Product Review: Gluten Free Special K - Better Batter Gluten Free Flour

Product Review: Gluten Free Special K

There have always been a pretty decent quantity of naturally gluten free breakfast cereals at the health food stores and local groceries in my area, but it’s always nice to see a normal brand […]

There have always been a pretty decent quantity of naturally gluten free breakfast cereals at the health food stores and local groceries in my area, but it’s always nice to see a normal brand put out a gluten free version of a well loved and popular standby. When I saw the box of Special K gluten free strategically placed at eye level in my tiny little hometown market, I had to pick it up. For one, I wanted to make sure my grocery manager (and the brand) realized that I still want gluten free cereals on the shelf, “fad” or no “fad,” because I need them. For two…. well, I haven’t had Special K in almost a decade, and I just wondered how it would be.
Still want to read more? Please feel free to keep reading below ;-) 

gf special k

 

Product:

Special K Gluten Free (touch of brown sugar) is comprised of sturdy flakes of rice, sorghum and corn. Other ingredients listed are sugar (the second ingredient), corn fiber, brown sugar, and 2% or less of salt, honey, more sugar in the form of invert sugar, preservatives, flavors, more sugar in the form of molasses, and more preservatives, along with the requisite added vitamins and minerals.

It should probably be noted that if GMOs, preservatives, or refined sugars are nonos for you, that there are a ton of other healthier options from other brands. 😉

Size:

The first thing I noticed was how teeny tiny the box was compared to the normal Special K Box. And then it got interesting…
Each box of the gluten free Special K, weighs in at 11 ounces, with each serving listed at 1c per serving, or about 6 servings per per box.

Special K regular weighs in at 12 ounces, with a serving also listed at 1 c, and 11 servings per box.

 

Okay – so did anyone catch that – only one ounce per box less in the gluten free cereal, but half the servings (and half the box size). I wondered “what gives” – is there some kind of magic happening to compress the product and/or the packaging? Is Kellog’s just making good on it’s sustainability promises by reducing extraneous packaging? In opening the box I found the answer to my questions. You’ll see my observations in the main product review below.
Price:
At our store the Gluten Free version of the cereal cost about $3.99 per box. The listed cost per serving was $.67

The regular version cost about $3.48 per box. The listed cost per serving was $.32.

As usual, with slightly differing versions of a mainstream brand, the overall cost per unit of the two boxes was very similar, but the gluten free counterpart’s suggested actual serving cost ran about twice what a normal serving of cereal would be.

COMPARISON

Texture and Flavor:My children and I tried this cereal both with milk (for the non dairy allergic) and with a dairy free alternative. We also tried it immediately after pouring the milk(s) on the flakes and after allowing it to sit for 5-9 minutes.

We observed that the flakes of the gluten free Special K were really thick and sturdy – which makes sense, considering they packed nearly the whole weight of the regular into half the size (and servings!) of the original.

The texture and flavor of the flakes themselves reminded me of Frosted Flakes (they’re grrrrrreat!) – crisp and crunchy and very sweet – which is to be expected, since there were a ton of kinds of sugar in the flakes’ ingredients, and the total servings of sugar in each cup of cereal is about 9g (slightly more than 2 tsp of sugar). My youngest son’s first reaction, without knowing anything at all, was to say “it tastes like I’m eating a bowl of brown sugar,” which was, by the way, not an insult in his mind!

Because of the thicker texture and the extra sugar, these predictably held up very well, being crunchy right up until about the 8 minute mark in the bowl. The flavor meshed well with both milk and non dairy milk.

 

Allergens:
Top Eight: none
In addition, there is corn

Available In Stores and Online?

Yes, like pretty much everywhere. If you can’t find it in your local grocery (and I found it in our tiny little country store) – check Amazon Prime.

TASTE OR TOSS

Taste, certainly – it was very very delicious.

My kids and I agreed that the amount of flakes suggested could actually have satisfactorily been reduced to about 1/2 a cup – not surprising, since the overall ‘mass’ of 1/2 a cup of gluten free Special K is actually equivalent to a full cup of the regular cereal. This is actually a benefit – if you use half the amount called for on the box, the overall cost per serving would drop to only $.33 per serving, or about a penny more per serving than the regular cereal – making this a real bargain.

<3

naomi

 

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