The Best And Worst Aldi Brand Cereals
While Aldi may be the place you go to find low-priced luxuries like chocolate, cheese, and wine, or it may be the place you dash in when you need to throw together a last-minute dinner, it's also a great place to buy many household staple items like coffee, milk, or cereal. Still, when it comes to this breakfast item, not all Aldi cereals are created equal. Some of them are, indeed, best buys, while others have some pretty lousy reviews.
As any regular Aldi shopper knows, Aldi doesn't carry too many name brands, instead preferring to stock their own generic products. Aldi's in-house brand of cereal is called Millville, and despite any similarities in name, it is, in fact, not produced by General Mills. Instead, some intrepid sleuthing by Medium unearthed the fact that Millville is produced by Malt-O-Meal, or, as they are now known, MOM. And while Mom may know best when it comes to what you should be eating for breakfast, the same cannot always be said for MOM cereal. While some Aldi cereals are as good or better than their (usually, but not always) higher-priced name-brand counterparts, others just aren't bowl-worthy.
Hold it Tiger – Aldi Frosted Flakes are gr-r-reat, too
Since the name Frosted Flakes is not trademarked by Kellogg's, Aldi/Millville didn't have to come up with a soundalike name for this product. While the name is the same, the recipe is somewhat different — both Mister B Grades and The Aldi Spot seemed to find the Millville version to taste sweeter, although the package labels reveal that both cereals contain the same amount of sugar. Mister B Grades also found this cereal to hold up better to a bowlful of milk, while The Aldi Spot's reviewer appreciated the low price, and her kids preferred the taste of the product to those flakes that Tony shills for.
Cinnamon Crunch Squares are even better than the name brand
This cereal is obviously an homage to (okay, generic version of) Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but Mister B Grades thought it tasted like it had extra cinnamon and sugar in its powdery coating, which made it even more "toothsome" than the General Mills version. The Fork in the Road Food Review was even more effusive in its praise, calling this Millville cereal "absolutely delicious." The reviewer said it was a big hit with the whole family, and said it made for a tasty post-breakfast snack, as well. They admitted to having tried and been let down by other Millville cereals, but rates the Cinnamon Crunch Squares as "a very strong buy."
Cocoa Rice is chocolatey good
NJ.com named Aldi's Millville Cocoa Rice as one of the top breakfast cereals available in the state, despite the fact that it's not actually produced in Millville, New Jersey. They say that this Cocoa Krispies clone actually tastes like real chocolate, and describe it as a "surprise hit."
The Budget Reviews called Cocoa Rice's flavor "spot-on...just a perfectly light and sweet cocoa flavor that doesn't try to be too overwhelming." They also praised its milk-resistance, saying the cereal stays crispy for quite some time. Overall, they rated Cocoa Rice an 8 out of 10, calling it one of Millville's best knock-off versions of big-name breakfast cereals.
Crispy Oats is bound to disappoint
Most reviewers seem to give a thumbs down to these knock-off Cheerios. Money-Saving Mom is one of their harshest critics — she says her family loves almost all the Aldi Millville cereals, but this is the only Aldi cereal they won't eat. Mister B Grades weighs in with a rather unenthusiastic, "The Aldi version isn't bad, but it isn't very good either." Aldi Reviewer grudgingly admits that Millville's Crispy Oats (the regular version, not the Honey Oat) are the best of a bad lot of Cheeri-Nos, but says that they still don't live up to the original oat cereal.
Kid's Krunch isn't crunchy
Mister B Grades says this stuff has the texture you'd expect from a bowl of Cap'n Crunch that had first gotten soggy, and then grown stale, and compares it unfavorably (and unflavorably) to a bowl of Styrofoam. The Styrofoam, they say, would probably taste better.
What some may find most irritating about this cereal, however, is that it appears to contain a punctuation error. After all, wouldn't "Kid's Krunch" mean the cereal was intended for just one child? It really should be "Kids' Krunch" if it is meant to appeal to multiple children. But then again, with a cereal of this quality, maybe there really is only one kid out there who'll actually eat the stuff.
Marshmallows and Stars are magically meh
A Tumblr blog called The Cereal Diet tried Millville's take on Lucky Charms and found it to rate a mediocre 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, with the marshmallows being found passable, but the oats decidedly wanting.
Mister B Grades, however, pulled no punches dissing this cereal, saying the cereal bits were bad, the marshmallows were gross, and the cereal's only asset is that it "comes packaged in a box that fits easily into your trash can." As do all of the less-than-palatable cereals, come to think of it — although it's easier, and far less wasteful, just to avoid buying them in the first place.