McVities a:m Cereal Bites

So here we are presented with yet another breakfast alternative for people on the move, or just lazy people can’t be bothered with the effort of making breakfast for themselves. Now I will admit that there was a period in time when I joined this cult and became one of the many skipping the time consuming meal of breakfast and opting instead for a snack alternative. In my case I chose to eat different varieties of the Kellog’s Nutri-Grain bars but, ...
...throughout the day hence, I returned to my Bran Flakes.

So a trip to my local Safeway and 36p later and I’m staring at a 30 gram packet of these new a:m cereal bites. I opted for the berry flavour because that’s all that was available at the time and in all honesty these were quite appealing anyway. The other flavours available were orange and apricot with the other option of buying a 5 packet multi-pack for 94p.

The ... more

So here we are presented with yet another breakfast alternative for people on the move, or just lazy people can’t be bothered with the effort of making breakfast for themselves. Now I will admit that there was a period in time when I joined this cult and became one of the many skipping the time consuming meal of breakfast and opting instead for a snack alternative. In my case I chose to eat different varieties of the Kellog’s Nutri-Grain bars but, I eventually found that I was snacking much more frequently throughout the day hence, I returned to my Bran Flakes.

So a trip to my local Safeway and 36p later and I’m staring at a 30 gram packet of these new a:m cereal bites. I opted for the berry flavour because that’s all that was available at the time and in all honesty these were quite appealing anyway. The other flavours available were orange and apricot with the other option of buying a 5 packet multi-pack for 94p.

The front of packet is predominately a beige/light yellow colour and a picture of 8 a:m bites in the middle below the large a:m. There is a purple strip running vertically down the right hand side with a picture of some berries on it and the flavour name. The reverse of the packets is and almost 50/50 split of the purple and beige colour with the ingredients, McVitie’s guarantee and nutritional information. There is also a little blurb about the product highly promoting them, obviously because McVitie’s wouldn’t downplay their own product would they.

Now open the packet and there isn’t an immediate overpowering smell of wheat, nuts or berries which was pleasing. Hand in the packet and what’s this? My finger has suddenly been coated with a disgusting, oily collection of crumbs which don’t shake off. Anyway, second attempt and I ignore the crumbs and pick out one of the very small bites. They look like small shredded wheat and yet on first taste the come across as wheat crunchies (the crisps) without the crunch but, well actually I was lying there’s no but that’s what they taste like. The fruity favoured cream filling burst onto your tongue immediately and is seriously strong at first but it dies down gradually, becoming almost sour.

Ok, I’ve only eaten one and already I feel ripped off because this was simply disgusting. If I wanted that taste I could eat a pack of tomato sauce wheat crunchies and spray old lavender air freshener into my mouth at the same time. I begrudgingly fight my way through the packet with the sole intention of sharing my findings here on Ciao. I finally reached the last one and jumped for joy when it had disappeared. The most displeasant thing I discovered whilst eating these was the lingering aftertaste not to mention the weird, salivating feeling they left in my mouth.

Nutritional information (Per 30g bag);
Energy – 612kj/146kcal
Protein – 2.0g
Carbohydrate – 20.6g
Of which sugars – 9.1g
Fat – 6.2g
Of which saturates – 1.1g
Fibre – 0.2g
Sodium – 0.1g

Contact Info;
McVitie’s Careline – 0500 011710
McVitie’s
P.O Box 30716
London
WC1N 2QJ

Overall I would have to say that these are not bad as a quick snack if you only have small change available and there isn’t anything else available. They are very sweet but leave a sour taste in the mouth (is that weird?) and they have a very oily texture which isn’t nice to eat. If you are looking for a breakfast alternative then I’d advise on something along the lines of the Kellogs Nutri-Grain bars or something similar to that. Generally I find these bars to be slightly more expensive but, they are more filling and satisfying, not to mention that they contain lots of calcium. 

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