A Better Bag of Groceries

Cereal for Kids

Monday, December 14, 2009 at 09:54 AM

When I started blogging, back in July of 2009, one of my first posts was about Cereal for Grown-Ups.  I wrote about it because one of the most frequently asked questions I get, once people learn that I work for NuVal, is about cereal and how it scores.  People want to know about Kashi, Shredded Wheat, and other popular brands of cereal that adults tend to eat.  This is true for kids’ cereals too.  A lot of moms ask me about brands that they choose for their children, most notably Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Kix.  Let’s face it, most of us mothers start out by feeding our kids Cheerios but by the time the kids are 5 and they are walking the grocery store with us and they are beginning to read words (like Lucky Charms!) they start asking for more than just plain old Cheerios.  Add one of their favorite movie characters to the front of a box of cereal and it’s Meltdown In Aisle Five.

So, yes, I admit.  We’ve been experimenting in the cereal department.  In our cabinet right now are the following brands:

• Frosted Flakes
• Golden Grahams
• Cheerios
• Shredded Wheat (mine)
• Cinnnamon Toast Crunch
• Honey Nut Cheerios

I can tell you that the Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch made it into the basket because they had Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs characters on them.  I have no idea how the Frosted Flakes made it into our cart and then into our cabinet.  No idea.  Perhaps one of my kids threw it in when I wasn’t looking?  No idea.

Last week, my son had a half-day of school, so I brought him along on a Price Chopper visit that I had scheduled.  We met up with my new colleague, Tina, to walk the store, to see some scores on the shelf and to try out some tools that we’ve developed at NuVal for teaching store employees about the system.  I gave my son a Scavenger Hunt to do.  He had to write down his favorite cereal and then go find it on the shelf to see what the score was.  What did he pick?  Frosted Flakes, of course.  He found it on the shelf and wrote down the NuVal score:  24.  Then I told him that he could go find another cereal that scored better than Frosted Flakes and that we would buy it.  He was so excited about this little game.  He is so used to being at our local grocery store with me (where they do not have NuVal), asking me to buy sugary, colorful cereals and getting the big NO.  It was his big chance to show me that those Kid Magnet cereals really were healthy, Mom!  

So, my son quickly found Lucky Charms (nope, NuVal score of 23), Fruity Pebbles (uh uh, NuVal score of 24), Apple Jacks (no, sigh, NuVal score of 24), and Cap’n Crunch (no, no, no, NuVal score of 10).  My poor son!  He was so deflated!  It reminded me of A Christmas Story, when Ralphie so deperately wants a Red Ryder BB Gun, but everyone, including Santa keeps shooting him down.  ‘You’ll shoot your eye out kid.”

Finally, my son found a colorful cereal that had a NuVal score better than that of Frosted Flakes:  Fruity Cheerios.  NuVal Score:  28.

Notice that he does not look overjoyed.  It wasn’t that exciting.  Fruity Cheerios have been resident in our cereal cupboard in the past.  However, it was cool to see my son empowered with the NuVal scores to choose his own cereal – as long as it was above a certain number.  In case you’re curious, Cereal scores range from 4 – 100 on the NuVal score, but the median score (half are above it, half are below it) is a 25. 

Last week General Mills announced that it will be reducing the sugar levels in its cereals marketed to children.  That’s great news.  After the reformulations, NuVal will rescore those cereals and I will be sure to blog with an update.

On a bright note, the kids have been asking for Fruity Cheerios as a snack.  The good news is that they’re munching on a little baggie of O’s which score a 28 while watching PBS Kids.  Hey, it’s better than Cheetos.  The bad news is that they have very sticky hands.  This week, I’ll be sure to throw more hand wipes in my cart!

Posted by: Melissa 7 comments

Posted in: Cereal for Grown-Ups, Cereal for Kids, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Kashi, Kix

Hip Hip Hooray!

Friday, September 4, 2009 at 06:59 AM

If you’ve read some of my last few posts, you know I’ve been hanging on to these last days of summer and dreading the back-to-school routine. I’m trying to snap out of it. I’ve been doing some self-analysis (much cheaper than real therapy) to figure out why I’m so down on school. And it all comes down to one thing – the morning routine stresses me out. I figured this out when I had a bad dream recently. I woke up in a sweat with the PBS series’ Superwhy song “Hip Hip Hooray, the Superreaders Save the Day” song in my head. You parents of young kids know the one – with the little superreaders doing their little victory dance at the end of every episode. Well, that song comes on every day in our house about five minutes before we need to leave for the bus stop. It’s that moment when lunchboxes, backpacks and briefcases need to be lined up at the door, shoes and coats need to be on, Mommy needs to have dry hair and hopefully, some make-up on. Most days, it’s a sprint to the finish line.

I’m working on a strategy to make this year’s morning routine go more smoothly so that I won’t be having nightmares about little Superwhy people. One change we are making is that the kids must get dressed before they come downstairs. We implemented that at the end of the summer and it has helped tremendously. Inspired by this week’s Boston Globe article on breakfast for kids, the other change is that I am going to try for breakfasts that fit three criteria for the kids:
1. It must be quick
2. It must be something they are excited to eat
3. It must have a good NuVal score

My 4-year-old loves Quaker Old-Fashioned Oatmeal. It is not all that quick, but we can make it ahead in larger batches and reheat it throughout the week. She does get excited about putting in some brown sugar and raisins. And it gets a great NuVal score – a 57. This is much better than her other choice – Aunt Jemima Frozen Mini Pancakes. They get a 6. We are all done with buying those. If she does want something hot and toasty, we can always do Kashi Go Lean Waffles, which score a 36. She also likes Kix cereal, which gets 29. That is not bad when you consider that the highest-scoring cereal that you can reasonably expect your kids to eat is Cheerios which get a 34.

As for my son the First Grader, he is all about Cinnamon Toast Crunch right now. The regular version scores a 27. I am still on the lookout for Cinnamon Toast Crunch with 75% reduced sugar because it scores a 40. I just have not found it in my grocery store as of yet. Sugary cereals get such a bad rap, but truthfully many of them get scores that are not so bad. Consider this:

Lucky Charms Cereal scores a 23
General Mills Whole Grain Guaranteed Basic 4 Cereal also scores a 23

Now, I haven’t let the kids buy Lucky Charms in the grocery store. It’s just the principle of multi-colored marshmallows for breakfast. I just can’t. But if it means that the little Superwhy people will stop visiting me in the middle of the night, I just might break down and do it.

Wow, I feel like a Super Reader! I Changed the Story, I Solved the Problem, We Worked Together, So Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray, the SuperMommy Saved the Day!!!

Posted by: Melissa 4 comments

Posted in: Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Kashi Waffles, Kids Breakfast, Kix, Quaker Oats, Stress, Superwhy Song