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Have shreddies and cheerios gotten sweeter since the 70s?

acpgee

I had a craving for food from my childhood--namely nuts and bolts. I bought whole grain shreddies and multigrain cheerio but was disappointed by the result because the cereals are much sweeter than I remember them.

Is anyone aware if the formulation of shreddies and cheerios have gotten sweater in the last 30 or 40 years? Or is it just that grown up taste is different from childhood.

Any suggestions for unsweetened breakfast cereals to use in nuts and bolts?

Replies

MsCzar

Original Cheerios still tastes as I remember. I love eating them dry. Can't stand the sweetness of the multigrain or honey-nut versions.

PopGoesTheCoyote

I was not alive in the 70s since I was born in the 80s, but yes, these companies have gradually added more sugar and changed their recipes over the decades. Sweeter products sell better and sales are their bottom line. They don't even taste the same since when I was a kid. There has been plenty of lobbying to alter nutrition labels so that they don't have to add ingredients or amounts of ingredients into the labels. There was even recently a lobby by dairy farmers to put aspartame into milk without putting it on the label because they hope that sweeter milk will sell better.

I stopped eating cereal in general to be perfectly honest, just because of how depleted the nutrition has become and I became lactose intolerant. I switched to oatmeal. Some off-brand cereals might be better but I don't know enough about them to say for certain, but these are options to consider trying. I also used to toast my own oats in the oven along with nuts and seeds I could eat, that way I could control the sugar content. You could always look up recipes on how to make your own cereal. I used to add toasted hemp seeds to mine and they had a very nice crunch that I enjoyed.

acpgee

MsCzar wrote: »

Original Cheerios still tastes as I remember. I love eating them dry. Can't stand the sweetness of the multigrain or honey-nut versions.

It didn't occur to me the that the multi grain cheerios would be sweeter than original recipe. Will have to keep an eye out if I ever get a nuts and bolts craving again and have a better look at the labels.

ZoneFive

I was just checking out the different nutrition panels for Cheerios varieties a couple of days ago. Original Cheerios is 1.5g sugar per cup; Multi-Grain is 6.5g per cup. And those are the lowest-sugar kinds! The others run anywhere from 9g to 12.5g per cup.

BarbaraHelen2013

Excuse my culinary ignorance - but what the heck is ‘Nuts & Bolts’?

What’s in there other than cereal? Is it a sweet snack mix thing? Or a savoury thing? 🤷‍♀️🧐

Fuzzipeg

I've just been and looked at the UK Shreddies pack, it reads as .3 per 40 grams. Its titled as carbs 27 something of which .3 are sugar. This suggests to me that its the natural sugar in the natural grain product. Hope you find what you are looking for.

acpgee

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

Excuse my culinary ignorance - but what the heck is ‘Nuts & Bolts’?

What’s in there other than cereal? Is it a sweet snack mix thing? Or a savoury thing? 🤷‍♀️🧐

It was a savoury snack of breakfast cereals, and pretzels coated in melted butter (10:1 ratio by volume) flavoured with garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt and worcestershire sauce. Optional peanuts and cheese crackers. The cereal and butter mixture is toasted in a low oven or air fryer until dry and crisp.

https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/classic-homemade-nuts-and-bolts-recipe/

MargaretYakoda

acpgee wrote: »

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

Excuse my culinary ignorance - but what the heck is ‘Nuts & Bolts’?

What’s in there other than cereal? Is it a sweet snack mix thing? Or a savoury thing? 🤷‍♀️🧐

It was a savoury snack of breakfast cereals, and pretzels coated in melted butter (10:1 ratio by volume) flavoured with garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt and worcestershire sauce. Optional peanuts and cheese crackers. The cereal and butter mixture is toasted in a low oven or air fryer until dry and crisp.

https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/classic-homemade-nuts-and-bolts-recipe/

Some people call it “Chex mix”

BarbaraHelen2013

MargaretYakoda wrote: »

acpgee wrote: »

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

Excuse my culinary ignorance - but what the heck is ‘Nuts & Bolts’?

What’s in there other than cereal? Is it a sweet snack mix thing? Or a savoury thing? 🤷‍♀️🧐

It was a savoury snack of breakfast cereals, and pretzels coated in melted butter (10:1 ratio by volume) flavoured with garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt and worcestershire sauce. Optional peanuts and cheese crackers. The cereal and butter mixture is toasted in a low oven or air fryer until dry and crisp.

https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/classic-homemade-nuts-and-bolts-recipe/

Some people call it “Chex mix”

Ahh, now I’ve heard of Chex Mix! Obviously a non UK thing, but now I understand better, thank you both. 😊

Am I allowed to say it sounds vile! 😂

MargaretYakoda

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

MargaretYakoda wrote: »

acpgee wrote: »

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

Excuse my culinary ignorance - but what the heck is ‘Nuts & Bolts’?

What’s in there other than cereal? Is it a sweet snack mix thing? Or a savoury thing? 🤷‍♀️🧐

It was a savoury snack of breakfast cereals, and pretzels coated in melted butter (10:1 ratio by volume) flavoured with garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt and worcestershire sauce. Optional peanuts and cheese crackers. The cereal and butter mixture is toasted in a low oven or air fryer until dry and crisp.

https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/classic-homemade-nuts-and-bolts-recipe/

Some people call it “Chex mix”

Ahh, now I’ve heard of Chex Mix! Obviously a non UK thing, but now I understand better, thank you both. 😊

Am I allowed to say it sounds vile! 😂

You’re certainly allowed to express a preference.

I loved Chex Mix. Unfortunately, gluten dislikes me very much. So no more Chex Mix for me.

I think my favorite part was the baked on Worcestershire sauce. 😋

Fuzzipeg

Beg pardon, bite sized shredded wheat was what I was meaning. My brain has them as shreddies too because they are small.

(I was wiped out having child-minded for days on the trot including very early starts, and it goes on)

acpgee

@Fuzzipeg What brand of bite size shredded wheat are you referring to in the UK. I am in the UK too, and bought Nestle's Wholegrain Shreddies which have 25g sugar on 100g of product. I found them unpalatably sweet in my nuts and bolts.

BarbaraHelen2013

I think you’re confusing two products. Nestle Original Shreddies have 13g sugars per 100g.

Nestle Frosted Shreddies have the 25g per 100 - as you might expect for a frosted cereal.

Nestle Bite Size Shredded Wheat (an entirely different thing) have 0.7g per 100g, clearly the lowest but I don’t imagine they’d work in your Nuts and Bolts! Whilst I really like them they are a bit like chewing on a hay pellet! 😂

acpgee

I saw Wholegrain on the Shreddies on the top of the box and indeed missed the little label at the bottom that said "The Frosted One". Grr.

Fuzzipeg

acpgee, Would you believe I've cut the top off the packet to get it in the draw......... looked on the bottom... giggle, Nestle bite sized shredded wheat, carbs per 100g = 68.7 of which 0.7 is sugar. Says 100% whole wheat. Yellow pack blue and turquoise printing over the pack. You can also get a similar product with, a choice of apricot or blueberries in the middle, not sure if there is a 3rd choice but they'd be more sweet.

I think I used to get the product you mentioned for the granddaughters and g-sons before those 6 grew up! I don't remember them being that sweet back then and its only a few years. (Partly why I think of what I've been having as shreddies- they are shredded, opps.) I hate the idea of giving kids sweet cereal too. You'd think All-bran would be lower too but looking that up, its 7.2 grams sugar in 40 grams saying 8% sugar! There was I thinking I'd look for an alternative............ I'll not bother

BarbaraHelen2013

acpgee wrote: »

I saw Wholegrain on the Shreddies on the top of the box and indeed missed the little label at the bottom that said "The Frosted One". Grr.

I’ve just looked up both Original & Frosted on the Sainsbury’s website and completely see how you made the mistake! The new pack design for the Frosted version is deceptive. 😡

However, and this might interest you - there’s also a NEW version called ‘The Simple One’! Which has
4.2g per 100g (that sugar comes from banana purée and date purée rather than ‘sugar’, if that matters to you.

acpgee

Thanks for the tips. Got the "Simple One" shreddies and mixing with a very small quantity of the whole grain frosted ones and the last of the rather sweet multi grain cheerios for my next batch of nuts and bolts.

Dnarules

MargaretYakoda wrote: »

acpgee wrote: »

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

Excuse my culinary ignorance - but what the heck is ‘Nuts & Bolts’?

What’s in there other than cereal? Is it a sweet snack mix thing? Or a savoury thing? 🤷‍♀️🧐

It was a savoury snack of breakfast cereals, and pretzels coated in melted butter (10:1 ratio by volume) flavoured with garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt and worcestershire sauce. Optional peanuts and cheese crackers. The cereal and butter mixture is toasted in a low oven or air fryer until dry and crisp.

https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/classic-homemade-nuts-and-bolts-recipe/

Some people call it “Chex mix”

Except any chex mix I've had used Chex cereal (2or 3 different varieties). Ive never had a mix with Cheerios, and I'm not sure what shreddies are

Lynatea

I've always made chex mix with plain cheerios. My grandmother always did it that way. Homemade is so much better than the premade bagged chex mix.

MargaretYakoda

Lynnsgoals2020 wrote: »

I've always made chex mix with plain cheerios. My grandmother always did it that way. Homemade is so much better than the premade bagged chex mix.

Yup.
My mom made it with Cheerios, Chex, peanuts, and pretzel sticks.