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?
Gwynedd Stuart, Sporked’s managing editor, is an L.A.-based writer and editor who spends way, way too much time at the grocery store. She’s never met an Old El Paso taco or mozzarella stick she didn’t like.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!