Weetabix Additions Raisin and Apple

Weetabix is a staple in my house, it's a really healthy choice: low in sugar, fat and salt and you can customise it with different dairy free milks and toppings or fruit every morning for a brand new take on breakfast each day. I really highly rate the Weetabix Protein from last year, which took everything I love about one of my most eaten cereals and then gave it a protein boost to provide a plant based protein boost at breakfast.

Capitalising on what I assume was the success of Weetabix Protein is these two Additions versions of Weeabix - one with coconut and raisins and one with apple and raisins. Nutribrex already does a coconut wheat free cereal, which I love so thought I'd give the apple and raisin one a go. They're vegan and high in fibre, low in salt and full of wholegrains.

It certainly smelt of apple and raisin with also a noticeable hint of cinnamon giving it that crumble/ autumnal pudding kind of smell and feel. They look like standard Weetabix although you can see a few little raisins studded throughout.

Texturally they're similar to Weetabix to so you can either soak them in milk and let them go soggy or briefly dowse in milk and then eat them whilst they're still solid. Because these are flavoured I decided to go for almond milk as it's quite neutral rather than my preferred coconut milk or cashew milk, which have stronger flavours, which might not work with these. Unfortunately the taste didn't work for me and it just tasted slightly odd, a little too sweet and a bit too artificial. The raisins are quite small and certainly not juicy, although the cinnamon notes are quite warming and pleasant.

It's not awful or inedible but my main problem is they've taken a great, healthy breakfast and added in a load of sugar and syrups and odd sounding ingredients. The original Weetabix is low in sugars whereas these have 15g sugars per 100g or 6.5g per two biscuit serving. It's not horrendously unhealthy but I don't see why you would pick something like these at breakfast over the original although I might eaten these as a healthier dessert/ evening snack.

It also ruins what for me is the key point of Weetabix - its blankness and neutrality. With a strong apple and cinnamon flavour, it makes the product a lot less versatile and stops you adding your own flavour combinations and individual twists, which you can do with the original.

It's a nice idea but not properly executed in my opinion and I'll stick with my low sugar and neutral original Weetabix.

Price:£2.95
Bought at: Tesco
Nutrition per 2 biscuits: 149 calories, 0.8g fat, 0.2g sat fat, 6.5g sugars, 0.08g salt

Score: 5/10

Weetabix Protein Review

I don't think anyone can have failed to notice the influx of new protein enhanced products in the supermarkets with breakfast cereals particularly getting a lot of protein offerings. Special K, Eat Natural, Fuel ...they're all at it. Weetabix have already been making footsteps into protein territory with Weetabix Protein crunch and Weetabix Protein Breakfast drinks on the go. Neither of these products have appealed to me though - a little too sugary for a breakfast offering.

Weetabix Protein however is a protein enhanced version of the usual Weetabix bricks - so a good plain cereal with minimum sugar or additives. Looking at the ingredients and nutrition, I was very impressed. The main difference to standard Weetabix is added wheat gluten, rice flour, wheat starch, wheat germ and cocoa (though there is no chocolatey taste so don't worry about this).

This translates into a product that is almost double the protein of standard Weetabix - 19g per 100g vs 10g per 100g on standard Weetabix. For a two biscuit serving you get just under 8g of protein - about the same as an egg. Add some milk to it and you're getting even more protein.

Like standard Weetabix it is also low in fat, sugar and salt so a perfect everyday breakfast. Pouring it into a bowl, I had a minor criticism in that this seemed to get more mess over the worktop trying to prise the biscuits out than standard Weetabix but I may have bought a particularly bashed up box from my Sainsburys.

Texture and taste wise I felt this was largely similar to standard Weetabix except for one addition - the protein crispies studded throughout. Even when saturated in milk, these inclusions remained crispy for a little bit more of an interesting texture when eating the biscuits.A lot of reviews said these seem to soak up more milk than normal Weetabix. I didn't really find this to be the case - maybe they need a tad more but it's not really noticeable.

I like to turn my Weetabix into mush and then make a kind of paste which I top. Weetabix is always a great blank canvas to top with whatever you want and this is no exception. Today I had strawberries and prunes on it and mixed some flaxseed in (a great source of omega 3!) but most toppings would work well here.

The Weetabix is mild and comforting in taste but as said the embedded crispies make it just a bit more interesting. What's nice about this protein cereal as well is that it contains no soy unlike a lot of protein enhanced products. Both Special K and Fuel use this in their protein cereals.

Weetabix is such a household staple that it often seems unexciting and gets forgotten about but I really enjoyed these Weetabix Protein and it's got me wanting to eat it more often. You can customise it in so many ways and it's good for you. A 2 biscuit serving is also enhanced with over 80% of your iron and contains lots of other added vitamins so also great for vegetarians who might struggle to get enough.

And the proof of the protein - I did feel slightly more full after these than maost other breakfast cereals.Filling, tasty and healthy - I would certainly buy these again

Bought at: Sainsburys
Price: £2 (on special offer)

Nutrition per 2 biscuit serving: 144 calories, 0.8g fat, 0.2g sat fat,1.9g sugar, 0.10g salt

Score:9.5/10