Kellogg's Rice Krispies Muddles

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Good
Product Quality	Excellent
Product package	Good
Taste	Nice
How loyal are you to this brand?	Very

Advantages:	Reasonably healthy cereal, prebiotic included
Disadvantages:	Slightly high in sugar content

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My 12 year-old son is addicted to these. When they first appeared on the supermarket shelves over a year ago, they were marketed as 'Muddles'. Then, for some reason, they changed their name to Rice Krispies Multigrain Shapes. We've stuck to the name Muddles. It's lot easier to ask 'who wants a bowl of Muddles?' than reciting their new name.

Anyway, this cereal contains a mix of rice, oats and maize crunchy shapes. Each of the three shapes is a different colour and different shape. I can't say specifically what shapes they are supposed to represent, but one looks like a star, one looks like a person and the other, well, it's hard to tell, but I would hazard a guess that it's a fish. But who cares anyway?

I've tried taste testing each shape to see if they are distinguishable from each other. I.e. does one shape taste like oats and another like rice. As far as my taste buds can ascertain, I would have to say I can't tell any difference between the different shapes.

As for the actual taste, they are quite sweet, slightly malty but not too sugary and you don't need to add any sugar to them. They have a satisfying crunch and are nice on their own eaten dry as a snack. My kids just eat them in a bowl with milk as with most cereals. They do go soggy after they've been in the milk for a few minutes, but it doesn't alter the taste at all. All the kids seem to particularly like the 'Muddle milk' (as they call it) flavour left at the end when they've eaten all the Multigrains.

They come packaged in a 350g recyclable cardboard box and it indicates on the side of the box that there is enough for 11 x 30g servings. This is the only size available, although they are often included as one of the mini boxes in the Kelloggs variety selection packs. The box itself has a gold coloured background with a clear picture of a bowl of the cereal. The text 'Rice Krispies' stands out in a larger size and different colour to the other text, possibly because Rice Krispies are so well known. This may draw your attention towards them if you've not noticed them previously. There's a picture of the familiar three 'Snap, Crackle and Pop' characters, only on this box they represent corn, oats and rice!

What gives this cereal more of a healthy edge is its inclusion of a natural pre-biotic. This is useful for boosting friendly bacteria and helps with digestion, so they say. Apart from that, they are low in fat at 2.5g per 100g and low in salt with 0.4g per 100g. Sugars are a bit on the high side, as is common with so many children's cereals with 18g per 100g. Anything over 15g per 100g is considered high. But, as you don't need to add sugar, they're not too bad compared with many others. Fibre is good with 8g per 100g and it contains all the usual fortification of vitamins and some minerals.

A 30g bowlful with 125ml of semi skimmed milk will provide 170 calories. Now, I don't know how often anyone actually measures out these amounts, but 30g is not very much. It's all too easy to just fill up a bowl and assume that's the right amount. Have you ever been surprised at how little is contained in one of those individual mini boxes? Well, that's the recommended amount. I know for sure in my family we pour out way more than that.

They're available in most major supermarkets and some smaller ones. They're generally priced at around £1.98 but often on special offer. This week, for instance, they are on a 'buy two for £3.00' deal.

Ingredients:

Cereal Flours (Rice, Oat, Maize), Sugar, Prebiotic (Inulin) (6%), Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Flavouring, Colour (Ammonia Caramel, Annatto), Niacin, Iron, Antioxidant (Ascorbyl Palmitate, Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12.

Allergy Information: Contains oats

For more information: www.kelloggs.co.uk, www.kelloggs.ie

Also reviewed on dooyoo