Family Taste Test
Hey moms and dads, you know how you are always looking for some quick (but healthy) snack items to pack for your child during a soccer game or a swim meet, or in their backpack for an extra long day at school, etc...? Well add another option to your list!
I just noticed and tried the latest in an expanding aisle of breakfast and granola bars, Quaker Breakfast Cookies (Oatmeal Raisin). As I see it, they are a cross between a soft granola bar and a cookie. Each individually wrapped "soft" oatmeal cookie (48 grams of weight) contains 180 calories, 4.5 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated and no trans), 3 grams of protein; 15 grams of sugar and here's the best part - 5 grams of fiber!
The worst part of this snack is that high fructose corn syrup is the second ingredient in the ingredient list (meaning it was added in the second largest quantity in weight of all the ingredients). The best part is that whole grain rolled oats is the first ingredient and raisins are the third with whole-wheat flour is the fourth ingredient.
These babies do pack a wallop for some of the vitamins and minerals too thanks to some good old-fashioned fortification:
35% Daily Value for Iron
30% Calcium
15% vitamin A
15% vitamin E
15% vitamin B6
15% Thiamin (B1)
15% vitamin B12
15% Riboflavin (B2)
15% Niacin (B3)
My teen's impression of these? They said they were "pretty good." My pickiest daughter chose to pack one today in her lunch as a snack. That says it all.
Do you have any new products you want to tell us about? Do share.
~~Elaine
Related Topics: Fast Food Breakfast, Make Me Some Muffins
Technorati Tags: breakfastbar, oatmealraisin, granolabar, snack, teens
I just noticed and tried the latest in an expanding aisle of breakfast and granola bars, Quaker Breakfast Cookies (Oatmeal Raisin). As I see it, they are a cross between a soft granola bar and a cookie. Each individually wrapped "soft" oatmeal cookie (48 grams of weight) contains 180 calories, 4.5 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated and no trans), 3 grams of protein; 15 grams of sugar and here's the best part - 5 grams of fiber!
The worst part of this snack is that high fructose corn syrup is the second ingredient in the ingredient list (meaning it was added in the second largest quantity in weight of all the ingredients). The best part is that whole grain rolled oats is the first ingredient and raisins are the third with whole-wheat flour is the fourth ingredient.
These babies do pack a wallop for some of the vitamins and minerals too thanks to some good old-fashioned fortification:
35% Daily Value for Iron
30% Calcium
15% vitamin A
15% vitamin E
15% vitamin B6
15% Thiamin (B1)
15% vitamin B12
15% Riboflavin (B2)
15% Niacin (B3)
My teen's impression of these? They said they were "pretty good." My pickiest daughter chose to pack one today in her lunch as a snack. That says it all.
Do you have any new products you want to tell us about? Do share.
~~Elaine
Related Topics: Fast Food Breakfast, Make Me Some Muffins
Technorati Tags: breakfastbar, oatmealraisin, granolabar, snack, teens
7 Comments:
I'm looking at this and seeing the glass half full of .. sugar. I don't think it's such a great idea to produce a product that's otherwise good for you and then load it with all this sugar.I'm guessing the corn syrup is how they keep it soft.. But why not make a crispy cookie, load it with oatmeal, fruits, nuts, and make it mostly with splenda, and have something less likely to speed up your appetite than something with so any empty calories?
I would not want my 3 year-old to have an artificial sweetener and he is so picky I would put up with the the sweetener in order to get the vitamins and fiber in him.
My 22 year old eats them everyday for breakfast... It's much better than skipping the meal, like the rest of us do!
Corn syrup does maintain moisture in a baked product over time...this could
be one of several reasons for the corn syrup.
I don't know if this helps adds perspective or not but the sugar in this
product is less than the amount in a serving of Raisin Bran (some of this
is from the raisins though) and a little more than the sugar in a serving of
Honey Nut Cheerios.
Great discussion everyone!
I agree with the comment about a family member eating them for breakfast and at least they are eating something for breakfast and not skipping a meal like my 22 year old daughter does every day. Better some nutrition than no food intake at all. We have to look at the good part of the product.
Here is a new herbal sweetener called 'Stevia" liquid extract.Guarani Paraguayan Indians of S.A. used it for centuries. But how would one use it instead of a cup of sugar in a cookie recipe?? One drop is enough to make coffee very sweet.
I will have to say that it makes a wonderful snack and breakfast option for both by kids. I have a one year old and a four year old and they both love them. I choose the breakfast cookie for my one year old because it is easier to eat, however my four year old is partial to the oatmeal squares. They are so easy to take along anywhere and they are not extremely messy. We are always stocked up on these! I have recommended them to several people with and without children.
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