Hi, friends! As I recently shared on Instagram, I’ve been having some serious cereal cravings. Usually when this happens, I just make myself some vegan keto chocolate granola (from my cookbook!), this cinnamon granola, or some homemade granola bars… but every once in a while, it just doesn’t cut it and I want something that has been put through an industrial extruder. So, when I saw Catalina Crunch cereals, I knew I had to try them to see if it could help satisfy that craving.
I do want to mention that I am not at all sponsored by this company. So, this opinion is entirely my own and not paid for. I do want to note that I was sent the cereal, but with no expectations or agreements. I just really happened to like it, and so here we are. I also want to note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and help to pay to keep this site running!
So, onward with the review!
Firstly, I feel the need to mention that this cereal, in addition to being vegan and keto-friendly, is also gluten-free and nut-free. I cannot express how happy this makes me, as I have Celiac and have recently developed a reaction to almonds (starts off as a rash, but turns into anaphylaxis if I eat more than a couple…which is not fun). So many low-carb food items contain either gluten (wraps, for instance) or almonds, so the fact that this is free of both is delightful for me.
Flavors & Variety
Currently, Catalina Crunch offers three flavors – Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon Toast and a brand new flavor, Maple Waffle, that I haven’t tried yet!
Chocolate Crunch
The chocolate crunch, to me, tastes like a less-sweet Oreo, and I’m here for it. It’s definitely a dark chocolate, more of a cocoa flavor. This is something a bit silly, but when I made the bowl above, it sat for a bit in the non-dairy milk while I took pictures, and it did that thing where i makes the milk kind of chocoately. Small detail, but it made me so happy and really brought me back to my cereal-eating days.
Cinnamon Toast
Cinnamon Toast Crunch was my absolute favorite cereal as a kid, and this definitely feels like the grown up version. While it doesn’t have the cinnamon sugar coating on the outside, it does have both the texture and cinnamon-y flavor that I adore. Similar to the chocolate flavor, this isn’t overly sweet and also imparts a bit of flavor to the milk you put in it.
Taste & Texture
I touched a bit on the flavor above, but to reiterate some points: this is not super sweet. The sweetness is actually pretty subtle, and I really like that. I’ve noticed a lot of keto products have an almost chemical sweetness to them that is overpowering, so it’s refreshing to see a company steer away from that avenue.
The cereal is super crunchy and actually holds up to the milk really well. While most of the time while eating this, the cereal stayed totally crispy, it only started getting a little soft after the photo shoot, which is understandable.
Ingredients
I’ve posted the ingredient info above. You’ll notice that these are gluten-free and wheat-free, as well as nut-free and soy-free. I really like that there is a decent amount of protein, and that the ingredients list is pretty simple. Also, no sugar alcohols or stevia! I think this is what gives the cereal the light sweet flavor without being overpowering.
The only downside is that there’s a lot of fiber, so if you have sensitive digestion, this could present an issue! This wasn’t an issue for me with 1-2 servings in a bowl, but I’d be hesitant to push my luck with any more…
Macros
So, I’ll be up front – I think the serving size listed is a bit small. It’s a bit under a half cup (26g), and it’s just….not super filling. I usually end up eating 1.5 – 2 servings at a time, and that does the trick. So, keep that in mind while looking at the calories and carbs here. That said, for what this is (a treat for when you really want some cereal), the macro profile is still pretty good.
For me, I basically just double the label above most of the time. 10g of net carbs for 16g of protein and some delicious cereal is totally worth it to me.
Cost
So, this is one of those products where the more you order, the lower the price goes. I’m going to base this off of the price per serving for the minimal order, which is 1 case of 4 bags. Each bag has 10 servings (or, 5 if you double them like me!).
At this price, each bowl is $1.95. This is for the two servings, which gives you 16g of protein. I mention that because I mentally compared this to a protein bar to gauge the cost here. For an average plant-based, low-carb protein bar (they typically have between 10-20g of protein), you end up paying between $2-3, so this is actually pretty on par. Plus, it’s CEREAL. I’m still not over being able to eat cereal again.
As I mentioned, the more you order, the less it costs overall, so ordering a large variety case brings the price per (two-serving) bowl down to $1.65, which is actually pretty solid.
Overall
If you couldn’t tell, I really like this cereal and will definitely be ordering a variety pack, so I can try the new flavor. It doesn’t taste exactly like the super-sugary cereals from my youth, but I’m considering that a good thing. While I really enjoyed eating this, I didn’t feel like I needed to eat the whole bag, which is definitely a pleasant departure from my previous relationship with breakfast cereal.
10g of net carbs is about 25% of my daily intake, so this isn’t something I’ll be eating every day, but I’m so excited to be able to have cereal back in my life!
I’ll definitely be sure to add to this review when I order the maple flavor! 😀
If you’d like to order some to try for yourself, click here!
