Custom Choice Cereal

I recently had the pleasure to design and try my own cereal through  Custom Choice Cereal, a fairly new company.

The cereal customization process begins by choosing one of 3 cereal bases: cinnamon granola (which I’m pretty sure is Enjoy Life’s), corn flakes, or “Good Morning Flakes” (which I’m pretty sure is Mesa Sunrise).

After picking your desired cereal base, you move on to fruits.  You can add any of the following, in 1-ounce increments: apples, apricots, banana chips, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, pears, pineapples, raisins, and/or strawberries.  I’m a bit of a dork sometimes, I admit, but I really love the little tidbits about each fruit, i.e., that strawberries were “considered poisonous in Argentina until the mid-1800s.”

Nuts and seeds are next in the lineup, with the following available: almonds, coconut, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and/or walnuts.  Like the dried fruit, these also come in 1-ounce increments and have fun factoids (like how pistachios are one of only two nuts mentioned in the Bible – I didn’t know that).

The cereal bags you receive will have 12 ounces.  For every ounce of fruit and nuts you add, that much is subtracted from the cereal base itself.

While you are creating your cereal, a nutrition facts label on the page keeps a running total for you as you add (or subtract) ingredients from your cereal mix.  If you are watching sugar, carbs, fat (or whatever), you can know exactly what you will get in each serving.  There is also a running total of how much the cereal costs while you are creating it.

When you have finished creating your cereal, you even get to name it.  Braden was pretty confused when he came home from school the other day to find bags of cereal that said “Cassandra’s Sunny Fruit Mix” and “Cassandra’s Crazy Granola”.   If you find that you made the mix perfectly and want to order more, then all you need to do is enter the “mix identification” number that is on each package of cereal.

Because each bag of cereal is mixed and shipped after you order it, the cereal flakes and nuts stay crisp and the fruit stays soft.  You can make each bag of cereal to your liking.

My favorite fruit that I tried was the strawberries.  They are the best dried strawberries I’ve ever had.

Just a tip – the cranberries tend to overshadow some of the other fruits.  If I had one in the same spoonful as a cherry or blueberry, I did not taste the others.  I picked them out and ate the separately after awhile, so I could taste the other fruits.  🙂

Custom Choice Cereal sources only naturally gluten-free ingredients and tests each shipment of ingredients.  They maintain a gluten-free mixing facility.

I think this is a great idea that this company has, and the ingredients they use are quite tasty.  I really enjoyed creating my own cereal, and eating it, too.  I was actually surprised at how quickly the cereal was shipped to me.  I do think it is a little bit too pricey, however, as most gluten-free foods tend to be.  If you live near their facility in Durham, NC, you can save the shipping costs and pick it up at their warehouse.

All things considered, I think it is a great product and it seems to be a great company.