foooooooooooooood

[solarbird]

I've been poking around at organic substitutes for the various snacky things I eat sometimes, and also for the cereals, particularly given the issues with Chinese gluten manufacturers driving most American ones out of the market by, it turns out, cost-cutting measures which fake protein levels and create hazardous chemicals. Yay!

Some results so far:

Nature's Path USDA organic Granola Bars (specifically, "Hemp Plus Raisons," which is primarily oat, despite the name): Unexpectedly good. More to the point, unexpectedly much better than the granola bars I would occasionally carry as a snaky bit, and I liked the old ones. These are very nice.

Nature's Path Organic Frosted Toaster Pastries, Strawberry, i.e. USDA Organic pop tarts: Untoasted, the texture is softer and quite a bit less oily than Pop-Tart brand pop-tarts. Filling tastes strongly of strawberry, rather than the artificial strawberry-like taste of true Pop-Tarts, which I also actually like. Much less frosting than on a strawberry Pop-Tart, but still quite sweet, and should not be confused with a lower-calorie version; they aren't. Untoasted, the initial taste is not as instantly pleasing, but they don't leave you with that "urg fatty not good for you" feeling you - or at least I - get from actual Pop-Tart-brand poptarts. Interestingly, when toasted, they become quite a bit more crisp, unlike regular poptarts, which mostly become only hotter and/or charred; these are clearly actually meant to get actually toasted in a toaster, as opposed to eaten straight out of the pouch much or most of the time, as I suspect is true for original Pop-Tarts. Once toasted, I definitely prefer these over the nonorganic original brand; untoasted, it's kind of a tie.

Cascadian Farm Honey Nut O's, basically USDA Organic other-brand Honey Nut Cheerioes: Surprisingly similar to standard Honey-Nut Cheerioes in all ways. I was not expecting that. Cascadian Farm got bought out by General Mills a few years ago and got corporatised, which probably explains it; they have access to better food-mutilating technologies, which I support. Mmmmm, food mutilation. But they still meet USDA organic standards, which are good for farm topsoils.

Nature's Path Organic Multigrain Flakes Cereal with Raisins (USDA organic). These were the closest USDA Organic thing I saw to Raisin Bran at the Thriftway, and I quite like Post Raisin Bran, so I tried it. It's a competent cereal - it's not like eating cardboard or Uncle Sam Cereal, which I tried once on a whim because of the hi-larity of the old-sk00l box - but it's also just not very good. Raisins are few and far between, and also kind of dry. Flakes are thicker than I expected and remind me of cornmeal based cereals (there is corn in it, but it's well down the list), of which I am not particularly fond. The texture does hold up reasonably well in milk, though. Still, Post Raisin Bran clearly wins.

I'll probably post more of these as I try more new random stuff. We already stick to organics for produce, meats, and some source materials for foods we cook and I can post about those if anybody cares. (By example, Seeds of Change is a good line of organic pasta sauces, particularly the Balsamic and Onion variety which is zomg tasty; Muir Glen is a good brand for organic canned tomatoes and tomato sauce; Anne's makes good mac-and-cheese and also good spaghetti.) So, yeah. Mmmmm, food.

You Are a Blue Rose

You represent the unattainable, the fantasies. Your vibe: larger than life and intoxicating. Falling in love with you is like seeing a whole new world.

What Color Rose Are You?

Comments

Eh, blue is prettier...

[janne.livejournal.com]

[cubes.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned Organic Food Bars (http://www.organicfoodbar.com/usa/prod.html)?

I like the Omega-3 Flax variety. Original is good too, haven't tried the rest. They're mostly date & nut paste in a bar -- plenty of sugar & fat, also some prootein. Not even close to low-cal, also not even close to cheap, but very tasty.

[cubes.livejournal.com]

P.S. Also Lara Bars (https://www.larabar.com), which can be had at Costco quite a bit cheaper and are basically the same thing -- not organic certified, but with a very basic ingredient list.

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

I tried a couple of these, though IIRC most of the flavours are not gluten-free. I didn't like them - seemed rather dry to me.

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

oh GODS the chocolate chip ones are delicious :) didn't care much for the vegan ones or the original. Haven't tried the blueberry or cranberry, because I haven't seen them. but the chocolate chip ones will induce me to eat when absolutely *NOTHING* else appeals.

[jessicac.livejournal.com]

Kellogg's offers organic raisin bran.
http://www.kelloggsorganics.com/

[chirik.livejournal.com]

My preferred brands of Raisan Bran are Cascadian Farms and Peace. I tend to buy whichever one is one sale, as both are, of course, more expensive than traditional brand name raisan bran.

[quen-elf.livejournal.com]

They have Seeds of Change pasta sauce in this country too (like many of the organic brands that are actually stocked in supermarkets, I think it's owned by some megacorp or other). But they don't have that flavour, unless I missed it :( Still, the ones I get are pretty good.

I haven't found organic breakfast cereal that I like; I eat Kellogg's Bran Flakes, there is an organic equivalent but it tastes like the other off-brand equivalents, i.e. of cardboard (more of cardboard than the brand-name one, that is). I suspect this is just because it has less salt and/or sugar but whatever... I do put organic raisins on my cereal (some other megacorp probably, I think trading as 'Crazy Jack' or something - actually those are pretty good raisins imo, one time I bought another brand that was significantly worse) and organic milk, though. :)