Review rated by 29 Ciao members on average: very helpful
This review received a counterstatement by a party concernedRead Comment
Walking down the cereal aisle I had read an op the previous day on McVities am range and thought that I would look out for them. My local Asda had these located on the ends of the aisles to catch peoples' eye.
McVities a:m is a range of products including morninig slices, breakfast muffin bars, Mueslifingers, cereal bars and cereal bites, all aimed at making people like me, who never eat breakfast, think that this is a simple quick easy snack to eat whilst driving to work etc! It certainly encouraged me, who isn't forever hearing from their family "You must eat breakfast, the most important meal of the day!"
OK so they are new, I thought they must be worth a try even if I just buy them the once. A pleasant surprise, I am not sure if these would fill me up in the morning but compared to my usual nothing I guess they can't be too bad! If you are the sort of person that does eat breakfast every day I would imagine these would be more of an elevenses snack for you.
They come in a plastic foil like bag and I must admit it looks very small. The front advises that there are five small packs of cereal bites contained inside and when I got these home I was wondering how they managed to squish a weeks breakfast into such a little bag!
So far I have noticed two different flavours of these Apricot and Berry. The bag is cream coloured and depending on what flavour you have chosen has a strip of either a light orange colour or a strawberry red colour for apricot or berry respectively.
There is a little pile of bites on the front of the packet to show you what you will be eating and on the side a couple of raspberries and some blackcurrants.
Of course there is the usual McV logo on the top of the packet to let you know who made them. The packaging is very modern and quite appealing.
Ok inside the packet now, open up the big bag to find five smaller packs inside. The little bag looks much the same as the bigger bag on the outside. Inside are what look like little bits of cereal, kind of like a miniature shredded wheat.
I put one in my mouth and was pleasantly surprised. Each bit was slightly moister than a normal lump of cereal to which you normally add milk. It has an almost crisp like quality but, I assure you, it is not unpleasant. There is a fruit flavoured cream inside each cereal pocket which is extremely tangy and refresing. The apricot flavour was my favourite although the berry was also very nice.
I guess on to the boring bit now, how good are these little things for you? Well each little back has 146 calories, 3 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbohydrate (this is a little high but only 9 grams sugars) 6.2 grams of fat 1.1 gram of which saturates, 0.2 grams of fibure and 0.1 grams of sodium.
I would have expected a breakfast snack to contain more fibre than this and also would have liked it if they had included on the nutritional information the calcium content as obviously eating these instead of breakfast you will be missing out on part of your daily milk intake. The ingredients list does say it contains Calcium Carbonate so at least I know that it does contain some calcium!
I must say the back of the packet could and should be more informative for a breakfast product. In this day and age I would have imagined McVities to have a website but no evidence of this is on the side of the packet. Only in very small writing does it say if you have a question or comment to call the McVities careline on 0500 011 710, at least the number is free!
All in all, these bites are delicious, not particularly good if you are on a diet or looking for a real substitute to a sit down breakfast, they really are more of a snack for most or better than no breakfast at all for the likes of me. I like to take them to work to eat at my desk or as part of a packed lunch.
Last thing to mention is the price, 98p for five packs, not bad value at all!
25.09.2004 02:35
I've not tried these yet. They sound really nice!
02.06.2004 03:34
I've not tried these but I'm tempted now. Karen x
06.10.2003 12:36
I like my Honey Nut Flakes in the morning, old stick in the mud that I am lol, Heather:)