Many of us are fiercely loyal to particular breakfast cereals – chances are you've been buying the same products for years. And there's certainly something to be said for not having to think about what to eat first thing in the morning.
But while we tend to be on autopilot at breakfast time, perhaps we should be a little more mindful of what we're putting in our trolley – some of the best-loved cereals can be expensive and not as healthy as you'd expect.
So, how does your favourite cereal compare to other products in terms of price and nutrition? We compared six of the best-known Australian cereals with their peers to help you decide what to put on the breakfast table each morning.
On this page:
- Kellogg's Corn Flakes
- Uncle Toby's Traditional Rolled Oats
- Kellogg's Coco Pops
- Kellogg's Nutri-Grain
- Kellogg's Froot Loops
- Sanitarium Weet-Bix
A note on Health Star Ratings
If you're trying to find a healthy breakfast cereal, checking the Health Star Rating (HSR) on the pack is a quick and easy way to get an indication of how nutritious the product is.
The HSR takes into account 'good' things like protein, fibre, and the amount of fruit, vegetables, nuts or legumes it contains. This is balanced against kilojoules and the three 'negative' nutrients: saturated fat, sodium and sugar.
The system has its limitations, but it's a good starting point for comparing products. There are a few things to keep in mind when using it.
1. You can't compare apples with oranges
HSRs should only be used for comparing like with like. They're are a great way to see how one cereal compares with another similar product so you can see which is the better option. But you can't compare cereal with bread, for instance, to determine which is healthier.
2. Even highly-processed foods can score well
An HSR won't tell you anything about how natural or unrefined the ingredients used in the cereal are, whether things such as artificial preservatives, colours and flavours and other additives are included, or how processed the product is.
If a cereal is far from natural-looking, chances are it's highly processed and needs things like salt and sugar to make it taste good
CHOICE food expert Shadia Djakovic
Nutri-Grain, for instance, has a higher HSR than Corn Flakes, even though Corn Flakes are basically just squashed corn while Nutri-Grain is a mash-up of refined flours, flavouring, colouring, vegetable gum, raising agent and more.
(Corn Flakes aren't an especially nutritious choice either – they're quite high in sodium and low in fibre – but we're just using this as an example.)
3. A dietitian's view on cereal HSRs
"Highly processed breakfast cereals often have fibre and protein added to increase the HSR," says CHOICE food expert Shadia Djakovic, who is an accredited practising dietitian and nutritionist.
"Rolled oats also have a high HSR due to their naturally-occurring fibre content. But they have only one ingredient – oats – which means they have a higher HSR without the need for any added nutrients to make them healthier."
Here's a nutrition tip from Shadia to help next time you're shopping:
"Look at the shape and colour: does it look like a natural product? If it's far from natural-looking, chances are it's highly processed and needs things like salt and sugar to make it taste good."
Despite being promoted as a 'health food', Corn Flakes aren't very nutritious.
Kellogg's Corn Flakes
- Health Star Rating: 3.5
- Added sugar: 8.9g per 100g
- Sodium: 485mg per 100g
- Fibre: 4.2g per 100g
- Price: $1.59 per 100g
Nutrition
They've been around for more than 95 years and began life as a health food, but are Kellogg's Corn Flakes a nutritious option?
Dr William Kellogg (the inventor of Kellogg's Corn Flakes) might be shocked to hear this, but they're actually not great in terms of nutrition. Here's why:
- They're high in sodium. Corn Flakes have a sodium content of 485mg per 100g. For context, a Big Mac has 438mg per 100g! (Keep in mind that the serving sizes are quite different though.)
- They're low in fibre, with just 4.2g per 100g.
- For a plain cereal, they actually have a lot more sugar than you'd expect. In fact they're almost 10% sugar (8.9g per 100g, to be precise).
- They have a Health Star Rating of just 3.5.
If you're looking for a healthier corn-based flake cereal, you're better off going with Woolworths Macro Wholefoods Market Certified Organic Corn Flakes, which have 220mg of sodium per 100g and 4.5g of added sugar per 100g. They have an HSR of only 3.5 too, so they're still not exactly the healthiest option on the block.
To find a flake cereal that's better for your body, think outside the (corn flake) box and consider wheat-based flakes instead. Here are our dietitian's recommendations for flake cereals:
Kellogg's All-Bran Wheat Flakes
- Health Star Rating: 5
- Added sugar: 10.8g per 100g
- Sodium: 360mg per 100g
- Fibre: 18.8g per 100g
Kellogg's Guardian
- Health Star Rating: 5
- Added sugar: 12.6g per 100g
- Sodium: 200mg per 100g
- Fibre: 18.4g per 100g
Uncle Toby's Weeties
- Health Star Rating: 4.5
- Added sugar: 0g per 100g
- Sodium: 375mg per 100g
- Fibre: 12.7g per 100g
Kellogg's Corn Flakes are around four times more expensive than the Coles own-brand version.
Price
They're described as "golden flakes", but for the price you might wonder if Kellogg's Corn Flakes actually are gold-plated!
Of all the plain corn flakes we analysed, Kellogg's Corn Flakes are the most expensive at $1.59 per 100g.
If you're trying to reduce your grocery spend, these are the cheapest corn flake options:
- Coles Corn Flakes: 40c per 100g
- Aldi Goldenvale Corn Flakes: 40c per 100g
Uncle Toby's oats get the tick of approval from our dietitian.
Uncle Toby's Traditional Rolled Oats
- Health Star Rating: 5
- Added sugar: 0g per 100g
- Sodium: 6mg per 100g
- Fibre: 9.2g per 100g
- Price: 90c per 100g
Nutrition
If you're looking for a healthy breakfast, oats are a great way to go. They're packed with fibre, vitamins, protein and minerals, and they have a lower GI, meaning they tick a lot of nutrition boxes.
Since rolled oat products all contain the same thing – 100% rolled oats – there's not really much difference between the various brands in terms of their nutritional value, so there's no point in comparing the Uncle Toby's version with others.
All the 100% rolled oats products we analysed have a Health Star Rating of 5, so you can't really go wrong with any of them.
"Rolled oats are a fabulous breakfast option, particularly in winter. Don't negate their goodness with lashings of cream and sugar though – try adding some frozen berries and a sprinkle of cinnamon to spice it up," says Shadia.
All pure rolled oats products are pretty much the same once you take away the packaging.
Price
While they're all essentially the same, the cost of different rolled oats products can vary dramatically. Uncle Toby's Traditional Rolled Oats is one of the more expensive products on the market (excluding rolled oat products with specific health claims like "cholesterol lowering", "protein rich", "Omega 3" or blends).
Since you'll be getting pretty much the same product once you take away the packaging, buying generic or supermarket-branded rolled oats is a good idea if you want to save money.
Here are some cheaper alternatives:
- Aldi Goldenvale Australian Rolled Oats: 17c per 100g
- Coles Rolled Oats: 18c per 100g
- Woolworths Australian Rolled Oats: 19c per 100g
Just like a chocolate dessert, only for breakfast.
Kellogg's Coco Pops
- Health Star Rating: 2
- Added sugar: 32.3g per 100g
- Sodium: 330mg per 100g
- Fibre: 1.7g per 100g
- Price: $1.87 per 100g
Nutrition
There's no sugar-coating this: Coco Pops are in no way healthy. Loaded with sugar and low in fibre, they're probably better described as a dessert than a breakfast food.
But we know that some kids love them and families will continue to buy them. So, how do they compare to other cereals and what alternatives could you buy to make your chocolate breakfast cereal a bit healthier?
Coco Pops are probably better described as a dessert than a breakfast food
Not surprisingly, Kellogg's Coco Pops had one of the highest added sugar levels of all the chocolate puff cereals we analysed with 32.3g of added sugar per 100g.
That means you're consuming around 9.7g of sugar per 30g bowl. Considering that the World Health Organisation recommends that adults eat no more than 54g of sugar each day, you're burning through almost a fifth of your sugar allowance by the time you've finished breakfast! (And that's assuming you actually stick to the recommended serving size – how many of us do?)
We're probably not telling you anything you didn't already know, or at least suspect about Coco Pops. If you want to switch to a slightly more nutritious crunchy chocolate breakfast cereal, here are some better options:
Freedom Classic XO Cocoa Crunch Cereal
- Health Star Rating: 4.5
- Total sugars: 18g per 100g
- Sodium: 39mg per 100g
- Fibre: 11.5g per 100g
Farmer Jo Kids Chocolate Breakfast Puffs
- Health Star Rating: 4
- Added sugar: 7.2g per 100g
- Sodium: 156mg per 100g
- Fibre: 8.4g per 100g
If you're not going to get much nutritional value from your cereal, you might as well save some money on it.
Price
Coco Pops aren't cheap: $1.87 per 100g. (And that's before you've paid for all the dentist bills from the sugar!)
If you still want a choc hit for breakfast, there are a few cheaper options:
- Aldi Goldenvale Choco Rice: 61c per 100g
- Woolworths Crackling Cocoa Puffs: 63c per 100g
- Coles Cocoa Puffs: 71c per 100g
It may be touted as "Ironman food", but it's unlikely that many real athletes would eat Nutri-Grain for breakfast.
Kellogg's Nutri-Grain
- Health Star Rating: 4
- Added sugar: 24g per 100g
- Sodium: 350mg per 100g
- Fibre: 5.3g per 100g
- Price: $2.31 per 100g
Nutrition
It's hard to define exactly what Nutri-Grain is – is it a kids' cereal, a health cereal, or something else entirely? Its marketing seems to cover all bases.
Regardless, it's been around for so long that it's sparked a range of Nutri-Grain spin-offs, including muesli bar-ish products, to-go packs and even flavoured milks.
But is it something that ironmen and women would actually eat? Probably not. While it's relatively high in protein and has added vitamins and iron, it's actually a highly processed food with a high added sugar and sodium content and not a great deal of fibre.
If your kids have their hearts set on a Nutri-Grain-type cereal but you want something less sugary, you could try Aldi's Goldenvale Power Grain which has 18.1g of added sugar per 100g. It's also lower in sodium with 238mg per 100g. (This is still around double what the Heart Foundation recommends, but it's a lower-sodium product than the Kellogg's version.)
Aldi's Power Grain costs just 80c per 100g – just over a third of the cost of Kellogg's Nutri-Grain.
Price
At $2.31 per 100g, Nutri-Grain is one of the most expensive kids' cereals in our review.
Instead of giving your wallet an Ironman-worthy workout, you could try switching to a supermarket own-brand version. The copycat products from Coles, Woolworths and Aldi cost around 80c per 100g, which is a significant saving.
But you're probably better skipping the Coles and Woolworths versions if you're watching your health. They both have Health Star Ratings of 2.5 and 26.7g of added sugar per 100g.
Froot Loops are more like confectionery than cereal.
Kellogg's Froot Loops
- Health Star Rating: 2
- Added sugar: 38.8g per 100g
- Sodium: 360mg per 100g
- Fibre: 2.4g per 100g
- Price: $2.46 per 100g
Nutrition
Kellogg's Froot Loops are probably better categorised as confectionery than cereal, but since they're found in the cereal aisle we'll treat them as such.
Unsurprisingly, they make the list of cereals our in-house nutrition expert recommends you avoid due to their sky-high sugar levels and the absence of anything even vaguely nutritious.
Per 100g, these cute loops pack a whopping 38.8g of added sugar and 360mg of sodium with only a tiny 2.4g of fibre, making them the stuff of dietitians' nightmares.
If you're buying something like this as a treat, you're best to give Froot Loops a miss and choose something lower in sugar, like Aldi's Goldenvale Fruity Rings (18.8g/100g of added sugar), Woolworths Colourful Rainbow Rings (15.8g/100g total sugars), or Coles Frooty Rings (15.6g/100g sugars).
If your kids have never actually tasted Froot Loops but they're begging you for some, you could always try buying Uncle Toby's Cheerios Vanilla O's instead – they tick the box for loop-shaped flavoured cereal but they only have 4.1g of added sugar per 100g. Maybe you could pass them off as 'healthy Froot Loops'?
Price
At a whopping $2.46 per 100g, Froot Loops are the most expensive kids' cereal we analysed.
Similar products from supermarket own-brands all cost around 83c per 100g. So they're lower in sugar and cheaper to boot.
Weet-Bix are low in sugar and saturated fat, high in fibre and a source of whole grains.
Sanitarium Weet-Bix
- Health Star Rating: 5
- Added sugar: 3g per 100g
- Sodium: 270mg per 100g
- Fibre: 12.9g per 100g
- Price: 87 cents per 100g
Weet-Bix is one of the most recognisable, well-known cereal products in Australia. For many of us, they were a first food and a staple breakfast option throughout our childhoods (and beyond).
So, how do they compare with other bix on the market?
Nutrition
As far as nutrition goes, Weet-Bix compare very favourably! They have a Health Star Rating of 5, only 3g per 100g of added sugar, and are 97% wholegrains.
Many of the wheat biscuit cereals we analysed score 100% for nutrition. They're generally high in fibre, low in sugar and saturated fat and a source of whole grains.
Aside from flavoured products, almost all the bix we reviewed have a Health Star Rating of 5, so you can be confident that most plain wheat biscuit cereals you put in your trolley will be good for you.
Aldi's wheat biscuits give Weet-Bix a run for their money in terms of taste and price.
Price
When you shop by brand, you'll often pay more for a well-known name – and that's definitely the case for Weet-Bix. Per 100g, it's the second-most expensive wheat biscuit cereal we analysed at 88c per 100g.
The cheapest is Aldi Goldenvale Wheat Biscuits at 36c per 100g – less than half the price of Weet-Bix.
And according to CHOICE taste testers, they're not dissimilar to the OG Weet-Bix product. Check out our wheat biscuit cereal comparison.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
