With the increasing amount of cereals available on the market it can become daunting and confusing to choose what’s right for you and your family. Here we share the best and worst of each category with a few tips on what to look for, making the shopping process much easier!
For us, it is an order of priority.
- Ingredients List – Ingredients need to be listed from the highest ingredient to the least ingredient.
This order means that you can quickly assess the overall nutrition without even looking at the numbers.
As well as this, we looked at the overall quality (and length) of the ingredients list. - Sugar (and added sugar) – For us, any cereals coming in under 10% sugar (less than 10g per 100g) was an absolute star. The cereals with dried fruit are going to be higher in sugar, so we took the source of sugar into account as well.
- Protein – Although not all cereals will rate highly in terms of protein, it is an added bonus to look for in a product to assist with overall protein spread over the day and an added fullness factor.
- Fibre – Keep in mind that we are aiming for over 25g of fibre as a minimum. Cereals can contribute greatly to the total amount you get in throughout the day.
So, let’s get started from our top picks to the best and worst of each category – the ones that stood out as superstars in most categories and are our fav picks of the bunch.
So, let’s get started from our top picks to the best and worst of each category – the ones that stood out as superstars in most categories and are our fav picks of the bunch.
Ingredients List & Quality Rating:
These products are standouts as the ingredients lists contain minimal or no added extras!
- Uncle Toby’s shredded wheat
- Abundant Earth puffed rice
- Abundant Earth puffed corn
- Uncle Toby’s Weeties
- Uncle Toby’s Oat Brits
Shockers:
- Kellogg’s Coco Pops
- Kellogg’s Fruit Loops
- Kellogg’s Crispix
- Nestle Nesquik cereal
Sugar Content:
Superstars (All yielding less than 1 teaspoon of sugar per 100g)
- Uncle Toby’s Weeties
- Uncle Toby’s Vita Brits
- Uncle Toby’s Oat Brits
- Uncle Toby’s Shredded Wheat
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix Gluten Free
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix Cholesterol Lowering
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix
- Abundant Earth Puffed Rice
- Abundant Earth Puffed Corn
- Coles Gluten Free Corn Flakes
Still pretty good (These cereals offer less than 2 teaspoons per 100g)
- Freedom Active Buckwheat and Quinoa
- Freedom Food Rice Puffs
- Freedom Rice Flakes
- Golden Vale Corn Flakes
- Freedom Corn Flakes with golden syrup
- Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
- Golden Vale Bugs Bunny Breakfast Bubbles
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix Blends + Hi-Bran
- Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix Blends + Multi-grain
- Freedom Ancient Grain Flakes
Shockers:
- Kellogg’s Frosties (10 teaspoons/ 100g)
- Golden Vale tweety’s Honey Wheats (almost 10 teaspoons/ 100g)
- Kellogg’s Fruit Loops (9.5 teaspoons/ 100g)
- Kellogg’s Coco Pops (9 teaspoons/ 100g)
- Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut cornflakes (8 teaspoons/ 100g)
Protein:
Superstars (>15%)
Keep in mind while these cereals may be high in protein this doesn’t necessarily mean they are a healthy option, make sure you also take into consideration sugar and fibre amounts.
- Kellogg’s Nutrigrain (This came in at 21.2g of protein per 100g being one of the highest)
- Sanitarium Weet-bix protein
- Golden Vale Power Grain
- Kellogg’s Special K Original
Still pretty good (>10%)
- Uncle Toby’s Plus Protein
- Kellogg’s All Bran Original
- Uncle Toby’s Bran Plus
- Freedom Foods Messy Monkey Choc Crunch
- Uncle Toby’s Shredded Wheat
- Goodness Superfood Digestive
- Freedom Foods Messy Monkey Berry Shake
- Uncle Toby’s Oat Brits
- Kellogg’s All Bran Wheat Flakes & original
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix (All varieties)
- Uncle Toby’s Weeties
Shockers (<5g)
- Abundant Earth Puffed Corn
- Kellogg’s Coco Pops
Fibre:
Superstars (>20g)
- Uncle Toby’s Bran Plus (Being the highest with 34.1g of fibre per 100g)
- Kellogg’s All Bran Original
Still pretty good (>15g)
- Kellogg’s All Bran wheat flakes
- Kellogg’s Guardian
- Uncle Toby’s Plus Fibre
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix blends + Hi Bran
- Freedom Active Balance
- Kellogg’s Sultana Bran
- Golden Vale Bran and Sultanas
Shockers (<5g)
- Kellogg’s Cornflakes
- Abundant Earth Puffed Rice
- Kellogg’s Special K Gluten Free
- Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes
- Kellogg’s Fruit Loops
- Kellogg’s Rice bubbles
- Nestle Nesquik cereal
- Kellogg’s Frosties
- Kellogg’s Coco pops
- Kellogg’s All Bran Original
- Kellogg’s Crispix
- Golden Vale Corn Flakes
Gluten Free Cereals
The Best of
- Freedom Active Buckwheat and Quinoa
- Weet-Bix Gluten Free
- Freedom Foods Rice Puffs
- Freedom Foods Ancient Grain Flakes
& The Not So Good
- Freedom Foods XO Crunch
- Freedom Foods Brekky Heroes – all flavours are gluten free however the berry loops flavour contains the least sugar
Kids Cereals
The Best of
- Freedom Foods Rice Puffs
- Freedom Foods Rice Flakes
- Kellogg’s Rice bubbles
- Kellogg’s Cornflakes
& The Not So Good
- Kellogg’s Coco Pops
- Kellogg’s Frosties
- Kellogg’s Fruit loops
- Kellogg’s Crispix
- Nestle Nesquik Cereal
- GoldenVale Tweety’s Honey Wheats
BS Awards
Those Packed Full of Sugar
- Kellogg’s Frosties
- Tweety’s Honey Wheats
- Kellogg’s Fruit Loops
- Kellogg’s Coco Pops
- Kellogg’s Crispix
- Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes
- Golden Vale Tweety’s Honey Wheats
Cereals that play the “Low in fat” card on the packaging despite letting loose on the sugar:
- GoldenVale Extras Hi Fibre
- GoldenVale Extras antioxidant
- GoldenVale Power Grain
- GoldenVale Special Flakes
Uncle Toby’s Plus Antioxidants, blueberries and cranberries: Say they’re blended with purple wheat, an ancient grain and are high in wholegrains with no artificial colours or flavours. Doesn’t stop it from having one of the worst ingredients lists, a high sugar content and one of the lowest protein amounts. Not all Uncle Toby’s Plus cereals are made equal.
Kellogg’s Sustain: packs a punch with 54% wholegrains but has relatively low fibre compared to other cereals. Also has quite a high sugar content and not all of this comes from dried fruit (Inverted sugar syrup and Barley Malt extract)
Golden Vale Power Grain: States that one 30g serve contributes 19% towards your 48g whole grain daily target intake. However, it fails to mention its poor fibre AND high sugar content. It’s only redeeming feature is that it’s also high in protein.
FINAL VERDICT
We are big advocates of finding an option that suits YOU – that means an option that helps you work towards your goals, doesn’t cause gut upset, and is something you enjoy (from a taste & texture perspective). This might even mean you have a couple of different options depending on your day and training plans!
If you are feeling overwhelmed and confused with your day to day food choices, a Compeat Dietitian may be able to support you. Our service is done a little differently and is designed to be something that grows with you, so you can leave us with confidence and resilience.
Our app is free to download on either Apple or Android by searching ‘Compeat Nutrition’. Otherwise you can contact our customer service team here for more information.
