If you shop at Trader Joe’s, you’re probably familiar with their takes on popular name brand items. Instead of Oreos, they have Joe-Joe’s. Instead of Swedish Fish, they have Scandinavian Swimmers. And instead of Cheerios, they sell Joe’s Os. When we taste tested all the Trader Joe’s cereal, we actually loved the honey-nut version of Joe’s Os. So we had high hopes for this new product people are apparently psyched about: Joe’s Os Peanut Butter Cereal Bars. Are these an O-mazing new breakfast staple or should you O-mit them from your shopping list? We tasted them to find out.
These cereal bars consist of Joe’s Os (which are like Cheerios, but a little bigger), whole roasted peanuts, and a peanut butter drizzle (the bottom is coated in the drizzle as well). They certainly aren’t bad, but, personally, I wouldn’t rush out to buy them.
Pros: The peanut butter coating is very peanutty and delicious. It’s a bit sweet, but I was pleased to discover that each bar only contains 7 grams of sugar—that’s not terrible compared to a lot of cereal bars (for instance, Golden Grahams Treats have 12 grams of sugar per bar). The whole peanuts are a nice touch, too.
Cons: Everyone on the Sporked team agreed that the bars come off as a little bit stale. The cereal has too much give and not enough crunch. The cereal bits do seem to be coated in something, but they definitely suffer from seeming like they sat out a little too long. Where’s Clark Griswold with his non-nutritive cereal varnish when you need him?
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Luke Field
Naajia Shukri
Jordan Myrick
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!