Breakfast to Keep Me Going including giveaway

So what do you enjoy best for breakfast, something healthy or perhaps a full English? I like to vary my breakfast at home, but I keep a packet of cereal at work for those days when I’m working an early shift and don’t have time for breakfast until I’m at work. Did you know that some of the perceived ‘healthy’ cereals aren’t quite as healthy as you think. And my current packet of Jordans granola falls into that category.

However I’ve just received 2 free boxes of a really healthy nutritional wheat-free cereal to try. This is a new product called ‘Keep Me Going‘ and the idea is just that – it should keep you going from breakfast time to lunch without you getting hungry inbetween. Its strapline is that it helps reduce tiredness, release energy and maintain a healthy immune system.

Compared to Special K Original (often advertised as a healthy cereal), Keep Me Going has 8 times less salt; 60% less sugar; twice the fibre; and a low Gi, similar to traditionally made porridge. Gi refers to Glycaemic Index which measures how quickly the carbohydrates turn to sugar in your blood. So the low Gi means that you get a slower energy release.

So I thought that I would taste test the cereal in a few different ways. First up was with milk. Now I don’t normally weigh my cereal but for the purpose of this review, I measured out a precise 30g portion.  Full marks for taste and it didn’t go soggy either like some cereals. And no need to add sugar, which I admit I do for porridge. The flavour almost had a hint of chocolate although more malty like Horlicks, but there was definitely no chocolate in the ingredients.

The only other item I ate for breakfast was a clementine. But how did it score on keeping the hunger at bay. Well I was fine for 3 hours, but then I started feeling a bit peckish although I didn’t eat until lunchtime, which was the 5 hour mark.

The next day I served it with natural yoghurt and cooked plums. No other fruit on the side this time. Similar scores on both the taste test and hunger test as with milk.

My next test was to mix it with another cereal, 15g of each. I chose Special K peach & apricot and this time I had my fruit quota in the form of homemade smoothie alongside. I have to say that as I had enjoyed it alone the other day, I wasn’t bothered about mixing it, but I can see that might be a benefit for children, as it would bring the sugar content down.

Then I decided to up the portion size to 45g for the hunger test. Served with milk plus a homemade smoothie to drink. I was really hoping this would see me through to lunchtime, but surprisingly hunger hit in at the 2.5 hour mark, even sooner than when I tried a 30g portion. And I wasn’t just peckish, my tummy was rumbling loudly. I can’t figure that one.

But it wasn’t just me who tried it. Son1 had a bowl with milk. His taste test verdict was “okay” however he couldn’t remember what time he then got hungry. He usually has a very big appetite. He was very pleased with the trading cards and enjoyed telling me the facts. There was a code on the box aimed at children to decipher, but his comment on the code was that it was too hard as there was no clue.

I have been told that if the code is cracked, it will take you to an off-menu page on the Keep Me Going website with lots more information on codes and ciphers, plus another code to crack which leads to a further page.

The next day son1 had some mixed with coco pops which he declared “great”. My other half looked at it very skeptically but he first gave it a go mixed with weetabix. An unusual choice I thought, which he didn’t like. But both he and son1 did enjoy it with yoghurt and fruit. However son2 said he didn’t like it on it’s own or with coco pops, although he did finish his bowl both times. He refused to try it with yoghurt.

So mixed reviews from us, but I certainly recommend you give it a try. A tasty cereal in my opinion, although it didn’t keep me going as long as I hoped.

Keep Me Going is only available from Ocado at present but they are in discussion with other major supermarkets, so hopefully it will soon be hitting all the shelves. It currently retails at £2.65 for a 375g box, so competitvely priced against major cereal brands.

They are also planning to launch a second cereal Keep Me Strong in a few months too. This will be a high protein, low salt and reduced sugar product.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway 2 boxes of cereal each courtesy of Keep Me Going to 2 lucky winners.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear what you enjoy best for breakfast.

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Disclosure. This post is a review of a product I was sent for free. All opinions are my own.