arm and make me buy one or the other, I’m going with the Bee every time.

Honey Nut Cheerios

• Ranking: 9/10
• Chances I’d Buy Again: 100%

Fiber One 80 Calorie

• Ranking: 7.5/10
• Chances I’d Buy Again: 80%

Peanut Butter Multigrain Cheerios, Dulce de Leche Cheerios, and the undisputed awsomeness of “Cheerio” as a greeting

When I was working as a front desk receptionist at a resort in Virginia, I occasionally would have the great pleasure of speaking with individuals visiting or calling from the United Kingdom. Aside from providing my auditory receptors (read: ears) with a much-needed break from the sometimes entitled accents of the local Virginia gentry, these conversations proved a welcomed change of pace from the usual American phraseology. I will, of course, trade a “uh…ok” with a “cheerio” any day of the week, especially when that day had left me with nothing in the way of being cheery about.

Such is why I love British people visiting America. Always happy and always upbeat, they’re grateful for any assistance even a stuttering, directionally challenged front desk employee can provide them.

I tell this little story because it is without question my greatest significant reason for purchasing Cheerios the cereal. Don’t get me wrong — Cheerios of all flavors and nutritional profiles are welcomed in my pantry, and none are truly revolting — yet in a world of cereal options, even offerings of chocolate and frosted really don’t scream “yo, buy me!”

But Peanut Butter and Dulce de Leche? Now we might be onto something. Spotting these brand-spanking-new offerings on shelves just the other day, I decided it was time to test whether the iconic brand could perk my interest in the same way the former Limey patrons of the resort could (and I say that with all the love only a military history buff can).

Dulce De Leche Cheerios

I first discovered the flavor of Dulce de Leche while making cookies my the same name with a friend of mine during my senior year of college. I distinctly remember the evening, as it was one of those wholesome Utah activities that only a born-and-bred Catholic east coaster like myself could interpret as a “wait a second, is this a date?” type moments. Nevertheless, what I remember of the cookies we made — with that sweet, slightly smokey caramel depth that comes from heating sweetened condensed milk — was awesome. As for the new Cheerio flavor advertising “rich caramel flavor and the goodness of Cheerios,” I have mixed feelings. On one hand, the taste does strike me a distinct in caramel flavor. Two types of lightly glazed Cheerios both taste of a deeper brown sugar than one usually comes across in cereal, and both pack a pleasant sweetness that is neither cloying nor restrained. Nevertheless, there is an off taste I associate with banana bread that has been left out on the table a day too long, and an altogether weird mesh of sweetness and not-quite-caramel flavor that strikes me as artificial. A lack of richness (see, no saturated fat) comes off as well, as does a lack of development in the depth of sugar. Decent, but probably not something I go out of my way for in the future.

• Price: $2.50 (on sale at Topps)
• Ranking: 5/10
• Chances I’d Buy Again: 15%

Peanut Butter Cheerios

Ladies and gentleman, I think we’ve just met a new member of Adam’s Top 10. I recently published my thoughts on another new Peanut Butter flavored cereal, concluding — amongst other things — that it did not live up to the current gold brownish standard of Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs. Unlike the new Pebbles Boulder Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor, however, Peanut Butter Cheerios doesn’t try to match the often difficult to execute taste of candy in cereal form. Instead, Peanut Butter Cheerios (which comes in the multigrain flavor base) has the strongest peanut butter flavor of any cereal I’ve sampled to date. The ingredients paint a picture of five different grains (including Sorghum and Barley) but I only noticed three different colored O’s. Nonetheless, they have both a slight glaze and external coating, with a mouthfeel that’s more oily that most cereals, but not in a pleasent, honest-to-God peanut butter manner. It is, the be sure, peanut butter, pure and simple, and not just in flaor. Neither too salty nor too sweet (despite nine grams of sugar) its greatest asset is its simplicity. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but the choice not to flavor with HFCS and/or brown sugar keeps any “off” flavors from developing, while the multitude of grains makes snacking on the O’s very much like eating a homemade PBJ on a nice slice of oat bread. Not only am I loving the flavor, but at only 110 calories and no saturated fat per 28 grams, it’s healthy enough to please even the most stuck-up of food bloggers. Good stuff, for sure, and a must buy.

•  Price: $2.50 (on sale at Topps)
• Ranking: 8.5/10
• Chances I’d Buy Again: 80%

Final Thoughts

I should have mentioned both of these cereals were eaten in a dry-run setting. While snacking on dry cereal is clearly my modus operandi when consuming toasted oats, the appeal of a flavor based around milk makes me curious how the Dulce de Leche actually fares in the drink. As for Peanut Butter Cheerios, I’m already contemplating the possible mix-ins to include with it in my custom cereal snack mixes. Chocolate Cheerios and Banana Nut Cheerios are obvious choices, as are anything with berry flavors (do they still make Berry Burst Cheerios?). In any case, I will highly recommend the latter flavor from General Mills, and report back if the addition of milk should make Dulce de Leche Cheerios any more appealing.

Check ‘em out: Cheerios.com