Product Review: Quaker Oatmeal Squares - Brown Sugar

Quaker Oatmeal Squares - Brown Sugar

produced by Quaker Oats Company

About the Product: Quaker Oatmeal Squares is a cold cereal that you can find in the cereal aisle of most grocery stores. As you can see, it looks like a cereal similar to shredded wheat, and it touts that it contains 10 grams of protein when eaten with milk. It also claims to be "heart healthy," and to contain 96% of the minimum recommended whole grain amount for a healthy, 2,000 calorie diet. There are four different flavors of Quaker Oatmeal Squares: Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Golden Maple, and Honey Nut. In looking at the ingredient listing for the Brown Sugar squares that I purchased, it really doesn't look too artificial, but it does contain food dyes and preservatives. The third, fourth, and seventh ingredients are a sugar, though. The nutrition facts say that 1 cup is the recommended serving size. Out of the 210 calories in 1 cup of this cereal, dry, only 25 of the calories come from fat. It has 6 grams of protein, but 9 grams of sugar per 1 cup of dry cereal. You can read the complete nutrition and ingredient information at the website, www.quakeroats.com.

Why I Chose this Product: To be honest, I had never seen or heard of this cereal until my Mom introduced me to it last spring. And, I think my sister, Sally, introduced the cereal to my Mom. While driving out to Kansas with me, Mom purchased a box of Quaker Oatmeal Squares (not sure which flavor) to eat as a snack. Sometime later that summer, I purchased a box just to have more variety in our breakfast options.

Cost: $2.79 at Target currently

Use: I ate this as a cold cereal with milk, and as a dry snack as Mom had introduced it to me. It was a handy, grab a small handful, snack for when I had the munchies or needed something sweet.

Conclusion: The Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares are a tasty cereal or snack. I didn't think they were overly sweet, but they definitely didn't have the blah, cardboard taste of the plain shredded wheat that they resemble. Personally, I don't eat a ton of cold cereals, and actually have an extremely limited selection of cereals that I deem worthy of purchasing every now and then. Even though I don't think this cereal is as healthy as it wants you to believe, it would be on my list of cereals that I would buy. One thing I really don't get is why there is food dye in the cereal. I mean, really. If they hadn't colored it brown, what color was it going to turn out as? Black? That is one of my small pet peeves - the use of food dye in stuff that really doesn't seem like it needed it. Anyways. Outside of that, and the use of preservatives, my only other "health police" issue that I would have is the amount of sugars used. But, I do have a sweet tooth and enjoyed this cereal even with the sugar content.

Would I recommend this product? Yes, I probably would if you were looking for a new, not-completely-sugar, cold cereal or dry snack. If you're one of my friends that is typically health conscious, I would say, enh, you might enjoy it but, beware that it does contain the normal cold cereal ingredients (sugars, food dyes, preservatives) that you might not want. As I said before, the Quaker Oatmeal Squares may be a better option than, say, Chocolate Lucky Charms, but I don't think it's as healthy as the marketing techniques would like you to believe.

Feedback: What types of cold cereal do you enjoy splurging on every now and then? Is it to eat as cereal, or as a snack?

*I, nor A Journey Thru Pictures blog, was not reimbursed, paid, sponsored, or given free product for doing this review.*