Review: Amy's hot breakfast cereals

As I mentioned in my post about my issues with following microwave directions, I was recently sent a bunch of Amy's products to sample. The first ones I'm going to review are the hot breakfast cereals - because breakfast comes first!

I am a cold cereal person. I eat it every single morning and also the occasional afternoon and evening. I like hot cereals, but I find cold milk (or soy milk in my case) is a refreshing way to start the day. I did, however, approach the Amy's hot cereals with an open mind.

After the jump, my overall review and my review of each cereal.

Overall, I enjoyed the Amy's hot cereals:

1. They were easy to eat. It's nice to have a perfect hot breakfast in 3-5 minutes with no mess.
2. They were not overly sweet like some other quick breakfast cereals I've had.
3. Amy's uses quality ingredients. I can always understand the ingredient list and I feel good about what I'm putting in my body.

They would have been even better if I had taken the time to add some fresh fruit as shown on the box. However, it didn't seem fair to do that if I wanted to have a valid taste test.

I had a few problems with the Amy's hot cereals:

1. I like my hot cereals to be milky. Even if I use those instant pouches that tell you to add hot water, I tend to add hot milk instead. There is no milk in any of these cereals.
2. The packaging seems wasteful. Couldn't they have used the same high quality ingredients, but put them in little pouches that I could add water or milk to? Why do I need a box and bowl and lots of freezer space?
3. Each cereal had the same flavor. The grains and texture were different, but the flavors were not. At least it was a good flavor - a warm and comforting cuddle-up-on-a-cold-night flavor.

My thoughts on each cereal:

• Rolled Oats - I enjoyed the flavor of the rolled oats, but I must warn you that the texture is not what I would normally expect from oatmeal. The oats coagulated and had a weird glutenous texture. It almost tasted like a bread pudding (not a bad thing, mind you, but not oatmeal like).
• Multi-Grain - When Amy's says multi-grain, they mean it. This cereal had wheat, barley, corn, millet, steel-cut oats, rye, triticale, rice, and flax seeds. It actually had a crunch to it, which is not something you typically get with hot cereals. It was also a bit glutenous, but a fun way to switch up breakfast.
• Cream of Rice - I've had cream of wheat many times, but I had never before tried cream of rice. This was just as good as cream of wheat, with the advantage that it was crazy easy to make. This one tied with the steel-cut oats for my favorite variety.
• Steel-Cut Oats - If you are choosing between steel-cut oats and rolled oats, go for the steel-cut. The steel-cut were more like a traditional oatmeal. Add some fruit to it, and you've got yourself a great start to the day.